Estrogen - Lost Pieces of Memory Three
I think both of us have always known that sooner or later, we’d have to meet.
When I entered senior high, there was no doubt that I’d be joining the basketball club. How my fame rose was unknown to me though. Some time in the middle of the first year, there were girls standing at the open doors of the basketball court, always cheering and giggling about one thing or another. It was only much later did someone tell me that I was the topic of their conversation.
Slowly, I became a face of the school. Everywhere I went, there were groups of fans following. So I learnt to smile and speak with them as if we were friends. I was friends with everyone in the school. I supposed only I knew how their faces all blurred into one and whenever I spoke, I spoke to a silhouette with no face.
For a long time, I thought senior high would just pass like so.
Until I caught wind of the other face of the school. To be fair, she had a much better looking face than mine. Between the two of us, there were always new gossips or some sort of spazz worthy material.
Truthfully, I’ve never met her properly.
However, from the words that were passed around school and those around me talking about her, it was like I’ve known her my entire life. Before even speaking with her, I could tell you her favourite color, her favourite food, her favourite vacation spot, her favourite saying, her favourite…
Almost everything.
There were times when I’d caught sight of her back or her profile, even when I finally caught glimpses of her completely, they were never solid views.
First year flew by without us even passing a greeting. It wasn’t like I was tormented over this in my months off, but it was somewhat baffling and I was left intrigued. When I thought our popularity would pass in the second year, it only renewed with intensified energy. I’ve heard the rumours that our senior high suffered a higher application rate due to the two of us.
Two months into our second year, we finally met for the first time.
It was before all the leaves were blown off the trees; she was sitting on a bench underneath a tree with a book in her hand. I was passing by on a short cut to the basketball court and I couldn’t help but slow down when I approached her. She must have heard me coming, for she lowered her book and glanced up at me. At that moment, it was truly just the two of us in this world… or at least, in that part of the school.
Such a moment was rare; for there was always someone around one of us.
“Hello.” I said with a smile and walked closer.
“Good afternoon.”
“It’s nice to meet you. Finally.”
“Indeed.”
We both fell silent and just looked at each other. I didn’t know what compelled me to do so, but the intense intrigue and that feeling of having known her for my entire life mixed into one simple phrase that shaped our lives from then on.
“Let’s go out.” I said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
There was no I like you or I’ve always been taking notice of you, but it seemed there needn’t such things between us. She looked at me calmly and then smiled, her expression softening with that one gesture.
“Sunday afternoon then?”
“Sunday afternoon it is.”
Maybe because we both have been in the spot light for so long, we’ve long been drawn towards each other. Or maybe, the more romantic thing to say would be we fell in love at first sight.
To be continued...