"Hey! Wait up!" Eric called, rushing down the halls as he threw his back pack over his shoulder. Ginny glanced over her shoulder and was surprised to see him looking at her. She slowed down, tucking a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear.
"Don't you have to go to some sports practice or something?" she asked Eric once he caught up with her. He was at least three inches taller than her, with wide, athletic shoulders and frazzled, golden hair.
"Naw," he said, "football practice got called off 'cause it's raining." Ginny nodded, her straight hair bobbing.
"So," she said, "why d'you want to talk to me?" She shifted her AP math and science textbooks to one arm so she could straighten her silver-framed glasses that perched on her mouse-like nose.
"Here, let me get that," Eric said, taking the books from her.
"Thank you," she said, blushing ever so slightly.
"I need some answers," he said, staring her down with his dark brown eyes, "why do you act so wierd around me?" She tilted her head and raised a thin eyebrow up at him.
"Weird? What do you mean?" her blush growing from a pale pink to a deeper rose, like petals fallen on her cheeks.
"Like that!" he said, "you always have this odd blush when you see me, like you're embarrassed or something. It's kinda cute. And you're always either staring at me with those ice blue eyes that pierce my soul, or you'll barely look at me. It's freaky. Why?" Ginny glances down at her small tennis shoes on her tiny, delicate feet, her fair hiding her face. She looked back to him, a giggle bubbling from her throat, the sound like bells ringing clearly and quietly.
"And then there's that,' Eric said, caught off-guard, "everytime you laugh, my heart seems to jump out of my throat. How do you do that?" They reached Ginny's locker, and she doesn't answer as she opened it and arranged her books in it, pulling out her light blue back pack and neatly packing her books into it.
"Everytime you're around me," Eric said, talking faster, "I feel... happy. And when you leave I feel, well, disappointed. I can't stop thinking about you during fourth period and anticipating seeing you during fifth. And then when I do get to fifth, I can't even concentrate. All I can do is stare at you, with your thin, nimble fingers, your beautiful, even scroll, your hair seeming to glimmer. Why is that? What did you do? Why can't I take my eyes off of you?"
Ginny turns around, slinging her backpack on the shoulder. Eric hadn't realized how close they were until she turned to face her. He can feel her soft breath on his chin as she looks up at him. His heart seemed to stop for a second.
She stands on tiptoes and kisses his cheek. It's a quick kiss, barely a brush, softer than a whisper, but Eric will never forget it. It left him frozen to the spot.
"It's because you love me," she says in her quiet voice. Eric could do nothing but stare at her as she made her way down the now empty hall. But just before she turned the corner, he found his voice.
"But do you love me?" he asked.
Ginny doesn't say anything. She just turns back toward him, smiles slightly, and gives a quick nod of her head. Then she disappeared around the corner.
They barely ever left each others' sides since that day. Now, eight years later exactly, Eric will propose to Ginny, who still makes his heart jump, who still blushes around him, and who still arrests his gaze and holds it, piercing him through. Eric is a nervous wreck. Ginny is clueless he's even thought of asking her to marry him, much less gotten a ring. She will say yes.
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