Forest Green

When I first saw Seth at lunch the first thought in my mind was about how pretty he was. It might not be the best adjective but I was a little flustered. That’s just what Seth does to me.

He was sitting at my lunch table, talking to my friends, and sitting in my seat. Of course none of those things registered until after I saw him. His soft features. His wispy light brown hair. How his collar bone was pronounced yet feminine at the same time. The freckles that dusted his arms. His flushed, round lips. The sparkle in his eyes. How his hands and feet were so small and delicate. How he slightly curled into himself out of shyness. The curve of his hips and shoulders.

Pretty wasn’t a good description of him but my mind wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. I probably stood in the doorway of the cafeteria for a good five minutes before someone finally noticed me staring and I snapped out of my trance.

I timidly walked over to the table, very conscious of the fact that the boy with the flushed lips was looking right at me and that the only open seat was next to him. When I took my seat I made sure to sneakily move my chair over so that I wouldn’t be so close to his gaze.

His staring reminded me that my shirt was brightly colored and that my pants were extremely tight and that my shoes were ratty and beat up. I didn’t want him to disapprove, as odd as that sounds. He was flawless and perfect, and I felt like I was being watched. Judged. Screened, and so many other synonyms. He made me feel something else too.

Butterflies. And as I already said, I hate bugs.

I kept my eyes anywhere but in his direction, although I could feel his eyes on me continuously. “This is Seth Jes, he’ll be tagging along with us until he actually makes friends that are cool,” Ryan said with a laugh. I finally mustered up my manliness and looked Seth in the eye. Such a stupid mistake.

His eyes were so livid. Angry at me for some unknown reason. But that’s not all that captures my attention. It’s the color. Forest green. The most beautiful and bright shade I have ever seen, but they were marred by hatred it seemed.

He already didn’t like me? Surely my edgy behavior wasn’t something to be mad about. I didn’t understand.

“Do you have a problem with gays?” he asked bitterly. Oh. He does seem like he might be, well, not straight I suppose, but I didn’t like jumping to conclusions. He obviously misinterpreted my girly shyness for homophobic tendencies. I guess that’s just my awkward teenage syndrome kicking in again. My bad…

“Oh…um…n-no…” I wasn’t really sure what the proper way to respond was. I didn’t want to make him angrier than he already was. He seemed to get enraged easily by the topic.

Once he heard my pathetic sputtering he seemed to grow slightly confused as I still tried to find the words in my head without mentioning his prettiness. I wasn’t having much luck with that. I couldn’t stand looking into his forest that was in his irises anymore so I glanced around the table to take in the other facial expressions.

It seemed all of my friends were having a good giggle over my inability to form a clear sentence. “Don’t worry too much about it Seth. Gabe here is just a little socially inept,” more snickers from Ryan. I kicked him under the table for that one and shot him a small glare, although he was right about my social skills…

Basically I had none.

He seemed to take that answer reluctantly, still keeping his eyes on me.

Then it seemed he had an idea. He proceeded to take a folded piece of paper out of his jeans pocket and hand it to me. It was his schedule. “Do we have any classes together?” It was an innocent question but I still felt myself go red when I looked over the sheet of paper. We had every class together but one. The funny thing is he wasn’t in any of my classes this morning. He was probably going through some sort of orientation.

I didn’t answer with words, but with a single nod. He looked at me expectantly waiting for me to list which ones but all I could do was fold the paper back up and slide it across the table to him.

Way to be a freak.

I sat through the rest of lunch without making another sound, not eating my food, and certainly not looking directly at Seth. When the bell finally rang I was out of there before anyone could stop me, not caring that I hadn’t thrown away any of my trash, and into my next class. It was study hall and the only one without Seth.