AN: Rewritten. You could interpret it with other characters, but it's meant for Warren and a mystery girl working at the Paper Lantern. Standard disclaimer applies.
The quote at the bottom is a tribute to what Manny says to Ann Darrow in the new King Kong directed by Peter Jackson. I can't, for the life of me, remember what it was in its entirety and, if anyone can tell me what it was, I'll love you forever.
With that said, here is:
Eyes
She watches as he walks away, not quite understanding why he's leaving her. His hair flutters in the wind, the ends singed from something he's neglected to tell her; one of many secrets he keeps from her. Has he ever really told her the truth? She doesn't know. She'll never know. Still, she calls his name and he stops, turns, their eyes only just meeting across the crowded street and, for a moment, they are in another time, another place.
They sit at an empty table as he helps her count change from the register. The restaurant has been busy all week with Christmas just around the corner. She laughs at his jokes, wondering about him. He gives her a shy, secret smile that she intuitively knows he saves just for her. She returns the gesture with her own tiny grin, blushing as they reach for the same roll of quarters. She thinks she's in love.
The moment shatters with the blaring of a car horn as it passes between them, breaking the thin line of contact. So many questions lie in her eyes. Questions he doesn't have answers for; at least, no answers that will satisfy her. No answers he can give. He begins to turn away when she dashes through traffic, grabbing his sleeve and holding on for dear life with unshed tears shining under the streetlamps. Startled, he looks her in the eye as she begs him, "Why?" but he cannot answer as his own demons take him back in time.
He finally decides to ask her on a real date, one of the hardest decisions of his life, and, to his immense relief, she says yes. He fiddles with the hem of his t-shirt and wonders if he should have dressed up a bit more when she lets him in to her apartment. It's clean and soft and everything she is and he likes it, he likes her. He makes her laugh and she makes him smile. The feeling of her arms around his waist as they race down the streets on his bike sends shivers of masculine pride up his spine and he sneaks glances at her over the dinner table when he thinks she's not looking. She kisses him goodnight before disappearing, embarrassed, back into her building.
He shakes her off, muttering that she will never understand and makes as if to leave, prying her fingers from his coat one by one. The small cry of despair she makes in the back of her throat as he rips himself away tears at his heart and he concentrates on placing one shoe ahead of the other on the cold concrete, hunching over to block out her eyes. Brimming over with tears, but vibrant with life. He keeps telling himself he's made the right decision. It has to be the right decision. It must be.
He sees the eyes; the palest blue, the deepest green, the richest chocolate. He sees them all, all testaments to his faults, to his failures. They stare accusingly at him; the eyes of those he wasn't fast enough, strong enough, brave enough to get to in time. Dead eyes that see past the mortal planes of existence into his very soul. And in his dreams, in his nightmares, her clear gray eyes ask him why he didn't fight harder for her, why he let her die. And her shy, secret smile that she saves just for him is gone. And all she is, all she'll ever be, is a pair of lifeless silver eyes.
He keeps walking and, impossibly, he hears the steady drip as her tears hit the pavement. His heart clenches as he reaches his bike, pausing before grabbing his helmet and throwing a leg over the machine. He can feel her eyes on him, but keeps his face steely. She'll shed enough tears for both of them.
Revving the engine, he hears her fall to the ground, without looking, sees her body shake with the pangs of loneliness, of not being able to understand, of betrayal, of hurt…of unconditional, unrequited love. Her echoing sobs follow him like wraiths as he disappears in the winding maze of city streets.
"Every time you reach out for something, it slips through your fingers."
Thank you for reading the new, slightly improved version of Eyes. Please leave a review so I know how it's going out there in cyberland. :)
Love, SeraphStar