I Know Those Eyes

I woke up to the sound of honking cars and screeching buses outside my window. I groaned, rolling over. I opened up my eyes and glanced tiredly to the right of the bed, where my clock read eight o’ clock. Groaning once again, I threw the duvet off of me and rolled out of bed, heading for my dresser. It was Wednesday; three more days till the weekend.

I opened up my dresser and grabbed a purple tank top and some jeans and threw them on wearily. Once I was fully dressed, I walked over to the mirror and brushed out my long, brown hair.

I need to get a haircut, I thought. Once my hair was brushed, I spun my eyeliner pencil through my fingers, drawing a thin line on my upper lid. Once I thought I looked presentable enough, I tossed it onto my desk. I stared at myself in the mirror for a few seconds. I was nineteen, almost twenty. As I was staring into my reflection, my eyes caught a picture that had been taped onto the side of my mirror years ago. In the picture, I looked much younger; my face was more rounded, and my hair shorter. I was smiling. My arms were around somebody, hugging them close to me. The other person was smiling just as wide. His eyes were staring up at the camera as if it was a person itself. It was a snapshot of a scene that was four years ago. It had also been the last time I had seen that face.

I glanced away with a tear in my eye. I had to leave the past behind. I ran to the kitchen, ignoring the feeling in my stomach. I grabbed a banana off of the blue ceramic counter and grabbed my bag, flinging it over my shoulder. I walked out of the door to my apartment quickly, not looking back. I walked down the two flights of stairs that separated me from the busy Chicago street.

~ ~ ~

“Hey, you’re on time for once!” I heard my friend Jess call to me with glee in her voice. I smiled weakly at her from her position behind the counter and put my bag down. Her smile fell, and a frown replaced it. “What’s wrong, Sarah?” She spoke softly, as if not wanting to disturb any thought going through my head.

“Nothing, Jess. Just...I’ve just been thinking too much, that’s all.” I looked up at her. She nodded and gave me a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry about him, hun. I’m sure he misses you still too.”

I bit my lower lip, nodding slowly. A bell rang behind me suddenly, making me jump. I looked behind me to see that a customer had just come into the store.

“Hey, do you have the new Paramore CD?” the customer asked. He was a young guy, about our age. He was looking around the store, flicking away the brown hair that covered his eyes every few seconds.

“Yeah, duh!” Jess said giddily. The man smiled as she skipped from behind the counter to a nearby CD rack. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” he said. He stepped up to the counter, where I took it from him and began punching numbers into the register. “Do you guys know when the new Panic at the Disco CD comes out?” He spoke with a grin on his face.

Jess glanced at me for a second before replying. “Yeah, it comes out in about a month. It comes out in March, right Sarah?”

“Right,” I said softly. I handed him the receipt for him to sign. He scribbled his name down on it before handing it back to me.

“Oh, okay. Great. Thanks!” The man took his bag and walked out of the store. Jess blushed, then walked back behind the counter. I looked down at the receipt quickly. The name Jon Walker was scribbled onto it in messy handwriting. I stuffed it underneath the counter where we put all of our receipts, and turned to Jess.

“Stop thinking about him,” she said. “You’ll see him again someday, I promise.” I nodded again, turning to lean on the counter. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep.