He looked beyond the gate, stunned. She was walking towards him, her face marred by the leaves of the trees lined along the sidewalk, the metal bars that were slowly rolling open. Her hair was longer than he remembered, brown, not the blonde he remembered. It surprised him. He remembered it brown, but that was a long time ago. She was smaller, her body has changed into something older, something with more ripeness. This wasn’t the child he remembered. Gone was the bounce in her step, the floating-like quality she used to exude with her confidence. She walked with purpose now, and was headed straight for him.
But her eyes, those hadn’t changed. He caught glimpses through the brown branches, her blue eyes detectable, like contrasts only nature could build. She had a sad smile on her face, it seeping into a frown as she grew closer to him, it was obvious then that something had gone wrong. He felt the air leave his chest, ice dropping into the deepest pits of his body, his feet felt as heavy as boulders.
He stopped walking, waiting for her to slowly stride up to him, not sure why she was even there. He hadn’t seen her for months and months, she left him. She tucked a brown strand behind her ear, shyly, unsure, her eyes dodging from spot to spot as if looking for an escape. But that didn’t make any sense. Her very appearance startled him.
“Well, aren’t you a surprise?” he said quietly, his throat dry with confusion. He licked his lips, thrusting his hands into his pockets, not sure what to do with them
“Hi,” she replied.
The emotion that seeped out of that single word hit him like thunder, he shook down to his feet. He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets, making fists, knowing his knuckles were whitening.
She looked at him, noticing his discomfort, damn her. He looked away from her, past her, watching the cars drive by slowly on the street they were standing on. Some slowed as they gazed over at them, making him more uncomfortable. He fidgeted his hands inside his pockets, the denim rubbing roughly against his skin.
He looked back at her, catching her staring at him. She bit her lip. He hated when she did that. His resolve was depleting.
“I…couldn’t do it,” she said, eyes clouding, glistening.
He didn’t need an explanation. He knew what she meant. His face darkened as he thought about what to say next.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she continued, reading his thoughts.
Stealing them more like it, he blustered from within his mind. How did she do that?
He found his voice, meek as it was. “What would you like me to do?”
She turned her head around, looking behind her, gazing out over at the bluish skies, the grey clouds hovering over the mountains in the distance, causing their trouble.
“I don’t think you can, really,” she answered, her head still turned away from him “Do anything…”
The answer frustrated him, but he stayed, rooted to the spot. She was there for a reason, that much was plain. But even he wasn’t sure what it could be. It was heartbreaking to look at her, to look at the years they had spent together, to look at this woman who had changed so much from when he first saw her. For a moment, he saw the anxiousness of youth in her flushed cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her body.
“Come,” he said, not sure if this was the right decision, holding out his hand, the cool air starting to claw its way up his arm.
“Where are we going?” she asked timidly.
He looked down at her sternly, her back straightening in response.
“I’m sorry…I…don’t know what to do…or say…” she sputtered, the wind catching her words, taking them away.
He took her hand firmly, curling his fingers through her delicate ones.
“So don’t,” he whispered, “And just come with me.”
