corrupted lungs | d.w #Wattys2016

e i g h t

I didn't say anything. I simply just stared at the boy who curiously gazed back at me, taking a few drags from his cigarette but making sure not to puff the smoke into my face. His hood was covering most of his face, all I could see was his dark brown hair sticking out, and his blue eyes that seemed to be glowing in the dark. I'd never noticed it before, but his eyes were ocean blue. It looked like you could drown in them, which I probably was doing right now. And they were beautiful.

He was beautiful.

I opened my mouth to say something, but had no idea what to tell him. Hi, seemed like a good idea, so that's what I said.

His lips curved up into a little smile. "Hi," he told me back rather quietly, and I smiled back at him.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked. He just shrugged at that and took a drag from his cigarette. The silence, again. He wasn't much of a talker, so much I'd understood. And often, people who told me absolutely nothing drove me insane. But not this time. Not Dallon. Dallon, was different.

I crossed my arms over my chest, releasing a sigh from my pursed lips. "You're not much of a talker, are you?"

The boy grinned. "I only talk when I absolutely need to." He told me with a more powerful voice than before and I rose an eyebrow at him.

"Do you feel the need to talk to me?" I asked, as he put out his cigarette by rubbing it against the streetlight's hard surface. I watched him as he did, curious whether he'd answer me or not this time.

"Sometimes." He replied quietly and shoved the cigarette in his pocket. I guessed that his lowered voice was a sign of that he didn't want to speak much more and I accepted that. I didn't want to pressure him.

I looked up to see his glowing eyes looking at me. I just rose an eyebrow at him, silently asking "What?", not expecting him to reply, but he surprised me with doing so.

"What are you doing here, Gabrielle?" He breathed out, his breath coming out as smoke because of the cold temperature.

"What do you mean?" I wondered, not breaking our eye-contact. I usually were terrible at looking people in the eye, but with Dallon, it was easy. Everything seemed to come easy around him. Everything was so simple. It amazed me, in a way.

"You have... I don't know, friends. You have so many people to hang out with. Why would you choose to be around me?" He said.

It made my heart ache to hear those words leave his mouth. No one should ever feel that way, and it made me want to wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly, but I didn't want to scare him off. "I find you interesting." I told him instead, looking away. "I feel drawn to you."

I was surprised I actually said that out loud, and I thought he'd laugh at me since it sounded so stupid. But he didn't. He didn't even react for a while, and I was unsure if he even heard me.

"I'm not that interesting." He whispered after a moment of silence, and I stepped closer to him. He flinched a little, but didn't move away from me which made me glad.

"I think you are." I said, my voice barely audible now. Our bodies were just inches away and if I leaned in, my head would rest against his chest.

We didn't say much more, just stayed in each others presence with only our slow breathing in and out being within earshot. I looked up one last time and met his gaze, and realized that I wanted to get to know him. The boy behind the stern face and ocean blue eyes. I wanted to know why he seemed so broken inside.

I just hoped he'd let me.