Angel Eyes

The best part of being in a new place, and a new setting, is that no one knew who she was, and she liked that a lot. There was no one to judge her on her mistakes, not even her faults yet. No one knew anything about her, and she decided to keep it that way.

Mostly because she couldn’t handle someone looking at her the way they had looked at her. She didn’t want someone’s pity, or their empathy. What she wanted was to be treated like she was alive and not some kind of ticking bomb. She may have been once, like a long time ago, but not here—not in Orange County. She was Roxanne Baker—she had the badass Baker blood running through her system. No one should have been walking around her as if they were treading water, as if a shark was getting ready to strike.

That’s what she liked a lot about Lee—she was honest, brutal and kept all of her worries and sympathetic feelings to herself. She may have caught her looking at her with concern a few times within the past two years, but that’s what best friends do. If anyone knew her better than she knew herself, it was most likely Leana. They’ve been best friends since they were in diapers, and had stalked the hall of every school for years together. For the longest time, people wanted to be them, not with them. She liked it then, but when last year came around, people weren’t swarming around her—instead, they ran the opposite way.

“I mean, even half the staff is sexy, Roxi. It’s so hard to stay focused when you’ve got this big, sexy man standing in front of you lecturing about something. I mean, even Zack can make History sexy.” Roxi laughed as she stuck a spoonful of frozen yogurt in her mouth. Her face was showing how disgusted she was as she put the spoon back in, swooping up another spoonful of yogurt.

“That’s my cousin you’re talking about, Lee, do you have any idea how gross that is? I mean, he’s practically my brother.” She thought of him—all 5’8” of him, with his short dark hair, bright green eyes and newly toned body. He had lost all of his little baby fat, and though he was a good looking guy—she wouldn’t go around fawning over him. They grew up together, sort of. His father was related to her mother, which made them cousins. But they lived on different ends of the United States, and only came to visit a few times within the year. Recently, though, he’s been super busy teaching his History class, and it’s been quite hard on Roxi.

“I know, Rox, but c’mon, he’s seriously sexy.” Roxi rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless—Lee has always been a bit boy crazy. Lee looked down at her cup and realized that her cup was empty and she frowned. “I don’t have any more yogurt!” She whined, saddened by the lack of frozen chocolate yum in her cup. Roxi laughed and looked down at her own cup, to find that she was empty too.

“I think I’m going to buy some more, Lee.” She decided. The brown-haired friend laughed and shook her head.

“No, you don’t have time—can’t miss your first class, can we?” Lee looked over at her best friend and wiggled her eyebrows. “I’ll be right back; I need to use the ladies room.” Roxi smiled and settled her empty cup down, just as her phone vibrated in her back pocket. Still smiling to herself, she pulled it out and saw that it was her cousin Zack. Shaking her head at the irony, she opened the text and laughed.

I heard some ringing in my ears, is Leana talking about me again? She laughed out loud, but silently wondered how Leana could have such a blunt attitude. Many times she’s told Zacky that he’s a hottie, and that it didn’t matter to her about how old he was. Lee just really wanted to bang him. And honestly, Roxi thought that Zacky didn’t mind at all. Maybe once or twice, she sent back, adding in a winking emoji.

As she put the phone back on the table, she decided to survey the little open Frozen Yogurt place. It was right on the boardwalk, so she could smell the salt from the ocean—and if she listened hard enough, she could hear waves hitting the shore, along with the shouts of happy people on the beach. Slowly, her mind went back to her sophomore year, when Jake had brought her to Hampton for a week. They were friends then, nothing more. But she was sure that is when it changed between the two of them. Maybe it was the endless nights on the beach, sneaking a couple bottles of beers and drinking together as they laid there and looked at the stars, the sound of the waves hitting the beach.

The way the moonlight shined on him, as if to say ‘He’s here, and he’s yours’.

Her chest tightened at the memory of his dark brown eyes. No, she thought to herself, you can’t cry here. Just stop, things are fine. She figured if she lied to herself, no one else would.

Deciding it was best to get up and forget about the memories that were currently making it hard to breathe, she grabbed both her empty bowl and Lee’s and turned to throw them out.

But someone had other plans.

“Oh!” She exclaimed quietly, as her body slammed into another one, causing her to drop both cups on the lightly tiled floor. Her cheeks already began to flame up, and she could feel the embarrassment begin in her toes. Looking up, putting her red hair behind her ears, she caught the sight of a man. “I’m so sorry.” She blurted out.

Brian stood before the little red head, and even though her head had been down she could still see her cheeks become red. It nearly matched the color of her hair. He was wondering if she was a natural red head, just because it was such a vibrant red—it’s not something you see so often.

He had been on his way to find Jimmy; he was sitting over in the corner with his head phones on, tapping away to whatever music he was listening to. He has been ten minutes late to his first class, something he never was, to find out that nearly half the class didn’t even show up anyways. He decided to just hand out the syllabus and let them slide out the door without another word.

Brian chuckled as she brought her gaze to meet his.

And that was it. Everything around him began to dim, until the only thing he could see was her eyes. They were so bright, so clear that he had begun to wonder if he was looking into her eyes, or a pool or fresh chlorine water. “I’m so sorry!” She didn’t seem a bit bothered, not like he was, but her lips…her bright, beautiful shade of pink lips formed a surprised ‘O’ and shined from the sun.

He stood there speechless for a few seconds, and Roxi began to wonder if she had hit some kind of vocal, or movement, chord because he wasn’t moving or saying anything. He just stared at her, and to be honest, it was scaring her. She tucked some more hair out of her face and looked away from him and down at her hands. And she gasped.

She had yogurt all over her shirt.

“I leave you alone for one minute, Roxanne, and you’re already jumping people? I swear I need to keep a leash on you. What is all over your shirt, Roxi?” Roxi looked over at Leana to see that her brown eyes were on the same spot hers was on just a few seconds ago.

“Oh shit,” The man sputtered out, his hands immediately reaching beside her to the counter where there was a tissue dispenser. “I’m so sorry,” He began to wipe away at her shirt furiously, his tattooed fingers wiping the yogurt off. Her cheeks began to flame up again, his odd silence forgotten.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it, sir.” She said softly, her own hands trying to clean off the yogurt.

“I’m such a moron,” Lee sat back and watched him curiously, with his head shaved to a buzz on the sides, while the rest was gelled back. It seems like he was in quite a rush when he had done it, but it still looked great. Not to mention he looked a bit familiar to her—she was having a hard time placing it, due to the fact that he was currently supporting sunglasses on his face, propped by his cute little nose.

“Really, it’s okay—I should be apologizing. I ran into you. I’m such a klutz, really, I totally am. I really am sorry!”

Brian laughed silently and awkwardly as he pulled his hands away, realizing he was just ruining her cute little blue tank top. He had a vanilla yogurt, thank god, but there was a large wet stain beginning from the middle of her chest, down to her abdomen. She was showing a little bit of midriff, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the creamy color of her skin. She must burn under the sun, though you could tell she’s been kissed by it already. Someone coughed to his right, and he looked over to see a small, petite brunette.

“Leana?” He exclaimed, his hands going to his face to take off his glasses. He remembered her from his music theory class she had taken last semester, her blunt attitude always making him feel a little bit uncomfortable—but, like any man, he felt flattered and did notice she was easy on the eyes.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, “Haner!” She laughed out loud and shook her head, her loose curls bouncing with her. “I thought you looked familiar.” She sat back, her arms crossing her chest and her eyebrow rising in question. “Are you trying to harass my best friend, Haner?”

Brian rolled his eyes and groaned. He was never going to let this one go. “You two know each other?” She said, her voice ringing out low and steady. Did she always talk like she was in church? He looked down at the girl again, realizing that she was quite short. She was sporting a pair of shorts on her legs, and on her feet she was wearing flip flops.

Honestly, Brian thought she was really skinny, but she was breathtakingly gorgeous. “Yeah,” Lee said, catching Brian’s attention. “He’s one of the professors at the college.”

How embarrassing, she thought to herself. She couldn’t fight the feeling that the name sounded familiar. Haner, where have I heard that name? “Oh,” She said softly, her eyes becoming thoughtful and turning to her left. There was a clock behind Lee’s head, and she caught the sight of it and nearly let out a shriek. “Lee!” She said hurriedly, reaching into her back pocket. Brian noticed that it was a cell phone and watched as she checked the time. “I have class in fifteen minutes!”

“Oh geez,” She said, looking at her own phone. “Looks like we gotta go, Brian! Talk to you later!” The girls took off in a rush, but before she left Roxi turned around and gave a last wave.

“I am so sorry, once again!” She shouted. Brian went to shout after her, but she had left before he could get anything out.

He made his way to Jimmy, his yogurt addiction forgotten, but instead his mind entirely on the beautiful red head he had just ran into. There was something about her, something that he wasn’t sure about. But he was going to figure it out, he will—he was sure of it.

But he needed to get through his divorce, first.