Love at First Sight Read online

just couldn’t get it. I shook my head once more and pretended the teacher. Yes, I had never been in any relationship then, but there should be someone between Romeo and I interested to engage in one or we both would die single. I had always put my complete admiration in those in relationships-- Romantic ones of course. But courage towards that achievement was all I ever lacked. But who said convincing my brother would be difficult? I had to give it a shot though awkward, since I was used to imitate Romeo, him having a girlfriend would benefit me too. Let me give it a shot. My thoughts snapped. I looked at Romeo and hanged my arm on top of his shoulder. By then my laughter had been declining.

  “I mean a G.F. bro, a girlfriend. The one who you will probably spend your entire life with.” I said broadly. “A girl you will start a family with after marriage of course.” Who said this would be easy? I thought and reached for the few oxygen which had surrounded me. I gasped for a few and hoped to get rid of quick thumps my heart was forced to endure after snapping a topic I had never thought I would.

  “Don’t beat around the bush, Mark, what is it that you want?” Romeo inquired.

  What!? My thoughts snapped. I thought I had made myself clear and Romeo still couldn’t get anything from what I had said. It took me a whole bunch of courage to tell him how much a girl would mean in his life, but Romeo’s brains weren’t as fragile as the books say. I could swear them being stiff and rigid. My smile dropped. In front of me was Romeo who until then stood curious to know more of a topic I had rose. Romeo and I had paused in the middle of the road, he had his eyes popped wide as he glanced entirely at me. I bobbed in my throat and employed another army of bravery and courage to spill the beans.

  “Find yourself a girl, mate!” I snapped.

  Romeo shrugged and rose high his eyebrows.

  “You need a girl, Romeo, can’t you get it! You. . .me. . .both of us need something to get us out of the study zone. And that would be a relationship. A lost rib!” I exclaimed. “Your and my lost rib! Can’t you tell that something is missing?”

  Romeo shook his head and sounded low than usual, “No--”

  “Romeo, you’re twenty-three and am seventeen. . .don’t you find it kind of funny and odd that we have never been in any relationship?”

  “No--”

  “Oh! Forget it, fur brain. . .” I shook my head and walked further forward from him. My thoughts whirled as I stopped to think again about the whole discussion. Romeo still won’t get anything even if I explain this to him like a billion times. I looked back and found him walking behind me with his forehead folded and eyebrows rose up to a topic I had rose a minute ago.

  My facial expression. My joyous facial expression suddenly dropped the moment we concluded the topic. But Romeo looked to had not gotten the full from what I had talked about. His eyebrows could rise high if our glances mistakenly met. He could shrug his nose to an expression I knew better of--he still couldn’t get it. What didn’t he get from the topic I had started? Was it the part I had talked about the importance of a girlfriend in his life and in mine too? Or was it that part I reminded him of just how quick years were passing by? That most troubled me. I had no skill on how to approach a girl---matchless a stranger (because to me all girls were strangers; they wouldn’t have been if I had a female.friend. If only). With Romeo in Makeni as my everything, my friend, brother, sister--he was already trying to fit in for mom and dad when he played roles my parents played and sometimes failed to. I knew I couldn’t have a girlfriend if my brother still couldn’t get the meaning of G.F. Seriously!?

  I took a recap of the few remaining uncontaminated oxygen which had surrounded me and tried hard to loosen up from a topic I had rose minutes ago. I could hear sounds of the wind as both Romeo and I walked mute, and the weird part I still can remember--silence had jailed the entire neighbourhood that I could as well hear matching steps of ants on the ground. I took a deep breath and released it slowly while proceeding along the road with Romeo by my side--he was silent, his foot steps were too, he had his hands again tacked back in his pockets as he tried to stretch his pajama pants when he walked forward, he swung his hands while kept locked inside his pockets and murmured to a soundless rhythm as him too pushed forward. I shook my head as confused thoughts surged in my head the moment I glanced at him the second time.

  My shake couldn’t stop until I faced at our front. I halted to a glimpse I had feared all years back. The morning was soon fading and I had a vivid glimpse of her. In the road, Romeo and I occupied it---siding us was a tall wall (brick wall) and the other side was a fence formed with flowers, just at the entrance of that fence I saw a girl maneuver out, she did get most of my attention unlike Romeo’s.

  Among the flowers I saw a bright rose flower bloom in daylight-- It caught my eyes. She stood a couple feet short than Romeo, her eyes were wide and glowing too as she joined into the road and came our way. By her dress cord I could tell that she probably was schooling; she had wore a grey skirt which showed her thighs, her skirt could barely meet her knees. . .her thighs were as bright and smooth as her face and begged more to be stared at. Up top, she was wearing a shirt which wasn’t tacked in, two buttons from her neck down had been unbuttoned, her shirt was small--and she looked not bothered that her chest had been pressed. Her breasts looked puffy as she walked even loser--she is prettier than any Heroine TV actress would ever dream of becoming--she is brown in compression and her smile matched almost everything that day, her smile had matched the weather too. Her beauty was too much for me to look at that I certainly couldn’t smile back or show any expression in reply to a smile she had flushed at me.

  But rather I had that same expression I had before I saw her, the one I had employed after a conversation I had with Romeo. I still had my mouth stiff, my hands hanged to disappointment. My eyes had been dark, I bet my look wasn’t pleasant when I fastened it at her.

  The girl was smiling at me and all I had to do was to smile back, but I couldn’t. At a distance, she walked my way, she walked slowly and prudently as she skipped rocks on the ground, rubbing her thighs together as she walked towards Romeo and I. My heart raced after that glimpse. Immediately after talking to Romeo about having a girlfriend and I had one walking my path. My tongue had formed a knot the moment I caught again the girl’s glance. My steps adjusted and before I knew it I was a couple feet behind Romeo. I couldn’t utter a word but I kept my ‘beak,’ shut.

  It was beauty that I had been staring at and it wasn’t for a couple of seconds but minutes as I watched the girl walk and model her way towards me. I swung my glance and looked at Romeo, he wasn’t at all destructed by her looks--instead Romeo continued to murmur to a silent rhythm I had saw him murmur minutes ago. I faced back at the girl and she had her mouth parting into a broad smile.

  This girl is beautiful. My thoughts snapped. At least I have my brains working perfectly well, thank goodness I didn’t encounter more malfunction. Thoughts whirled in my mind as I looked at the girl again. Surely I only got to see such girls on CNN, and most of which are journalists and terrorists. And I was sure to had no chance of meeting any. Not anytime soon.

  I had a diva in my locale and I didn’t get informed by any one. If only I talked such matters with Aunt Monica I bet she could have introduced me to her. Whom am I kidding? I sighed. Aunt Monica wouldn't; she was given strict orders by dad to watch over us. I certainly had to endure that zeal I had ever since birth of singleness, but at seventeen, it was killing me. I’m in love. My thoughts snapped to conclusion the moment twice I caught the girl’s grin. It wouldn’t hurt a flea confessing this to myself. Would it? I blinked and caught again her smile. I wish I could talk to you, pretty. My thoughts slummed in my mind as I watched her walk pass me.

  And the next thing I noticed, Romeo was meters away. I turned around and looked back to face the girl. She caught my glance. And quickly I returned mine the moment I noticed her laugh softly and place her hand on her mouth.

  My heart raced, “gash--” I sounded to myself. A si
lent quiver I felt when I saw the girl meters away from the spot I had then been standing. I paused and swallowed hard in my throat. It was not too late then that I had my hand already climbing up to my face, I rubbed my face nearly rotating my eyeballs. Guess what? I wasn’t dreaming. That wasn’t a daydream, but reality-- I had crossed path with an angel which actually walked away with my attention. I stood mute in the middle of the road and continued to look at the girl-- I watched more of her backside and taken away by the magnificent swinging of her hips. My lips had begun to part to awe, but I continued being dumb for I couldn’t utter a word other than the ‘gash,’ I had forced out of my mouth a couple seconds ago.

  By then I couldn’t think of anything but conclude that the girl had actually been mocking me. . .she took baby steps and hoped that maybe perhaps I could shout out to her.

  It was about time that the girl had to maneuver out of the road. She tried her best showing me that indeed she was single and kind of interested in talking to me. She should have tried