I felt her gaze the moment I walked in.
Surrounded by chaos and it took me three seconds to find her eyes, as if I had been looking for them all my life, as if I had been fighting to find them, as if my heart knew that it's what it always needed to carry a steady beat.
At first they were all I saw, piercing blue eyes.
I didn't see the golden hair that poured over her shoulders, as if every strand had been painted on to grasp perfection, the hair that flows through my fingers every night.
I didn't see the freckles that lightly sweep across the soft features of her face. The freckles I've counted and traced throughout sleepless nights in which I couldn't dare allow my eyes to close for fear that I might miss her reach for me or the chance to brush away a strand of hair and tuck it safely behind her ear, as to not let it hide her beauty a second longer.
I didn't see the skin that paints her sweet complexion, skin that mesmerizes and captivates my sight and touch, skin that captivates my taste as I trace kisses down her neck.
I didn't see her lips—lips that have made me cower under the fright and excitement of a first kiss, lips that I can feel always on my skin, lips that get me through each day, lips that smile into mine as I surprise them with a kiss in mid sentence.
I didn't see her body, which I watch dance around our room daily. Her body, which my hands long for every second. Her body, which mine can't go a day without being held next to. Her body, which gives me things I could never dare attempt to explain.
No, all I saw were piercing blue eyes that I held in my heart for eternity only to last the shortest moment. Time stopped and that's all I knew.
I felt myself take a step, subconsciously closing the distance between myself and the unknown creature before me. I watched as she returned to her friends, and made a joke. I watched as she scrunched up her nose and smiled beautifully. She glanced at me again through her laughter, and my heart sent waves of longing throughout my body, wanting her laugh to wash refreshingly over my senses.
I continued to make my way forward until I was standing within arm's reach. I was suddenly overcome with the fact that I had no idea what I was doing or how I even ended up there, standing before such captivating beauty. I was lost. All reasonable thoughts ran from me.
Then she turned to me, leaving the circle of her friends to themselves. She turned to me. I had her total attention and I couldn't think or speak. Grasping for words to put together, I was overcome with embarrassment.
"I..," I stammered. Silence filled the air. All outside noise suddenly became unnoticeable.
"Hi," she said coolly, smiling. Damn that smile.
I grinned foolishly. "Hey," I sighed through a battered breath.
"I'm Brittany," she stuck her hand out for me to take. Brittany. I suddenly had a feeling of familiarity, as if I had heard her speak her name a thousand times. As if the name had floated throughout my deepest most sacred dreams.
I just looked at it her delicate hand, her delicate fingers, fearing that if I touched her skin she would disappear as if a dream. Slowly I took her hand in mine. I couldn't take my eyes off of our slight embrace.
"Santana," was all I could offer.
Our hands clasped together, lightly but fiercely, allowing the sense of familiarity to linger between us a few seconds longer.
"Santana..," she whispered back to herself, as if remembering. I smiled at my name on her lips. I had hated my name until Brittany spoke it, as if it were a work of art. I knew then that my name was safe in her mouth. I looked into her eyes, wondering if she sensed it to, begging for a sign that her thoughts reciprocated mine. Maybe my name ran through her dreams as hers had mine.
She looked back at me, at that glance I prayed to everything I knew could possibly be prayed to.
Please. Please. Please.
I knew not what I was praying for or if anyone was answering, but it seemed at that moment something spiritual needed to be released into the atmosphere. Something needed to mark the moment our names first passed through each other's lips.
We stood there smilingly childishly at each other, ignoring the events and people around us.
That was day one.