Roadworks and Footpaths (One-shot)
It was a Tuesday that it happened, the day my life changed forever. Even to this day I can still remember the exact chain of events, everything that contributed to how things turned out to the now.
I had been walking to the subway from work in the afternoon, the same I had done for the past year since starting my job in the city. It wasn't a particularly long walk but it was usually during the office rush home so the footpaths were always full and if you didn't want to miss your train you had to be on the ball about it.
Well that day, unlike the other days of walking to the subway, was different because there were major roadworks being undertaken on the main street, resulting in it being blocked off completely and me having to take a different way to the station. At first I was annoyed, it had been a long day and I was tired and this would mean extra time added onto the journey home but then I thought, Fuck it, I can enjoy the walk. Which I did. Seeing the different scenery, buildings I never knew existed simply because I had never bothered to change from a routine, I didn't mind it so much.
It was just for a second, but as I glanced to the footpath on the other side of the road, like I had a million times before that day I saw a face, framed by blonde hair and with piercing blue eyes that seemed as if they were staring right back at me.
My breath hitched and I was mesmerised to the point where I had stopped watching where I was going and walked into a passerby. Mumbling my apologies I immediately turned my attention back to across the street to where I had last seen Her but as hard as I tried I couldn't spot those golden locks in the crowds again.
The next day I took the same route to the subway on my way home, even though the roadworks had been completed and it added a whole half hour extra to my travelling time I still walked that footpath, looking across to the other side of the street in search of the blonde headed girl. I walked slowly, kept my eyes peeled but to no avail.
The next day I walked on the other side of the road, thinking that it might increase my chances. I'm not sure what I had hoped to happen really, if I saw Her again. Would I go up to Her? Be brave for once in my life, say hi and introduce myself? I was a random off the street, She'd probably turn the other way and bolt (or call the cops). Yet the way She had looked at me, surely She had been staring back...
Again there was no luck, no sign of Her at all. I did this for the next two weeks, keeping an eye out for the girl who had momentarily stopped my whole world and ever since I couldn't stop thinking about. At one point I had spotted a young woman from behind with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. I had been so sure it was Her but after getting closer she turned to the person walking next to her, saying something and my hopes were dashed. I saw that it wasn't Her, it could never have been Her.
I started to despair, what if I was never to see Her again? Realistically yes, the chances of 'meeting' Her again, the exact same way were probably non-existent and wouldn't it be healthier to just get on with my life? I didn't even know this girl for God's sake and I was already acting as if I was heartbroken. Was She even real or had I just imagined Her? Was She just a figment, a dream that was now left to haunt me for the rest of my life? Perhaps I should give that person who my sister had been recommending for a while now a go.
After the two weeks of failure and disappointment I decided yes. When I got home that day I would call Rosie and ask for the phone number I had long ago lost. I even walked the normal way to the subway from work, the route I had used before. Muscle memory kicked in and my feet took me in the direction they needed to go without a further thought.
I was so lost in my daydreaming that I didn't notice that someone was calling me and trying to get my attention until they touched my shoulder. Instantly it was like everything was freezing around me for the second time and everything else in the world disappeared except for me, the hand on my shoulder and the body of the person it was attached to.
As my gaze turned impossibly slowly to see them, the first thing I can remember seeing when I think back to that moment was Her smile. It was so big yet at the same time so warm. The second thing was those eyes, the same ones which had been so piercing before were still as blue but held a hint of fear, as if She was afraid that when I turned around I would not be the person who She was hoping it would be.
Another second passed and the fear was gone as everything else resumed back to the way it was, time speeding back up. People walking by, the sounds of car horns in the distance. But I didn't care about any of it, my sole focus was on what stood in front of me, my most wildest dreams come true.
After what seemed like hours passing, neither of us gathering the power to speak, only stare into each other's eyes, She finally spoke.
"Hey."
It was at this moment, not the previous one two weeks earlier when we had been a street apart, that I knew I was gone. Hearing Her voice, knowing She was real, I fell and I fell hard.
"Hi, I've seen you before," I replied back after an eternity.
"I know," She giggled.
My God, I thought, that noise, it's the most perfect sound in the history of the universe. I would one day find out that that sound could only come second to that of another, hearing Her scream out my name in pleasure during our most intimate moments. It's something which to this day still invigorates me beyond comprehension.
I smiled back at Her, with the crowds going past we stepped closer to avoid blocking the footpath so that we ended up within each other's personal space. We were so close yet not touching, and it was driving my body insane. Her laugh had subsided and She got serious for a moment, " I-" She hesitated slightly but continued, "I was hoping to see you actually."
My heart which had already been racing a thousand miles an hour skipped a beat. "You did?"
She nodded, "Yeah. I've walked this way for months, ever since I moved here and every day I noticed you." My mouth had suddenly gone dry, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "And then two weeks ago my whole world stopped, that day there were roadworks on, because that day you looked back."
I didn't know what to say, I was honestly lost for words and the sheer excitement of what little I could comprehend of the situation was filling in my chest. Surely no one person could ever feel this happy?
Not being discouraged to continue, She went on, "After that day I promised myself that the next time I saw you I would talk to you, no matter how scared I was, and then today I did, like a sign from God. I'd thought that since I hadn't seen you since that day it was fate's way of telling me that it was never going to happen, but here we are."
"Here we are," I repeated, an astonished smile on my face. Fate had definitely done some interesting things here, that was for sure. But like the girl in front of me said, it was almost like a sign from God, so, taking a leap of faith, I did something I'd never in my life done before. I took a risk.
"I actually wanted to see you too," I explained to the girl in front of me. The shock in Her eyes was evident, which it shouldn't have been, Who WOULDN'T want to see Her? Nodding I continued, "That's actually why I haven't been walking this way lately, because I thought if I went the other way I might see you again." If She wasn't smiling before She definitely was now, which made me smile so before I knew it we were both grinning goofily at each other and looking away out of bashfulness.
Then, out of nowhere, a woman in a hurry also on her way home from work rushed passed a little too closely, her side knocking me quite hard. Normally I would have hit the ground, and I half expected to but instead the girl who had been standing in front of me for the past however long now was just THERE, arms open, and caught me. In more ways than one.
Our faces were now only inches from each other and I got lost staring into Her eyes, those perfect eyes. We both must have been caught in the moment as neither of us noticed the woman apologise hastily before rushing off again. I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, me in Her arms on the footpath of a street, our faces close enough to kiss.
I eventually swallowed when I noticed just how dry my mouth had gotten, whispering, "Thanks." To be honest, it was getting a little hard to think when the only thing I could focus on was the parts of my body that were now in physical contact with Her. Which were a lot.
"You're welcome," She whispered back, Her gaze alternating from staring at my lips and into my eyes.
Looking at Her own now, I leaned in to close the tiny distance between us, stopping only when our lips were brushing. She had Her eyes closed in anticipation for what was coming, the tension that had (anything but) slowly been building between us reaching its breaking point.
"What's your name?" I asked Her softly, but instead of answering straightaway She crashed Her lips onto mine, the impatience and passion both somehow translating across in the movement of our mouths together.
Pulling back out and licking Her lips as if to savour the taste, She stated while still staring at my mouth, "Sian."
I had been left completely speechless by the kiss so instead of being able to say anything back I leaned in to capture her lips in another kiss, this one more tender than the last. I felt her smile against my mouth and this time when we surfaced for air she cupped my face with one hand, leaving the other one holding me where she had caught me and demanded with a smirk, "Name?"
'Sophie," I answered without hesitation.
"Sophie," she repeated smiling. "Wanna go grab a coffee or something?"
The grin on my face got even bigger as I replied, "I have a great coffee maker at home."
"Sold." And as we walked off in the direction of the subway, our hands gentle brushing with smirks on our faces before actually entwining them and lacing our fingers though one another's, I couldn't help but think that so was I.
...
Soooooo, I've been gone a while, I know, I'm sorry, uniwork sucks :( I know I should be updating my fics but I had the idea for this and then instead of simply jotting it down like the idiot I am I started writing and then kept going :/ I do have part of an update for J&J but it's not long enough yet so as soon as it is I'll upload it :) I do have a helluva lot of uniwork to do/catch up on before my exams so I'm not sure how soon that'll be :(
This one's a little different to how I usually write, but comment and let me know whether you liked it or hated it or whatever, it always brightens my read them :)
-devilsspy