Vocabularily Adventurous
from the mixed-up files of E. G. Morgan
A Chip of Glass | Prose
Mid-July, 2007
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"Well, if it isn't Jamie Blackburn, come back to haunt us."
The boy who had been addressed turned apathetically and gave the girl before him a quizzical look.
"Have we met?"
The young woman flushed, having assumed that he would remember her after only two years apart. She had grown an inch and died her hair, but there was no other explanation for his sudden amnesia.
Before she could admonish him, though, his gaze became one of slight recognition, and he said, "Oh, right, you were the girl you used to stalk me."
There was a moment in which everything in the world was silenced except the pulsing blood in her ears, and she was almost sure her heart stopped beating as she gazed at the handsome boy with the little sneer his eyes. Finally, the earth's rotation resumed, and the girl narrowed her eyes in wounded confusion.
"Stalk you?" she repeated, shaking her head. "What makes you think I ever stalked you?"
He laughed, tossing his blond curls out of his eyes. "I dunno, the random yet frequent meetings, the flirting, the lingering gazes when you thought I wasn't looking..."
The casual attitude with which he accused her of having been anything other than friendly made her both chilled and overheated at the same time. "Okay, first of all, any random meetings were unplanned, as the word 'random' would suggest, so even if they bothered you, I couldn't possibly control how frequent they were. Besides, we have common interests. Why shouldn't I be allowed to make conversation about them?"
There was patronizing laughter in his eyes as he repeated, "Common interests? Like what? The fact that you used to play cello while I excel at it? The fact that I met someone you knew once and didn't even really like him? The fact that we've both acted in Guys and Dolls?"
The girl was red in the face, but not out of embarrassment. Jamie was forced to silently admit that her eyes became an irresistible shade of green when she got angry.
"As a matter of fact, yes, those could all be deemed perfectly acceptable topics of conversation."
"Even though it's common knowledge that you're not a very good actress, so the Guys and Dolls one doesn't really count..." he stated matter-of-factly, and the girl opened her mouth, shocked and indignant.
"How dare you?!" she cried. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"
"Besides the obvious, you mean?" he asked, defiant and stoic like some betrayed monarch or unrelenting general. The young woman's eyes softened a little, and she was clearly waiting for him to inform her of what "the obvious" was.
His mouth was set in a straight line and his high cheekbones were dusted with red, the only sign that he wasn't as calm inside as he appeared to be on the outside. She glanced at his hands, white-knuckled and balled into fists at his side, and realized that she had never seen anyone so enraged. Then he spoke.
"Next time the person you've fallen in love with starts going out with your best friend, let me know how you feel."
There were quite a few explanations that she would have more readily expected. PMS was one, and another was that she had pronounced his last name incorrectly, rendering him unable to be civil. But the words that fell from his lips were like a foreign language for several long, silent moments, until finally she could speak. Her voice was trembling and barley audible.
"I dated Nick two years ago, Jamie."
The corner of his mouth twitched, but his eyes were still unforgiving and cold. "Doesn't mean I stopped, Meg."
She searched for possible meanings of this last statement. Stopped hating her? Hating her old boyfriend, Nick, whom she had met and befriended the same day Jamie entered her life? Stopped wishing he had told her off sooner?
But she knew what he meant, and the fact that his eyes, blue like the sky between dusk and twilight, were not longer filled with resentment but rather with a sort of sad fondness made her even more sure. Jamie had never stopped loving her.
Megan had no idea when it had begun, no idea that Jamie had been anything other than a friend, and when he suddenly grew cold the moment she began dating Nick, she had hardly noticed. In hindsight, now that she was returning to those far away memories, Megan could almost pick out enough telltale signs to believe him.
"But... why would you call me a stalker?"
He first looked confused, then slightly ashamed as he replied, "I've had two years to find something that could make you even more the bad guy I wanted you to be. If I hated you, then..."
"You couldn't feel the opposite," she said softly, finishing his thought while carefully avoiding using the word "love." It was still quite difficult to believe, and the more distantly she addressed it, the more distant it would remain.
Jamie finally lowered his eyes, for the first time breaking their gaze, and nodded, once, slowly. "It took me all of freshman year to get to know you, and it took me two years at the junior college to forget everything I had learned. But it took a second for all of it to come rushing back, as if I had never left."
Megan was struggling to put her many confusing thoughts into words. In the end, though, she simply said, "I hope you'll find a way to forgive me."
He didn't respond, but instead looked into her eyes once more. She didn't look away until Ben Casey shouted Jamie's name and hurried over for a handshake and a hug. Ben began to lead him toward a group of his friends, and Megan, without thinking, opened her mouth.
"Jamie!"
The young man turned and waited patiently.
Megan swallowed, sighed, and said, "I'm glad you're back."
And though it didn't show on his face, Jamie's blue eyes were smiling.
The boy who had been addressed turned apathetically and gave the girl before him a quizzical look.
"Have we met?"
The young woman flushed, having assumed that he would remember her after only two years apart. She had grown an inch and died her hair, but there was no other explanation for his sudden amnesia.
Before she could admonish him, though, his gaze became one of slight recognition, and he said, "Oh, right, you were the girl you used to stalk me."
There was a moment in which everything in the world was silenced except the pulsing blood in her ears, and she was almost sure her heart stopped beating as she gazed at the handsome boy with the little sneer his eyes. Finally, the earth's rotation resumed, and the girl narrowed her eyes in wounded confusion.
"Stalk you?" she repeated, shaking her head. "What makes you think I ever stalked you?"
He laughed, tossing his blond curls out of his eyes. "I dunno, the random yet frequent meetings, the flirting, the lingering gazes when you thought I wasn't looking..."
The casual attitude with which he accused her of having been anything other than friendly made her both chilled and overheated at the same time. "Okay, first of all, any random meetings were unplanned, as the word 'random' would suggest, so even if they bothered you, I couldn't possibly control how frequent they were. Besides, we have common interests. Why shouldn't I be allowed to make conversation about them?"
There was patronizing laughter in his eyes as he repeated, "Common interests? Like what? The fact that you used to play cello while I excel at it? The fact that I met someone you knew once and didn't even really like him? The fact that we've both acted in Guys and Dolls?"
The girl was red in the face, but not out of embarrassment. Jamie was forced to silently admit that her eyes became an irresistible shade of green when she got angry.
"As a matter of fact, yes, those could all be deemed perfectly acceptable topics of conversation."
"Even though it's common knowledge that you're not a very good actress, so the Guys and Dolls one doesn't really count..." he stated matter-of-factly, and the girl opened her mouth, shocked and indignant.
"How dare you?!" she cried. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"
"Besides the obvious, you mean?" he asked, defiant and stoic like some betrayed monarch or unrelenting general. The young woman's eyes softened a little, and she was clearly waiting for him to inform her of what "the obvious" was.
His mouth was set in a straight line and his high cheekbones were dusted with red, the only sign that he wasn't as calm inside as he appeared to be on the outside. She glanced at his hands, white-knuckled and balled into fists at his side, and realized that she had never seen anyone so enraged. Then he spoke.
"Next time the person you've fallen in love with starts going out with your best friend, let me know how you feel."
There were quite a few explanations that she would have more readily expected. PMS was one, and another was that she had pronounced his last name incorrectly, rendering him unable to be civil. But the words that fell from his lips were like a foreign language for several long, silent moments, until finally she could speak. Her voice was trembling and barley audible.
"I dated Nick two years ago, Jamie."
The corner of his mouth twitched, but his eyes were still unforgiving and cold. "Doesn't mean I stopped, Meg."
She searched for possible meanings of this last statement. Stopped hating her? Hating her old boyfriend, Nick, whom she had met and befriended the same day Jamie entered her life? Stopped wishing he had told her off sooner?
But she knew what he meant, and the fact that his eyes, blue like the sky between dusk and twilight, were not longer filled with resentment but rather with a sort of sad fondness made her even more sure. Jamie had never stopped loving her.
Megan had no idea when it had begun, no idea that Jamie had been anything other than a friend, and when he suddenly grew cold the moment she began dating Nick, she had hardly noticed. In hindsight, now that she was returning to those far away memories, Megan could almost pick out enough telltale signs to believe him.
"But... why would you call me a stalker?"
He first looked confused, then slightly ashamed as he replied, "I've had two years to find something that could make you even more the bad guy I wanted you to be. If I hated you, then..."
"You couldn't feel the opposite," she said softly, finishing his thought while carefully avoiding using the word "love." It was still quite difficult to believe, and the more distantly she addressed it, the more distant it would remain.
Jamie finally lowered his eyes, for the first time breaking their gaze, and nodded, once, slowly. "It took me all of freshman year to get to know you, and it took me two years at the junior college to forget everything I had learned. But it took a second for all of it to come rushing back, as if I had never left."
Megan was struggling to put her many confusing thoughts into words. In the end, though, she simply said, "I hope you'll find a way to forgive me."
He didn't respond, but instead looked into her eyes once more. She didn't look away until Ben Casey shouted Jamie's name and hurried over for a handshake and a hug. Ben began to lead him toward a group of his friends, and Megan, without thinking, opened her mouth.
"Jamie!"
The young man turned and waited patiently.
Megan swallowed, sighed, and said, "I'm glad you're back."
And though it didn't show on his face, Jamie's blue eyes were smiling.
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Yours, Most Devotedly
12:06 AM on October 07, 2008
it's wonderfully witty and terribly cute, but I read Jamie Blackburn and all I could think of was Mr. Blackburn the 6th Grade math teacher from JJHS. <br> <br>p.s. after reading through it again, I have a sneaking suspicion I've read this before... have I?
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