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JACOB'S HEART WAS ON FIRE the moment his eyes landed on the girl standing before him was the one he would admire from afar in college.
And of all things, she happened to be friends with Cora Nelson. His neighbour. How did he not know this information?
He knew now. Something to aim for.
The beautiful summer girl was here, in Cora's front room, looking more dazzling up close.
He cleared his throat, like he always does when he's nervous and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and smoothed out the plains of grey T-shirt, back arching into a straight line.
A smile grew across his face. Evie looked like light. As he watched her in slow-motion move chocolate strands behind her ears. Long, wavy, it reached the middle of her back. It was an effortless habit of hers, he grew to know, but everytime she did it, he would find his heart burning beautifully from her actions, making him stop and stare at her in awe. The effect, this was—was Evie.
She was gorgeous in a sad, unspoken way. A songbird without a song, a drop of rain on his window, a tornado carrying the weights of the world within her, and he wondered why?
She was fragile. With a heart-shaped face, small brown eyes on her face and innocent lips sculpted into cupid-bow was dusted in a pretty pink lipstick.
The girl glanced to the side, and Jacob finally noticed what she was wearing. Blue. But not just any blue, it was softer blue, bringing out the softness of her persona. A blue cardigan and washed girlfriend jeans. She was blue sky sparkling through white clouds.
And even though the boy was a little star-stuck, he found Cora had led him here under false pretences. Jacob Faith told Cora Nelson he had a crush on her best friend since she moved to the States last year. But only watched her from afar, in the classes they shared at school, or whenever their paths met in a superstore in town, or perhaps at Cora's family bakery.
Wherever Cora was, Jacob noticed Evie was. It was like she followed Cora around, like a beacon of light, and the blue smudges of her outfit gave her a wallflower essence to it.
Jacob knew who Evie Wilson was. She was a smart student. A+ on science . Delightful and shy in the school cafeteria, hanging out with Cora and her friend group. But Jacob never saw her smile...much. She was a butterfly trapped in a glass jar, tied by the shield of glass, and she looked, sometimes like she'd be rather someplace else and Jacob was socially awkward, never plucking up the courage to speak to her, in fear of rejection or the hanging thought of making a total idiot of himself in front of her.
She was his crush after all.
And no, he wasn't a stalker. If anything, Cora was. That was the deal on the phone call Jacob made with Cor. If she got Evie to even give him a glance, then he'd work his ass off on her ranch. (double, triple shifts).
