Chance Glances

I clap with the rest of the class as the last lecture of the semester finally comes to a close. People shuffle their notebooks into their backpacks and quickly begin discussing the most prudent topics of their lives. I close my notebook over my mostly blank page, the date standing lonely at the top of the page.
I pull my backpack over my shoulder and wait for a gaggle of excitable girls to shuffle their way out of my row. I follow the giggling crowd out into the hallway and quickly swerve to the right to remove myself from their excessive chuckles. I rub my eyes with my thumb and forefinger. Classes are done. Just one more meaningless discussion and then I just have to get through half-heartily study for finals. This always happens at semester’s end. I get bored. My motivation disappears. Everything seems so useless.
I drag myself up the stairs and out the door. The chilly May morning air hits me and sends a rush of goosebumps up my arms. I’ve decided to protest wearing a jacket in hope Mother Nature remembers what month it is and what is expected of her. It’s going well.
I quickly walk across the road, dodging a speeding moped, and duck into the closest building. I work my way through the post-lecture crowds down to the mini coffee shop/deli. I dash into the coffee line and grab a 20 oz. cup. It’ll be my second today, but in order to last through a discussion about what we have learned this year I’ll need the extra fuel. Evaluations, final questions, last discussions. How long do we have to drag this out? I press the button firmly on the dark roast coffee and a stream of hot, steamy goodness comes rushing out into my cup. It’s swirling aroma filled my nose and I feel comforted for the first time since I stepped out my door out into the busy morning streets. I wait in line as weaklings add their cream and grab their sugar packets. I pay without looking at the cashier, ignoring his required pleasantries. I steal a table as two girls get up. I brush off the stray sugar beads and pull out my lap top. Just as I open it, a book bag collides with my table. It rocks like a pendulum and it’s all I can do to grab furiously at my coffee too keep it from spilling onto my open keyboard. Instead it comes down hard on the table before me, splashing onto my grey T-shirt.
“Watch the f-“
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!”
I come face to face with the darkest pair of brown eyes I have ever seen.
The book bag belongs to the shoulder of a girl with long, flowing brown hair. She quickly spins around, grabbing at the napkin stand behind her, then spinning haphazardly back to face me and pile them on top of the spill.
“I’m really sorry about that! There’s just so many people and I never can keep track of what this thing is going to hit.”
She must be about five foot or five foot two. That’s why her book bag was so low that it could hit my table. She begins to dab at the stain on my shirt, but I lean away immediately.
“It’s fine. I got it. It’s fine.”
“I’m sorry! Can I buy you another one?”
“What? No, it’s fine. There’s plenty left.”
“Okay…if you think so…sorry again.”
She bites her lip in embarrassment. Pulling her book bag closer to her, she moves away cautiously, easing her way to the coffee line. My eyes follow her. To my surprise, she skips the coffee machines and stands before the seldom visited hot water. She pull the lever and hot steam swirls around her face. She grabs a tea bag, I can’t see which. As she waits in line to pay her fingers tap her book bag strap in a rhythmic pattern. When the cashier speaks to her she smiles and replies with a stream of words. The cashier blinks in confusion of her breaking his script. She gathers her card and tea back to her, grazing over to the honey packets, which she rifles through, selecting the least hardened. She moves over to a table on the other side of the room. She sits down in a flurry, book bag knocking the chair of balance, dropping honey packets over the table. She pulls off her brown jacket and lays it neatly over the back of her chair. She prepositions her book bag beside her and pulls out an over-sized laptop which barely leaves room for her tea on the table. She opens it and immediately pulls out a pair of yellow headphones and plugs them in. I catch a glimpse of the earbuds before they disappear beneath her thick locks. I swear they were daisies. She hits the touch pad a few times and a smile spreads over her face. She closes her eyes and sways her head in tiny little arcs. This goes on for a minute or so and then the silly smile slackens. She hits the touch pad a couple more times, her eyes darting about the screen. She fluffs her bangs with her fingers and purses her lips. She toys with the little buttons on the blue blouse and then glances around the room. I immediately turn my eyes to my screen. After a few seconds pass, I glance back over to her. Her eyes are back on her screen, fingers lightly, slowly tapping the keys. She pauses often, fingers hovering for a few seconds over the keys. This process goes on for a good amount of time and then she reaches over and grabs a honey packet. She holds it with both her thumbs and forefingers, taking turns squeezing the honey between each pair. Her eyes move slowly across her screen from left to right. I wonder what she is reading. Eventually she tears open the honey packet and pours it carefully into her tea. She takes her first drink, closing her eyes as the cup reaches her mouth, smiling slightly.
This process goes on. Typing. Drinking. Reading. Smiling. I try to get some work done, but the sun peaks out through the clouds and the rays come streaming though the window next to the girl, lighting up her hair, making the colors dance. I find myself glancing at her every so often and then tearing my eyes away, forgetting how long I had been watching.
Quite suddenly, I realize I am looking at her again, and her eyes grow big and wide. She stands up in a flash, the sudden force pushing her chair out behind her. It happened so out of the blue I almost stood up too, my back straight, leaning forward, hands perched on the table. The people around her jump at her sudden movement and breaking of the silence. She bites her lip again and forces her eyes to stay in her immediate area. Her face and neck flushes slightly. Quickly but quietly she closes her computer and eases it into her book bag. She pulls her jacket over her arms and raises her book bag with care over her shoulder. She turns away from her table, leaving her tea behind. My lips part and words rise in my throat, but she pauses and turns. She shuffles back and grabs her tea, holding the cup to her tightly, protectively. She walks across the room and just as she walks through the exit her dark eyes rise slowly and meet mine. Before she disappears from sight I catch the corners of her mouth turning up, growing into a smile.
After she is gone my gaze rests at the space before the exit. The image of her eyes is burned into my memory. I imagine the smile spreading across her face. Then a group walks out the exit, breaking my concentration, breaking the spell. My eyes swivel to the time on my laptop and I realize my discussion starts in a minute. I quickly get my things together, sliding my computer into my backpack and then swinging it onto my shoulder. I walk out the exit and my eyes roam around the hall, but there is no sign of any familiar sights. I walk out of the building, the wind hitting me once again. The sun has disappeared again behind the clouds. I turn my head all around, my eyes searching the crowds. I pretend I’m just surveying my surroundings, but I feel my heart sink in mild disappointment.
I walk to my next class, late already, and dash into a packed elevator just as the doors close. I hit the top floor button and lean against the wall as other students pour out onto lower floors. I’m pushed to the back as they file past me and one particularly eager guy pushes past me and I lean too far to my left and hit the person beside me.
“Excuse m-“
Two dark brown eyes turn to look up at me through a curtain of bangs. A smile grows beneath them.