Author's Note: So I guess this is what happens when I listen to Rob Thomas too much. This kinda wrote itself, odd style but I kinda like it. Hope you do too. Oh and the poem was something I came across when I was looking up some info on waternymphs. Yeah I wanted to incorporate it in the title, but my muse redirected me I guess. This is to show my love to two characters who I just wish would become friends. Read on, review if you feel like being active. Eh, I know, the whole logging in thing always gets to me too. -
Girl Like ThatAnd gliding and springing
She went, ever singing
In murmurs as soft as sleep
The earth seemed to love her,
And Heaven smiled above her,
As she lingered towards the deep
Excerpt from the poem, Arethusa by Percy B. Shelley (1820)
All it takes is a certain sway of the hip, a particular pout that before that moment only you could pull off. Some little idiosyncrasy that you truly believed you were the sole master of, and you're unnerved, in one split second of disappointment intermingled with bitter uncertainty. You dash off to the nearest ladies room, shaken even though you know you shouldn't be, and stare harshly into your own reflection. You glance around you, as you helplessly wonder what happened to all that confidence you cultivated over the years. How your foundation could be swept away so easily. There have been more of her kind, but they've never ever lasted. All those years you were sole beauty queen, the single girl who could make grown men wander into glass doors. And then you smile, so desperately, back at the girl who seems to have it all. And you really don't do desperate, unless you're alone, unless you're unsure which you aren't ever. At least not on the outside…
And you stare, grinning bleakly at your eyes, which a few minutes ago really seemed to be a lot less ordinary than they are now. A lot more special. You try so hard to recreate a feeling of pride you can't ever be as sure of anymore. Didn't your smile sparkly a lot more, didn't someone tell you that you made people dizzy by smiling a certain way? Why can't you remember how it went? How you spellbind the masses, like you've done so many times before. You don't want to be left at the sidelines, and mentally sharpen your claws. Ready to fight for the social position you've carved out for yourself with painted-on smiles and seductive laughter.
Slightly more composed than you really are, you return to face your fears. And there she is, aloof in all her threats, a worthy nemesis, someone to steal away some of the limelight. Your limelight…your acceptance. How come you can't think of anything to explain this away, to dismiss or insult…it won't come out, and then very suddenly… You recognize it. She's one of you, and you see the look she has in her dark tumultuous eyes. You really see it, beyond it even, and you see yourself. The strength and the scars she's trying to protect from everyone else. She'll smile genuinely, but you know she's shattered like you were…or are. Sometimes you can't even remember what you are anymore. Maybe you could ask her and she'd not laugh at you, maybe she'd understand it all a little better than you have so far.
People buzz around, stare for a moment at the two women they can't ever have, and walk past again. Trying to catch another glimpse, even if you both don't bother to notice it anymore. You are both too enchanted by one another, by the mirror images of yourselves. It's scary and safe all in one. No one expects you to speak to one another. No one expects the thoughts racing through both your heads. So you both smile, too tentative for girls who are strong as you are, but you're childlike in your innocence. No one would ever know, but you're two of a kind. Who knew, there were two girls like that…
"Hi. I'm Summer," the one says sweetly, while still holding onto her careless vampy demeanor.
"Hey," her toughness softened by her gestures, "Theresa," the rival grins back, with a rare exotic mystique still cast around her like a veil.
