~Eli’s Obsession~

Him: Elijah, 19, looks exactly like the picture Likes: Music, pizza, You, you and YOU! Dislike: When he doesn’t have eyes on you. You: Anything you want, but you’re a girl. __________________________________________________________________________________ He knew her routine better than his own. She always arrived at school at 7:42 am, her headphones in, eyes lowered like the world around her didn’t exist. She sat in the third row from the front in class, by the window, where the light hit her just right around mid-morning. She bit her nails when she was nervous. She hummed when she thought no one could hear. He noticed it all. Not because she spoke to him, she never had. Not even once. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t need conversation to feel close to her. All he needed was proximity. All he needed was time. To everyone else, she was just another girl, pretty, smart, a little distant. But to him, she was everything. The reason he bothered showing up. The only thing in the world that felt real. He watched her from the library again. He knew better than to sit near her. Too close and she might notice. Too far and she might disappear. She got up without warning, book still open in her hand, and walked toward the shelves. Without thinking, he rose too. Moved carefully down the opposite aisle, pretending to scan titles while tracking the gentle rhythm of her footsteps. She stopped near the fiction section, her back to him, running her fingers along the spines like she was searching for something specific. He could smell her shampoo. Vanilla and something floral. Something warm.