Through Your Eyes

Marissa impatiently tapped her fingers on the wooden desk as she eyed the clock above the classroom door. The minute hand was dangerously close to the six while the seconds hand was just now starting another round after the twelve.

Her eyes shifted back to her history teacher who had been droning on about World War I for the past hour. Block days were always the worst just because Marissa knew that she would have to sit through an entire hour and a half listening to teachers lecture and give notes all class.

A sigh left her lips as Marissa watched the seconds hand painstakingly move from one tick to another. School was to be let out in less than one minute but it seemed as if the world was moving slower and slower with each passing second.

Her attention was diverted back to her class as her teacher began to talk about their homework for the weekend. A look of annoyance crossed Marissa’s face as she wrote down their assignment of reading ten pages in their textbook along with the two worksheets that were being passed out.

Just as she had shut her planner and tucked it underneath her pencil bag, the school bell indicating the weekend had finally arrived shrilled in Marissa’s ears. She grabbed her books and walked out of her classroom and towards her locker along with a couple of her friends.

Excited chatter filled the crowded hallway as teenagers walked from their last bell class to their own lockers. Some students were rushing as they hurried to catch the bus on time but Marissa walked slowly and comfortably knowing she had a ride home.

On the days that Austin didn’t have basketball conditioning, he usually drove Marissa home. But not before the two of them spent some time together such as going to a school event, getting some ice cream, or just fooling around in the back of his car.

As Marissa approached her locker, she could see Austin leaning against the set of lockers. His head was turned as he was talking to Kyle and Carolyn, whom Marissa recognized as a girl from her chemistry class. She had talked to her a few times but not that often enough to be good friends with her.

“Hey.” Marissa jumped into whatever conversation they were having as she twisted the dial to her locker. “What’s up?”

“Carolyn thinks that if you mix green and yellow you’re supposed to get purple!” Austin exclaimed.

Marissa laughed. “Um what? Did you miss the color wheel day in kindergarten?”

“That’s what Kyle said too!” Carolyn gave Kyle a gentle shove which he only responded with a laugh.

Marissa quickly gathered her textbooks and binders that she needed for the weekend and put them inside her tote bag. She shut her locker and continued the conversation between the four of them.

After a few minutes, both Kyle and Carolyn left and went to their own lockers while Marissa and Austin started to leave the locker bay and towards the entrance of the school. Their hands intertwined with each others as they weaved in and out of the people who were still left in the school.

Ever since school had started last week, Marissa felt like she was in seventh heaven. She didn’t think coming back from her week long vacation was going to make her this happy, but it did. Not realizing how much she had actually missed Austin, Marissa was surprised to find herself craving more time with her boyfriend.

Not that she was an obsessive girlfriend. Marissa was far from it. She let Austin have his space just like he let her. Marissa knew some couples who spent every waking moment together and not having a life beside each other. But she and Austin weren’t like that. Of course, they spent time with each other but no where near the possessiveness of other couples.

Austin pushed one of the glass doors open and held it out for her as they stepped out into the sunny day. A few of their friends were outside waiting for their own rides. Marissa waved to a couple of friends before following Austin to his car.

She opened the door and slid in as she set her bag underneath the passenger’s seat. Leaning down, she pushed the power but on the radio while Austin started the car and pulled out of the school parking lot. Humming quietly to herself, Marissa stared at the window as the music began to over take her thoughts.

Marissa was so absorbed in her music that when Austin spoke, it startled her. “Sorry, what did you say? I didn’t hear you,” Marissa apologized as she diverted her entire attention to Austin.

Austin chuckled but repeated what he had said before. “Are we still going to The Cone?”

“Of course! Ice cream sounds amazing right now.” As soon as she answered back, Marissa could see The Cone come into view down the road.

Austin pulled into the parking lot and turned off the ignition. Marissa opened the door and let her flip flops hit the concrete ground. She slammed the car door shut behind her and followed Austin’s lead inside The Cone. Walking inside, Marissa could see some other kids from school and they both quickly joined them.
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Marissa grasped the door knob and stepped onto the top of the two stairs that were below the door from the garage door. If she turned the knob, she would enter into the kitchen where she was praying that her parents were not in.

Gently, Marissa twisted the door knob and pushed the door open as she tried not to make any noise. The dim lights of the kitchen met her eyes and she quickly shut the door quietly behind her. Slipping off her flip flops so not to make any noise, Marissa punched in the code to lock the house once more.

Glancing around, Marissa tip toed through the kitchen and had just reached the carpet floor when she heard her dad’s voice behind her. “Marissa?” She shut her eyes and let silent curses run through her head before plastering a fake smile on her face and turning around.

“Yes Daddy?” Marissa asked innocently.

“Do you not know what time it is?” Mr. Skyes questioned with a raised eyebrow. Marissa’s eyes traveled to the grandfather clock that was standing behind her and saw that it was a little past nine in the evening.

“It’s five past nine,” Marissa stated. She brushed her bangs out of her face and hoped that she was putting on a confident front because at the moment she felt like that was the only thing that was going to save her.

“Well at least we got that covered. Does it really take you six hours to come back from school?” her father asked. Marissa could see he was slowly losing his patience at her and was trying hard not to raise his voice. “Where were you?”

“I sent you a text, but I guess you didn’t see it,” Marissa replied within a second. Thank goodness for Austin and his attention to details. “I went over to Leslie’s to work on our history project.” She could see her dad starting to calm down and quickly added, “I left a message at home to since I couldn’t reach Mom or you at work.”

“Alright, but please don’t make this a habit,” her dad said almost reluctantly. Marissa grinned and kissed her dad on the cheek before making her way to the stairs and into her room.

After Austin and she had stopped at The Cone, they had gone back to his place and…hung out, more or less to that definition. It wasn’t till around five or so that Austin realized that she probably should call home and tell her parents she was anywhere but his place, and it was a good thing he had remembered. If he hadn’t, she knew that she would be definitely be grounded by this time.

Marissa sighed and tossed her school bag onto her bed. She didn’t really have much homework tonight, which was kind of strange considering most nights consisted of at least three hours dedicated to study.

Walking into her closet, Marissa picked up her clothes she had thrown on the floor from the night before and dumped them into her hamper. Finding some pajamas, she changed into them, deciding that she would take a shower tomorrow morning instead of tonight.

It was when she brushing out here hair that Marissa’s phone began to go off. Setting her hair brush on her dresser, she walked over to her school bag and pulled out her phone. A huge smile broke out on her face as she read the caller id and hit accept.

“Hello?” Marissa answered. She moved her school bag from her bed and to the ground before she turned off the main light to her room and turned on the small lamp.

“Hey, are you busy?” His voice hadn’t changed one bit from the last time she had spoken to him, which had been almost a week ago. It usually depended on his schedule, but most of the time Marissa talked to him at least once a week.

“Nope, not at all,” Marissa replied. “I was just getting ready for bed, that’s all.”

“Well, I won’t keep you on for too long,” Nick said. “I have a proposal for you.”

Marissa knitted her eyebrows in confusion. “A proposal? What do you mean?”

Nick laughed knowing that she was already confused by his choice of words but continued his thought. “We haven’t been able to talk much lately and since I’m actually not that busy this weekend, I was thinking we could meet up.” He paused for a second. “If that’s okay with you.”

Her eyes lit up as Nick finished speaking. “Of course that’s okay with me! I haven’t seen you since the Bahamas and it’d be great to see you again. Are you free tomorrow night?”

“Sure, do you have anything in mind?” Nick asked.

Marissa nodded her head despite the fact that she knew that he couldn’t see her. “We could have dinner at one of our restaurants. I can get us a table and everything. And it wouldn’t be somewhere where people could see you.”

“Now that sounds like a good idea.” Nick chuckled. “I’ll be surprised if we can get see each other without somebody or the other taking pictures of us. But we can try. So tomorrow at what time?”

“Let’s shoot for seven,” Marissa stated. “It’ll be the best time. I’ll text you tomorrow with the details on where and what to do get inside.”

“It’s a plan,” Nick confirmed. “I’ll let you go to bed since it’s getting late. We can catch up tomorrow.”

Marissa smiled. “Thanks, Nick.” They hung up on each other soon afterwards after another couple minutes or so.

Going to bed that night, Marissa felt a slight sheer of excitement for tomorrow night. It had been almost two weeks since she had last seen Nick and tomorrow would definitely prove to be an interesting night.