He Who Moved the Sun

Chapter Five: Pour on the Charm

So to those of you that read the last chapter, this is the same thing but in J.R's perspective. It's a little different and there's some important info about Esch in there, so don't skip over it.

Escher freaking Griffith.

Escher freaking Griffith.

Escher freaking Griffith.

He’d been thinking about that one name for the entire day. Her image filled his mind and clouded his brain, memories of her flooding through him like a tsunami. How she’d fallen in the pond at the zoo on a field trip once. The time she’d sat in ketchup with her white skirt and had gone home crying. Or when she’d won the school spelling bee but had been so excited she’d fallen off the stage.

Or maybe how she was one of the prettiest girls he’d ever seen.

“Get a grip”, J.R said to himself, shaking his head vigorously as he approached the high school, still trying to make sense of everything. How could they have picked her? They knew it would be impossible. They knew he’d fail miserably.

But he wouldn’t go down without a fight. He wasn’t going to let them win that easily. It was going to be more than a fight, but he was willing to give it a try. He had a few tricks up his sleeve that he was willing to try before giving up.

First trick: Come to school before everyone else because Escher always came early to avoid being seen.

If you haven’t already figured it out, Escher isn’t really a people person. She didn’t say much of anything. Not because she was shy, but because she didn’t know what to say. She was awkward on so many levels. No one could relate to her. To make things worse, he had never said more than two words to her at all.

She was smart too. Trying to win her over would be difficult because she’d see it coming. He couldn’t pull one over on her easily because she paid close attention.

And Escher was beautiful. Anyone with eyes could see that. She was a natural beauty, as she didn’t seem to understand the world of fashion and make-up like the other girls did. But that didn’t matter much because she didn’t need it.

J.R tried to shake these thoughts; he’d need to be completely confident if he wanted to charm the hell out of this girl.

He threw himself into the front door and took a deep breath, pushing it open. What met his eye inside caught him completely off guard and made him stand and stare for a few seconds before he could actually come to his senses.  

There she was. Escher Griffith. Wearing ridiculously high shoes and wobbling across the floor like a monkey, her pace faster than he could ever have gone in high heels like those. To keep balance she was holding her purse high above her head, waving it around as she took giant leaps.

He couldn’t help but smile as he watched her. She was like a child. So naïve to the lady-like manner other females in their grade had obtained long ago. She looked absolutely crazy.

“That’s one way to travel,” he called, unable to hold it in any longer.

Escher froze at the sound of another person’s voice. She quickly lowering a raised leg and her bag then turned to face him, fear plastered all over her face, which was completely immersed in make-up.

The silence between them was becoming very evident so J.R cleared his throat and gave her a devilish grin. “Can I ask why you were imitating a lemur?”

Escher’s face suddenly drained itself of color and she consciously began to rub her left arm. “If you must know, I’m training to be a ballerina and I’m practicing walking on my toes,” she finally said, doing her best to sound indignant and turning her face away from him snootily.

Easy. A little sarcasm and she’d be drooling.

I think you’d put on a magnificent show,” he told her seriously, eyes wide. “As long as the audience turned their heads like this,” he made a show of doing this. “And closed both their eyes,” he added with a little smirk.

She didn’t laugh, but instead looked a little annoyed, crossing her arms. “You should really become a comedian,” she braked than immediately covered her mouth as if she’d regretted saying it. “Sorry,” she said quietly, “I’m having a weird morning.”

He laughed out loud to ease the tension, then brought the conversation down a notch. “Really though, why were you hopping around?”

She looked at the ground in embarrassment. “I was trying to get to class before someone saw me dressed up a like a clown.”

J.R laughed again and backed up, looking her up and down with a quizzical eye. She was wearing a fitted skirt that reached her knees, a tucked in granny top, and bright red lipstick. She looked silly, but in an extremely attractive way.

“You don’t look like a clown,” he said finally, doing his best to remain serious.

“You’re just saying that,” she replied, looking down at her outfit with sad eyes.

“It looks perfectly fine, I promise,” J.R reassured her, crossing his fingers and holding them out to prove his point. Girls loved to be flattered, no matter how weird they were.

She smiled faintly but immediately dropped her gaze, shifting on her feet as if she suddenly felt uncomfortable around him. “I should go,” she said suddenly, staring at him as if she didn’t know how in the world they’d run into each other in the first place.

“Why” He asked softly, acting like he’d rather be here than anywhere else. He returned her gaze, trying to make her feel wanted. Girls loved to be looked at.

But not Escher. She looked away from him and wistfully out of the window. “Because this is actually kind of bizarre, plus I don’t want to get caught talking to you.”

Oh course. Leave it to Escher to worry about the rules when they were finally speaking after years and years of silence. He pretended to have no idea what she was stalking about. “Get caught?”

“You know,” she looked around and motioned towards the office worried, “The CV and all.”

“I get it. You’re one of those girls that hate breaking the rules.” Of course he’d always known that, everyone had. But he had to keep the conversation rolling somehow if he wanted her to remember him.

“I guess I am,” she said under her breath.

After a drawn our silence Escher began to back away, her body desperately wanting to turn and flea. He could see how uncomfortable she was in her tensed expression. “I’m going to leave now,” she cried and he just looked at her, unable to respond to such a remark. “Okay?” he tried and immediately regretted it. He’d probably made her feel even worse.

“Well,” she tried, giving him a little wave, still backing up. “This is it.”

“I guess.” He smiled at her awkwardness, trying to make her feel at ease. He noticed her lipstick was now smudged at the sides, which made him chuckle.

Escher suddenly turned very red, realizing this conversation was doing nothing for her. Her face contorting into a weird expression as if she was trying hard not to cry. She murmured what sounded like goodbye than turned on her heels and booked it, still limping from her high heels.

His last chance, he thought, desperate for something else to say. “Escher!” he called and she turned around immediately, looking hopeful. That was a good sign. “Yes?”

“You have red lipstick all over your chin,” he blurted.

What better way to make a girl like you than to point out her flaws? Stellar flirting, J.R thought to himself and rolled his eyes. Stud my ass.

Author's note:

Thanks a million for reading this. Thanks a billion for voting, commenting, or fanning. I love you all so very much. I'm going to be oploading later again, as I'm on a roll. It will get better, I promise. I have some cute ideas for the future. Thanks to my loyal reader, YOU ROCK!!!

love always,

ACertainLady___