The October Music: Second Verse - Day 27

Venus
Her beauty was ethereal. It was intimidating, in a way. From her flowing blonde hair that looked like it had been forged from the sun itself to her eyes, wide and deep, almost-purple blue, she had a quality to her that was beyond simply human. The way she walked was more like hovering along the ground, barely placing a foot down to steady herself. Every movement was languid and practiced and both drew attention to her and made people forget she was there. She was like some sort of goddess that floated her way across campus.

And I asked her on a date.

I have no idea how it happened. That’s not me. Never has been. I’m more the kind of guy that gets drunk, gathers up the nerve to send a rambling text, then wakes up, deletes it, and blocks the number out of sheer terror the next morning. Confidence has never been my thing. So, when I saw her there, sitting at a table in the lunch area, reading a book of chemistry or something like that, all prior experience would have said that I simply scuttled away like a crab and taken up refuge in the men’s bathroom until such a time as I felt safe to leave. That’s not what happened though.

I was glancing at her, entranced, but trying to appear nonchalant. You know the kind of thing I was doing. Looking but not looking but definitely looking. Well, she caught me. She locked eyes with me and, in that moment, it was like I saw into the stars themselves. Something burned in my chest and I found myself walking over to her. This was weird. This was not normal. But the terror usually existent in my chest was not present.

She drew me over and, when I stood next to her, I felt the words spilling from my mouth. I said she was beautiful and that I wanted to take her out to dinner. She smiled and worlds burned. She agreed and said she would meet me outside the student center at 6 PM. I don’t remember what happened after that. I’m pretty sure my heart exploded from stress.

6 PM came and I stood there, shaking, waiting and expecting that she would not show. But she did. She was wearing a blue and green swirling dress and it looked like clouds around her. She took my hand after I said hello and heat raced up my arm. Dinner was an afterthought as she led me through the campus to one of the soccer fields.

She asked me, as we entered, if I was scared. I said no. She smiled again, said that was good, and gave me a kiss. I felt fire surge down my throat and into my chest and, when I breathed out, everything went black.
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I’m floating now, above my body. Smoke is curling out of my mouth and she is long gone. I wonder if she’s ever coming back.