First encounter

As he walked towards her, his heart rate went up and his hands felt ice cold. She hasn’t noticed him yet and he hoped she wouldn’t, or else he’d turn around and walk away. Finally he took a deep breath and stood in front of her as her eyes were still on the pages of her book.

“So you like to read?”. He asked trying to hide the nervousness on his voice.

Nerissa looked up at him and her eyes reflected surprised seeing him there standing in front of her. The look on his eyes was still the same she feared so much. Closing her book she stood up and after pulled her hair behind her ears she looked at him.

“Yes sometimes, when it’s a good book”. She answered while she was still wondering what was he doing there talking to her.

Robert smiled. “My sister loves to read, she has lots of books”.

 “Really? That is very nice, what kind of books does she like?”. She managed to answer him, holding her book tight against her chest as if she was trying to protect herself from him.

“She has a lot really, I don’t think she have just one kind she likes”.

“She loves books indeed. And so what are you doing here?”. Nerissa asked him not knowing what else to say.

Robert did not want to screw up with his words because she was trying to have a nice conversation with him and he could perceive by the look on her eyes how uncomfortable she felt.

“I just needed a walk and I thought it would be wrong to waste such a beautiful morning”.

Now he was not screwing up nor being rude, but he was lying. He didn’t like sunny days that much and he hated to wake up early, especially on weekend mornings. He knew he was lying to her and he felt guilty about it, so he tried to change the subject.

“That thing makes your hair look beautiful”. He said pointing to her head.

Nerissa smiled and touched her head. “You mean the headband? Well thank you, sometimes I think I should stop wearing this”. She replied. She loved how he sounded with his English accent.

“Why not?”.

“Because I think I look like a five year old girl, I don’t know”. She said with a shy smile.

“I think it makes you look like an---it makes you look unique, not many girls wear them”. He was about to tell her she looked like an angel but he didn’t dare. From afar she was someone beautiful to him, but whenever he was close to her, he just couldn’t be nice at all. It was like he hated her for confusing his mind and heart.

“Thank you. You know I had a different impression of you the first time I saw you, but maybe I was wrong”.

“What impression did you have?”.

“I don’t know that you were  a mysterious guy, like a hermit or something”.

 “A hermit, really?”. He really didn’t like that, but since he was trying to be nice he slightly smiled.

 “Well I got to go now”. He said and turned around. Her comment about him being a ‘hermit’ had made him mad and he walked away before saying something rude to her.

Nerissa was confused about his reaction. After having a conversation with him now he was about to walk away without even saying good bye. She thought that maybe she was right about him after all, his personality kept confusing her more, but it was also making her more curious about him.

“Wait!”. She gathered the courage to yell at him.

He turned around and looked at her. Nerissa walked towards him.

“Will you come to my house tomorrow?  My mom invited your family to have dinner with us”.

Was she really asking him to come to her house?, he didn’t know how to react and what to say. Her beautiful hazel eyes directly looking into his eyes, how could he say no? But of course he was not going to make things easy for her and instead of giving her the answer she was hoping, he turned things the other way.

“Well if you invite me I’ll be very happy to come”. He told her looking directly into her beautiful eyes lit by the sunlight.

She felt trapped by the burning look he was giving her. Her breathing suddenly went faster and she stepped back a little but Robert steeped forward.  A strange sense of fear invaded her as he walked closer again, she was afraid but at the same time it was like if she knew he could never hurt her. She continued walking backwards and he continued walking forward until he cornered her between a him and a tree.

Nerissa felt her back bumping into the tree making her stop, at this point she was very nervous, and her heartbeats were so strong she could feel how her heart was banging in her chest. The strength on her hands and her feet was gone and she almost dropped her book. Holding her gaze at him without saying anything. She noticed his gray with slight shades of blue eyes burning a hole into hers, they were addictive to behold. She was so mesmerized that she failed to notice that Robert enclosed her against the tree with his arms waiting for the answer.

“I just hope you can come”. She said ducking out of between his arms. Robert didn’t move at all. “I got to go”. She said before quickly walking away. Robert just watched her leave. He smiled at the thought of intimidate her once again; it was something he couldn’t control.

He walked back home and as he got there, his father was at the garage working on his car.

“What’s wrong?” Robert asked him as he stood in front of the garage door.

“Fluid leak”. His father answered from under the car.

Robert could just see his feet.

“Do you need help?”. He asked bending to see his father.

“Sure, can you pass me the red rag please?”.

Robert handed him the red rag and he remained bend down.

“So you heard about tomorrow’s dinner with the neighbors?” He asked.

“Yes, your mother told me about it”

“Are you going?”

“Of course, it would be rude if we don’t”. He said coming out of under the car, cleaning his greasy hands on the rag.

“How did you tell my mom you liked her?”. He suddenly changed the subject on his father.

“Why you ask?”. He replied confused.

“Just answer if you want”.

There were rare moments like these between James and his son, so he didn’t want to disappoint him or ignore him so even if the question seemed strange to him he thought about the best answer he could give.

“Well, I knew I liked her a lot since I first talked to her, which was in high school. She was my partner for an exercise on our fitness class, I felt bad about being a little overweight and she made silly jokes about weight to make me feel better. I knew she was someone special, and I didn’t stop talking to her ever since”.

“But I mean how did you feel when you were close to her?”.

“I just going to tell you that I never thought someone could make me so weak and strong at the same time”. James told him smiling.

“I see”. He looked at his father and went inside the house.

James knew that Robert was a hard shell to brake. It was the first time in years he asked him something like that. And of course James thought that Robert could be in love with someone. He had missed part of his son’s life, but he was determined to be part of the rest of it.