The perpetual, unsure smile on his face gives him a boyish appearance. Shy and hesitant mostly, the kind of look a boy gives a girl when they're still a virgin of just about everything and would like to know her name. But he gave that look to everybody when he spoke, his rosy cheeks bunching up cutely. The urge to reach out and grab them into my fingers and pinch was almost overwhelming. As he spoke he couldn't keep his gaze on the woman he spoke to, glancing down and up and right and left at anything but her. He acts the same with the guy who sits just across from him so it couldn't be that he liked her, perhaps it's just his way.
A young girl with recently dyed red hair walks by them, staring at them with an expectant, earnest look. Her features look old and worn, as if she's seen a little too much in life, but she couldn't be over twenty. She holds her small, beady eyes open widely, casting the earnest look upon her face - she almost looks scared. Maybe she is.
She hands an envelope to the woman across the room abrupty, stopping her pace without slowing down or any notice. The woman snatches it and says thanks without really looking, intent on the conversation at hand. Her hair is also dyed, you can see the blonde roots of her purplish-red curls. Even from this distance her voice can be heard, a truly California accent, Valley girl and all. She flings her hand through her hair as if she were beautiful, or perhaps it's that I'm-too-good-for-you attitude. An expression of irritation and I-know-all sits upon her large features, causing a probably beautiful woman to look not so beautiful.
He speeds by in front of me in a power walk, looking back at me to smile brightly. His eyes disappear when he does and his cheeks crinkle up oddly, as if his face was too small to hold his expressions. A red, button-up long sleeve shirt is tucked into his black slacks, perfectly ironed and in place. The day before he wore the same outfit except that the shirt was green, and the day before it was blue. Every time he smiles at me I get the impression he's about to speak, say hello or how are you, but he only smiles that crinkled smile and power walks on by.
I'm still new here, sitting at my desk and breaking off bits of other people's lives, wondering what they're like and if they'd like me. They are potentially interesting people. They're all around you. |
