A/N: This is another little thing written originally for a writing prompt. I spent 15 minutes with the word eyes, and 15 minutes was not enough, so I went back and finished it. Consider this a companion piece to And She Laughed, except this one ends a little before that one in the Hannah timeline. Have fun reading!
The Eyes Have It
His were brown and hers were blue. She liked to think that hers sparkled, but she had been told several times that they could be cold as ice when she was mad. If looks could kill and all that. She never really thought so. Especially since she always thought his were so warm. They were like hot chocolate or some other suitable comforting thing that color. (And now she really wanted some hot chocolate. Darn it.) Even when he was angry, he could never really hide behind them. He was still in there, even yelling or making crazy hand gestures because he was furious. It was still him.
In fact, it was those eyes that got to her. If you asked her that at fourteen, she never would have admitted it though. He was, in point of fact, her oldest, and dearest friend. Yes, she loved that she had to explain things to him over and over. She liked getting to be the smart one. And yes, she liked that he stood up to her and was willing to argue with her. She was always right anyway. At least, she liked to think so. But it was those eyes that really got to her. They snuck up on her and drove her crazy.
They would light up when he was happy or excited, or when he saw a really big slice of cake. Although, maybe seeing cake fell under the first two categories. Yep, definitely. A nice baked good could always make him happy, of course so could the beach, and that was not full of sugar.
When he caught his first wave, she was there. He raced on to the sand to recount the experience for her, and his eyes were glowing. She had never seen someone look like that outside of the movies. She watched his hands as he imitated the motion of his surf board on the water, and she laughed along with everyone else when he exaggerated the height of the wave. She decided not to remind him that she had been standing on the beach the whole time. She had seen the entire thing. She had also seen the five wipe outs before he finally managed to stay upright on the board. That kind of talk would have been unfair. Besides, she would rather see the light in his eyes as he told the story again over curly fries and cherry soda.
She also enjoyed it when they flashed. They never really darkened in anger like her mom's did when she got in trouble. There would just be a brief flash when he was annoyed or she goaded him into an argument.
The arguing was probably one of her favorite pastimes. She would push and prod, knowing just which buttons were the most sensitive. She could turn a fight with him from just light hearted teasing to an in your face yelling match in a matter of seconds. (And she would never, ever, admit that when he got in her face about something stupid she thought he was cute. Because she did not think that. At all. ) In all fairness, he could do the same to her. But, hey, sometimes you just had to let off some steam. Especially when you were fourteen and spent so much time together that people had been wondering if you were a couple since you were ten years old. The fights just helped relieve a tension they liked to pretend was never really there. They had become very good at pretending.
Even if they were pretending, she still loved to see the laughter in those eyes. He could find amusement in almost anything, and it would hit his eyes first. The laughter would dance there, just before the corners of his mouth would turn up.
Like when a one liner about their pop star best friend would come to mind. He would say it to her, usually quietly, so the other girl would not be offended. And she could always see it in his eyes a split second before the words left his lips. His jokes were not always the most clever, but she always found herself amused. Sometimes, she would try to keep a straight face, shaking her head, but this was more for the benefit of the other girl still being in earshot. She loved his sense of humor. It had the perfect amount of cheese. It was a good thing he always spoke his mind. Otherwise that look in his eyes would pop up and she would be wondering what it meant for hours.
Jealousy was something she was not aware you could see in someone's eyes right away. She had not paid it any attention, not at first. It was her second boyfriend who made her notice it. And it was not coming from the boyfriend's eyes. She never thought she would be the kind of girl who would enjoy making someone jealous either, but it was funny when he would glare at the other boys.
He never glared at her when she was flirting. He always directed his attention to the other boy, and she was grateful. She did not want to actually make him mad. She just wanted to see what he would act like. His eyes would narrow and he would make jokes, insulting the other guy behind his back. Sometimes it was entertaining. When she actually liked the guy though, she would get fed up with the whole thing, and then they would go about their usual arguments. They would pretend later that he was never jealous and she had not done the whole thing on purpose. The first time she did it though, she did not realize until much later that she had, in fact, done it on purpose. Again, they had become very good at pretending.
Rolling eyes were a specialty of hers. She was an expert. She spent so much of her day finding him exasperating that they would just travel of their own accord. She figured her behavior must have rubbed off on him somewhere along the way because he did it almost as often as she did now.
Especially if she was the one infuriating him. Calling him out because he was acting like a teenage boy instead of a good friend. Telling him that another girl was laughing at him because she thought he was an idiot, not because he was boyfriend material, reiterating another friend's belief. Although, come to think of it, that one got her an eye roll and a glare. By high school, they had become so in sync, that other people noticed simultaneous eye rolls from them. Great, she thought to her self. It was one thing to explain that they had the same sense of humor or comedic timing to a potential boyfriend; it was a little harder to explain that even her eyes were tuned in to her best male friend.
Those darn eyes. They can betray you in an instant. She had to carefully avoid looking in his once he got his first serious girlfriend. She was afraid of what she would see in his then, but more afraid of what he would find in hers. People say that the eyes were the window to the soul. She did not know if that was true, and she kind of hoped it was not. She did not like the idea of people seeing into her very soul just by looking in her eyes, especially not if the rest of you was busy playing pretend.