"John: Didn't you notice that day in Heywoods Meadow when he proposed to you?
Ellen: He barely spoke to me.
John: That's why you didn't hear him, you missed the eloquence of his silence." (The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail)
"I love you."
She didn't breathe, didn't blink, his quiet words booming in the silence, wine eyes soft. She couldn't reply, disbelief held her by the throat and clogged her words into a jumbled mess, leaving her empty mouth open and gaping. Inwardly pinching herself as shock stunned her, Jazmine found herself nodding, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.
How many times had she wanted to say those words, those very words to her stoic boyfriend, picturing nothing more than a grunt in reply. Every time she felt the warmth rise in her stomach she knew what it was, but she faltered when she gained his attention. She had even begun to question herself, wondering where his emotions lay in regards to their relationship. And where hers did. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that he would say it first, let alone at all.
She was drawn out of her thoughts as she registered his shuffling, awaiting a reply. He was nervous, she realized, slightly touched to see his boundless confidence falter in front of her.
Throwing her arms around him, Jazmine buried her head in his hoodie. "I-I" The rest of her reply was lost as tears streamed down her cheeks. Damn her bursting emotions preventing her from responding to the short, uttered phrase she had fantasized about since her childhood. The wind died around them, and her wet, olive eyes met with his wine stained gaze. The shards in her throat only grew and she smiled dumbly, hating herself for lacking the ability to speak.
Albeit as his arms drew her closer she came to the realization that nothing was needed to be said, that her silence conveyed more to him than any spoken words no matter their eloquence.