Please Enjoy.
The week seemed to drag on endlessly and her job became more tedious than normal. Out loud she would credit the painful monotony as simply a rough patch but in her own secret thoughts she knew what was truly bothering her.
It was that boy.
It was that stupid… whatever colored eyed, strange haired snarky looking boy. She couldn't stop thinking about him. Every single time the door opened without fail she would look up hopefully only to have those hopes dashed as another normal customer walked in. She had tried to tell herself to stop thinking about it, that it was truly just something her mind made up, but it didn't work. She spent hours on the Internet googling eyes and begging, just begging that one would look different. But it was a futile attempt. Just black and white stared back at her, almost mockingly.
She knew she should give up. All she was doing was setting herself up for a bigger disappointment. But something in her wouldn't stop. She was almost at her breaking point and that meant it was time to get help. It was time to talk to the only other person she knew who might have seen him. In hindsight it might have been smarter to ask him the day of the event instead of waiting for a few days. Black*Star wasn't exactly known for his amazing memory.
"Hey Black*Star?" Maka called softly as the last customer drifted out and the coffee house became blissfully quiet for a few minutes.
"Wassup?" he called back, wiping up some of the mess he had made, but not doing a fantastic job. He licked the back of his hand, cleaning it of foam and caramel. Maka made a face but didn't comment as he almost immediately went to wash his hands after. Messy as he may be Black*Star was still…sanitary. Mostly.
"Do you remember seeing anyone weird this week?" She asked vaguely, turning her head to look at the busy streets outside the window.
"Weird how?"
"I dunno, just weird." Maka said noncommittally, though she felt her heart begin to speed slightly as Black*Star made a thinking noise.
"Weeeeeeeeeell." He tapped is finger against his chin. "There was that one person."
Maka's eyes turned back to the muscled teen. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Black*Star nodded. "Caught me off guard. Almost said something on accident."
"What was it?" Maka's voice dropped to a near whisper.
"They…" Black*Star looked around dramatically "They had…a dog hidden in their purse."
". . ."
"I know right." Back*Star shook his head. "I mean who shoves a poor dog into a purse like that. Thing couldn't even get it's head up without her pushing it back down. I was like "Hey, I know your dog is in there. If you're going to do that just get one of those purses made for dogs." Crazy Lady."
Maka forced a smile and nodded. "That was nice of you not to make a scene I guess, though you know we don't allow dogs."
"Don't worry." Black*Star flexed his muscles. "I let her know what's up. She won't be bringing her dog in here anymore. I made sure of it."
"That's nice." Maka sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before letting out a small groan as the door opened with a telling jingle. Pushing herself back open she flicked open her eyes and stared at the register dejectedly.
"May I take your order, please?" She asked quietly.
"Coffee. Black."
She nodded, punching in the order and finally looking up. A gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it. It was him. It was him. Dressed in a dark jacket with equally dark pants and a thin scarf wrapped around his neck to protect from the blistering wind outside. His bright eyes stared at her as one eyebrow slowly raised up.
"Sure." She nodded a little too quickly, pigtails flopping back and forth before she took his credit card. Sliding the plastic down she quickly held it back to him. Large cold fingers lightly pressed against hers as he accepted the card and slipped it back into his wallet.
"Thanks." He said with a dull nod of his head and moved down the line to Black*Star. Maka's eyes followed him. Even as he moved further and further away his eyes shone true. It was so deep and vivid. A painful contrast to everything else around them. Swallowing down her fear she opened her mouth to call out to him when Black*Star loudly announced his coffee was done. Taking the steaming cup the stranger nodded to him and began to shuffle out. Maka watched him go with growing apprehension.
She had to say something. She had to say something now.
"Uhgbluh."
It wasn't exactly eloquent, as Black*Star would later tell her with a cackle but it was sufficient to getting him to stop. Hand still resting on the door he slowly turned his head to look at her, his thick, shaggy hair rustling haphazardly. "I'm sorry?"
"I uh…" Maka shot a quick glance to Black*Star who was staring at her like she was an idiot which wasn't helping. A blush began to form on her cheeks as she lamely mumbled out. "Have a nice day."
He stared at her for a moment longer with those unique eyes of his before dipping his head. "You too, pigtails."
"Pigtails…" Maka repeated dumbly before gritting her teeth. "Hey my name is Maka!" But the door had already swung shut and once again he was gone into the streets and she still didn't know anything about him.
"Smooth Maka." Black*Star said as he let out a howl of laughter. "Ughbluh!"
"Shut up." Maka threw her towel at him. "I just had a brain freeze."
"Sure you did." Black*Star let off another fit of laughter, his head cocked back in amusement. "Weird guy though, huh?"
Yeah…" Maka sighed, turning back to the register before freezing. "Wait, what do YOU mean weird?"
"His eyes."
Maka appeared in front of him, freakishly fast. He nearly flinched as she grabbed the front of his apron and began to shake him. "What! What about his eyes!"
"Woah!" Black*Star slipped free of her grasp. "They were red. You don't really see that very…ever."
Maka slumped back against the wall as a dreamy expression washed over her face. "Red?"
"Red." Black*Star confirmed. He reached out and grabbed one of the syrup dispensers. "Red. Maybe a bit darker than this."
Maka took the colored liquid, but she only saw a dark shade of grey. Confused she looked back up at Black*Star who was watching her with a slight interest. She shook her head, handing it back to him. "Still grey."
He frowned. "But that guy?"
Maka swallowed hard as she turned her head back to far the door he had only minutes ago walked through. "Red. I saw red. I know I did."
Black*Star heard the sadness in her voice and reached out and put a hand on his oldest friends shoulder. Squeezing gently for a moment he let her go and continued cleaning the shop up as Maka returned to the register to wait for the next customer.
xXxXx
It was back to google. This time armed with new information. Fingers clattering over the keys she searched through every shade of red she could find. Some were so pale they looked white and others so dark she could have sworn they were just black. But in-between those two shades the colors stayed true. The vivid color she now knew as red was nowhere to be found.
Frowning she sat back before reaching up and undoing her pigtails as she stared at the Internet homepage. Running a hand through her ashy blonde locks she started again, fingers slowly tapping against the keys.
'Red eyes'
The results were cluttered with products to help dry and itchy eyes, or places to buy contacts for those who wished to make their eyes look red for some reason she couldn't fathom.
She returned to the search bar.
'People with red eyes."
Again she was assaulted with useless information, now the majority of it having to do with how to fix a photograph with redness caused by a flash. Letting out a growl she clicked the search bar again, erasing her previous entry and rubbing her knuckle against her forehead.
Dropping her hands back to the keys she twisted her mouth around, trying to find the right wording. Shaking her head she finally just typed down the simplest things she could manage.
"God damnit who is he?"
Pressing her hand against the enter key, she turned her head away from the computer as she heard the front door of her apartment open. Pushing her chair out she let out a little groan as she stretched and stood up. Leaving her room she entered the small living room to find her roommates had returned with groceries.
"Hey Maka!" Patti grinned from ear to ear and waving at her with exaggerated movements.
"Hey." Maka smiled, flicking her eyes to Patti's sister Liz, who was putting down the bulk of the bags. "It's my turn to go shopping you know."
"Ah don't worry about it." Liz waved her hand. "I've had some extra cash on me since Kidd gave me n Patti a raise last month."
"Rollin in the dough." Patti laughed as she tossed herself onto the couch. "I make it rain on these bitches!"
The two older blondes ignored her as Maka frowned. "That's not really fair though."
Liz shrugged. "I haven't even eaten here for the past week, so anything you've made for me has been going to waste and I know Patti has been eating more than her share so it's salright. Don't worry about it."
Maka's frown persisted but she relented as Liz's lips turned up into a grin. "It's going really well with him, by the way."
The frown disappeared almost instantly and Maka winced internally. She had been so caught up with the red-eyed bastard she had completely forgot Liz had started dating someone. Running a quick scan through her brain she picked out every blurry memory of Liz's gushing. The name eluded her but she got the gist of it.
Handsome - Check
Smart – Check
Talent – Check
Rich – Check
"That's great. I'm really glad." Maka smiled though she wasn't exactly sure what else to say. Liz had had many boyfriends since Maka had known her, though most of them didn't last the week and were never mentioned again. This however seemed slightly different, and Maka was grateful for that. Though she would never say it, most of Liz's boy friends tended to be… idiots. She wanted to cringe thinking of the last boy she had brought home, Noah. The one who had offered her a chance not only a chance to be in his creepy 'book' but to go on a date with his friend Gopher. Though to be fair Gopher hadn't seemed too thrilled about that idea either, though he seemed even more agitated by Liz's presence than hers.
"I think you would really like him." Liz sighed; sitting down at the kitchen table and opening the laptop she had left sitting there. "He's really smart, and more famous than I thought. The other night we got stopped like twenty times by people who wanted a picture or an autograph.
"Famous?" Maka asked, curious as she took a seat across from Liz.
"Yeah, he's in this band thing with his brother. Well, not a band really. He told me what it was but I can't remember the word. He plays the violin. Here see?" She turned the computer around and showed Maka a photo of a sharply dressed man with a violin pressed against his neck, his face slightly obscured by the violin bow and a head of messy hair. Maka tilted her head slightly as she stared at him. He looked extremely familiar, but she just couldn't quite place it.
"Cute huh?"
"He's very handsome." Maka nodded, still staring at the picture. "How did you meet?"
"He came down to the store." Liz turned the computer back towards her. "Wanted to look at some of Kidd's pianos."
"I thought you said he played the violin?" Maka said.
"Wes does." Liz tapped a few keys on the computer. "But his brother plays the piano. He was thinking about surprising him with a new one for when their tour ends."
"Wes." Maka repeated, sure to memorize the name this time. "What kind of music do they play?"
"It's kind of a mix of classical with modern feel to it?" Liz said with a wave of her hand. "I dunno, but it's really cool. Even you would like it."
Maka scowled at her. "My music isn't that bad."
"Uh huh." Liz responded as she turned the computer around again. "This is his little brother."
Maka flicked her eyes down and froze. Leaning forward her eyebrows rose as she stared into the bored eyes of the younger brother. Eyes that she noted, with a twinge of disappointment, were a dark grey. Opening her suddenly dry mouth slightly she looked up at Liz.
"What's his name?" She didn't mean for her voice to sound so desperate but she couldn't help it. Liz raised an eyebrow at her tone but didn't press the issue.
"Soul. Soul Evans."
"Soul." Maka mouthed before darting out of the kitchen and back into her room, not hearing Liz call after her. Diving to her computer she flashed across the keys.
"Soul Evans."
Slamming down on the enter key she watched as article after article popped up about the talented Evans brothers who were taking the musical world by storm.
The elder brother Wes, affectionately known to his fans as the blue-eyed angel.
And, much more importantly
The younger brother, Soul. The red-eyed demon.
She found him.
As always I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.
