The World Beyond the Mirror - 2. Firsts- Lasts?

Math class was entertaining, but I was afraid this was the last time for the next week. The teacher tended to teach us new content for the first two days of the week, and then review it for the next three. I enjoyed it while I could, and I could tell the teacher was reassured. I was answering all his questions, staying attentive, and I’d cheered up. He might even believe that I wasn’t having any problems, if I kept this up tomorrow. The only problem would be if he checked my attendance. Then he’d learn that I’d ditched school immediately after his class ever since he gave me that talk, and he’d probably think something was really wrong. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about that. If he asked, I’d just tell him the truth and say I’d been hanging out with a friend who didn’t go here. Luckily, he hadn’t seen my attendance yet, so after the bell rang I made it out the door without any protest. I threw my books in my locker, closed it, and nodded to my locker neighbor Georgia, who was at her locker beside me. I’d only done it to be polite, but she seemed to view it as a conversation starter.

“Hey, Erin,” she said, pretending she’d just thought of something. I didn’t know what her game was yet, but she was a shitty actress already. “Let’s go to Tim’s for lunch!”

Her eyes flicked to the right, and I followed them to see one of her flock of girls leaning against the wall, doing a terrible job of pretending she wasn’t listening in. Georgia was never far from her flock. She was widely accepted as the hottest eleventh grader, and she loved the popularity that came with that position. I looked back to her, considering why Georgia’s friend was pretending to somehow not realize her idol was a few feet away.

Is she… asking me out? I wondered, amazed. What does she see in me?

I considered my options quickly. If she really was asking me to go on a date with her, then I didn’t want to turn her down. I didn’t know her very well, but the few times we’d spoken I hadn’t minded her. The whole point of a date was to get to know each other, so if her personality wasn’t as nice as her personali-titties, I still wouldn’t be roped into a relationship or anything. I’d be giving her a fervent ‘yes’, if it wasn’t for the fact that I wanted to see if the strange guy would be in the park again.

I doubt he’ll be there, I thought, my eyes pulled down as Georgia took a deeper breath. It took him three days to show up again, last time.

Georgia’s breasts were a convincing argument by themselves.

“OK,” I agreed. “Let’s go to the burger joint instead, though.” That would take us through the park, and I could make sure he wasn’t there. I didn’t know what I’d do if he was, but I had a suspicion that Georgia would end up eating alone.

We walked through the park, chatting about nothing, and I was relieved and disappointed that my friend wasn’t there. We continued on to the burger joint, and when we sat, I noticed Georgia was leaning forward more than was necessary to eat. We talked, and I tried not to let her amazing boobs distract me, but she was making it hard. ‘It’ being staying on topic, not my dick, although she was doing a pretty good job of that, too. We finished lunch, and I offered to pay, testing the waters to see if it had been a date. She didn’t protest or seem surprised, so I decided it must be. We walked back towards the school, chatting pleasantly, until we reached the bench in the park. My friend – that still seemed like the wrong word to use, but I didn’t know what would describe it – was nowhere to be found, but Georgia wanted to sit down on the bench. I convinced her to continue on to a different bench, instead, and I was relieved as we sat down. For some reason, I really didn’t want to sit there with Georgia. That bench was where I could go to talk to the strange guy, and it felt wrong to share that with anyone else, no matter how nice their tits were.

Georgia got my attention back by shivering dramatically, showing off both her awesome boobs and her shitty acting. I’ve always found girls confusing, but even I could understand this. She was wearing a sweater, and I was perfectly warm in a t-shirt and shorts. She couldn’t really be cold, and even if she was, that shiver had been exaggerated. I put my arm around her, and she leaned into me, not even interrupting our conversation, which was about nothing anyway. I liked her, but she wasn’t really an interesting person.

She fell silent, and we sat quietly for a minute before she looked up at me, leaning towards me a bit. I leaned down to press my lips to hers, and she tilted her head so I’d have better access. Our lips touched, and I closed my eyes. I felt her tongue brush against my lips, so I opened my mouth slightly. Our tongues touched, and I tasted her hamburger. She pulled her tongue back into her mouth, inviting me in, and I accepted her invitation. My neck was starting to get uncomfortable in this position, and something about that struck me as wrong. She pulled back after a minute and smiled up at me.

“We’re gonna have to hurry if we want to get back in time for class,” she told me.

“I have a job interview at Walmart, actually,” I said, pretending to be embarrassed. “I don’t think I should be late for that. Do you mind…?”

Her smile faded a little bit, but she nodded, understanding. “I’ll be fine,” she said.

I nodded, relieved. I needed to think about this.

“Here,” she whispered sensually. “For good luck.”
She kissed me again, more aggressive this time, and when she pulled back she gave me a grin and turned to go to the school.

“I’ll see you around sometime, ‘K?” she asked confidently.

I nodded and waved as she left, and I got up and walked towards the Walmart as if I was in a hurry.

My first kiss, I thought. I was a little bit disappointed. I’d thought kissing would be more than that. There’d been no chills down my spine, no butterflies in my stomach, nothing. Our lips had touched, and I’d learned that lipstick tastes like shit. I felt slightly deceived. After everything I’d heard, I’d imagined there’d be some sort of connection, a moment of lucidity as we’d kissed.

Oh well, I thought. It wasn’t bad, so I shouldn’t be complaining.

I turned the corner, and my train of thought derailed with a fiery explosion. He was there, looking thoughtful as he gazed into the sky. I badly needed time to think about things, but I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to talk with him. I walked over and sat down on the bench beside him, making him jump, but the half-smile I was getting accustomed to appeared on his face as he saw me. His eyes were brown, with an orange tint, but as I watched, the brown was replaced by bluish green, with hints of purple. The orange was more than a tint, now, though.

“Hello,” he said softly.

“Hi,” I said, smiling. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

“You’re not going to ask about yesterday?” he asked, sounding pleasantly surprised.

I shook my head. “I’m just glad you don’t seem to have anything wrong with you this time.”

“You picked up on that?” he asked, amused.

“There’s something to pick up on?” I asked, my curiosity stirring.

He paused, but eventually he nodded. “I come here to heal up,” he admitted.

I felt flattered that he’d told me, but I needed to know more now. “Where is ‘here’?” I asked, knowing he didn’t mean the bench.

He smiled. “Figure that out on your own,” he suggested. “You have enough clues by now.”

I shook my head, embarrassed. “I’m going a little bit crazy at the moment,” I admitted. “I’ll need to think things through before my brain’ll work right again.”

His small smiled turned wistful.

“I know what you mean,” he said softly.

“So can I ask about the cut on your arm?” I wondered aloud. “Is it gone?”

His eyes were now more orange than green. “No.” he replied shortly, but shook his head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap, it’s just…”

He trailed off, and I could tell he wasn’t going to continue.

“How was your day?” I asked, changing the subject to something inoffensive.

He gave me a grateful smile, but the orange in his eyes intensified. “A little nerve-wracking,” he admitted. “Something I’ve been planning is finally ready, and all that’s left is for me to do it.”

“Is it… something dangerous?” I asked, dreading the answer. His current lack of new injuries could be because I’d caught him before he got them.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Very.”

I opened my mouth to protest him doing it, but he shook his head, his hand rising to the cut on his arm and touching it absently.

“You need to go now, don’t you?” he reminded me. “You’re gonna miss your bus.”

I realized he was right. “Shit!” I said. “No. I’ll stay here. I can probably get someone to give me a ride back home.”

He shook his head. “I need to leave, anyway,” he told me. “I only came because I hoped I’d meet you. Lots has happened since yesterday, and I need to act now.”

I looked at him, worried. “Be careful, then, OK?” I asked.

He nodded, looking down at the ground.

I stood reluctantly, not wanting to leave but needing to go.

“I’ll see you later?” I asked, trying to be cheerful for him.

He hesitated, and I froze.

“You’ll come back, right?” I asked, a bit of fear creeping into my voice. “You won’t…”

He looked up at me, and his face was composed. His eyes were brown again, with only a slight orange tint. He gave me a confident half smile, but something about it rang false.

“Nate,” he said.

“What?” I asked, thrown off.

“My name is Nate,” he told me, his voice wavering the tiniest bit on the last syllable.

“Promise me you’ll be OK!” I pleaded, knowing his confidence was a show to make me feel better.

He stood, and the brown in his eyes was consumed with orange again.

“I need to go,” he told me. “So do you.”

“It’s Erin,” I said. “And I’m not leaving until I know you’ll be safe.”

“You need to catch your bus,” he said, pink mixing with orange before brown took over again as he tried to put the confident mask back on. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Don’t go, Nate,” I pleaded. “If you won’t be safe, then don’t go.”

He smiled, a full smile for the first time, and he stepped closer, pink battling orange as the brown receded.

“Goodbye, Erin,” he whispered, and closed the distance between us, pressing his lips into mine desperately.

My heart stopped, and it felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over me, without the negative effects. I felt amazing. My mind had been left behind a long time ago, although less than a second had passed. Nate’s lips lingered against mine for a moment longer, and I noticed that they were even softer than I’d imagined, earlier. My eyes snapped open when he broke away, and I got a glimpse of Nate’s face before it vanished suddenly. I stood frozen, still paralyzed from the shock of the kiss, and I was filled with warm wonder and delight for a moment. It had been perfect. It was everything that Georgia’s kiss wasn’t. Everything and more. I couldn’t believe that he could do that to me with the simple touch of his lips, when tongue sparring with Georgia, the hottest girl I knew, did nothing. There was no way that it could have been better, except…

I looked around, and then the realization came crashing down on me that he was gone. Dread and a terrible feeling of loss replaced all the awe and happiness I’d felt, and my mind made sense of the brief image I’d seen. The beautiful pink had been winning the battle against the orange, and there’d been one shiny furrow from his eye down, a silver line pointing to a single teardrop that had paused on his cheekbone. Then, his beautiful eyes had closed, and he’d disappeared. There had been no flash of light, no loud noise, nothing to indicate that the most important thing in my life was missing except the fact that he was gone.

“Nate?” I whispered, pleading, but he was gone, leaving behind only this sense of loss and a burning in my eyes.