"Why do you do that? Why do you dress like that? Why can't you be like any other girl?" Elijah asked Rachel with curiosity, the girl who was now hugging her books protectively as she looked at her long grey dress she loved so much.
"What?" Ra...
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Rachel loved economics. It was one of her favorite classes actually. She just found the subject so interesting and logic, she felt like studying economics was like learning how society works. She listened carefully to mr. Luz speaking about the different ways of financing the economic activity. Placing her pencil back in her pencil case gently, she couldn't help but think about him, Elijah. She wondered what he was studying right now, what class he had. She should've asked him, she thought.
She remembered the looks she received when Elijah was walking her to her class, the silent whispers she was trying to ignore. At that moment she tried to look at Elijah and see if it was bothering him even a little bit, the fact that people could be gossiping about him walking next to the girl no one wanted in high school.But the only thing she found on his face while searching was pure confidence. He wasn't ashamed to walk with her, be with her and talk to her in front of everyone. He was a true friend to her. It was evident.
Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't hear the bell ringing. Coming back to reality, she stood up and grabbed her things before quickly walking out of her class not wanting to be late for her next English class. And that's how her morning went. She had four hours of classes and she was exhausted already, wondering how she would make it till the end of the day.
Walking to the library where she was sure to be alone and eat in peace, she was surprised to meet Elijah sitting at her usual table a book in his left hand and a fork in his right hand as he chewed on his salad. When he felt her presence, he raised his head up to meet her standing in front of him, confusion written on her face.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" She took a seat before grabbing her own food up on the table, ready to eat.
"I knew that I would see you here and since I wanted to spend some time with my friend, I came here." He replied with a smile before taking another bite of the tomatoes in his salad.
Shaking her head with a smile, she simply closed her eyes as she prayed and thanked the Lord for the food she had the chance to eat.
"Amen." She whispered before taking a sip from her water bottle.
"I never think of praying before eating," Elijah started, his gaze on his salad. "Actually I never think of praying no matter in what situation I'm in." He added.
Rachel didn't know what to say to him, she didn't want to ruin the moment like the other day and make him mad again. But she felt like this time, Elijah wouldn't react like the other day because he was the one who decided to start talking about this.
So without another thought, she asked: "Why?" Her eyes still on him as she ate her food.
"Well, let's say that I feel like nobody's hearing me. I mean who would like to listen to my prayers anyway?"
A small, almost sad laugh escaped his mouth. Rachel looked at him, at his eyes that were shining as he looked back into hers.
"That means you believe that there's someone who actually listens to prayers and that, that someone is God." She pointed out silently.
"Well... I wouldn't qualify myself as an atheist. I do believe that there's a God up there. I just never felt like talking to him knowing that he wouldn't even hear me out. I mean I'm sure that he loves the innocent ones, the ones with a pure heart like you. Not the bad ones with a heart as dark as night like mine."
Tilting her head to the side to observe him and listen to his words even more carefully, she smiled sadly, not understanding why he was so harsh when he talked about himself.
"I'm sure that you have a beautiful heart beating inside of you Elijah. You shouldn't say these kind of things about yourself."
Laughing silently, he shook his head.
"You don't know me, Rachel..."
"I'm learning to know you and I'm convinced that if I dig even deeper, I'll find the gold you've been trying to hide."
He stopped himself and stayed still just for a few seconds at her words that touched him in a way he didn't think words could touch. He looked at the girl in front of him, wondering how a beautiful soul like hers was still breathing on this world, because he was convinced that Rachel belonged to another world, a world with people that looked like her. A world filled with angels, just like her.
When she saw that the silence between them was becoming more and more uncomfortable, she decided to speak again. "What where you reading?" She asked pointing at his book on the light brown wooden table.
"Oh this," He said as he grabbed the book, handing it to her. "It's one of my all time favorite books. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran."
Observing the beautiful book cover, she sighed in content. She was happy to meet someone who enjoyed reading too. "What is it about?" She asked suddenly concerned about what particularity this book had to be one of his favorites.
"It's actually a book filled with beautiful poems. Poetry is the only thing I enjoy reading." He said before grabbing his book back gently and smiling at her.
"I never thought that Elijah Bornman was a lover of poetry!" She laughed silently, amused by his embarrassment because he looked cute, she thought.
"Shh, keep it to yourself, okay?" He laughed too, his dimples showing making her want to touch them.
"Ok sir, I promise to keep your little secret to myself." She raised her hand up just a little bit as she burst into a loud laughter again.
She was laughing uncontrollably and he couldn't help but observe her. The way her brown eyes were shining, the way her caramel skin looked so beautiful and of course the way some of her beautiful and defined curls escaped her bun and danced on her freckled forehead. She was absolutely beautiful, he thought. She was beautiful in a natural way. She didn't need makeup to be beautiful. She was naturally beautiful, shining like a star, beautiful in her own way and he loved that.
When she calmed down a little bit, she realized that Elijah's face was back to serious as he looked at her in a way no one else has ever looked at her. And the next words that came out of his mouth made her gasp.
"Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror." He whispered.
"What?" Rachel asked confused as she felt the words right in her heart.
Simply smiling at her expression he came closer to her as he added:
"It's in the book."
________________________ -do you have a favorite poetry book too? If you do what is it? (:
