((was bored several days ago and wrote this up. it's from the futuristic tale i'm working on i've mentioned before. in my opinion, the cheesiness at the end is a bit much, but i figured i'd try and get some second opinions...))
It was the eyes mostly--her weakness had always been in their eyes. Vanessa had realized this some time ago, but was just now remembering why she'd loved Seamus' so much.
She could admit, and often had, that Seamus wasn't exactly the most physically attractive guy, with a slight amount of chub around the mid-section, but over time she had once learned to look past that to his broad shoulders, his smile, his eyes.
Yes, it was definitely his eyes that first caught her attention--and how they had caught her!
Technically, they were green, and at first that was all she'd assumed. Then, after their second, or perhaps it was their third, kiss she got a closer look at them and, she pleasantly saw, they were more than simply green. The very edge rim of his irises were a light, tan-ish sort of brown, and then they faded from a yellow-ish green to a bold, bright green around his pupils. In short, they were unexpectedly lovely, and she had to bite her lip and look away before desire overtook reason and left her in a mess.
Back then she hadn't grown more than simply fond of him (and of kissing him), and couldn't think of starting any sort of official relationship with him, although she knew he'd been long ready to do so. Still, though, from then on she couldn't help staring at least a little at his eyes, and then, as things progressed, at him in general.
It took three months after that kiss for him to convince her to leap, and be "his girl".
Indeed, though, it was his eyes that got her to give him a chance, and later why she let herself fall in love with him. Shame she didn't realize that last part until, due to unfortunate circumstances, he gave up on her and left, although, life was unusually cruel like that. And yet, the same Fates who'd separated them had now shoved them back together. Why, you ask? Hmpf. Did it matter?
After he spoke, there followed a bit of a cliche moment, both of them daring the other to make the first move, and each of them afraid to be the one to do it.
Then she leaned back against the kitchen counter, head tilted away at the ground, purposefully avoiding his gaze. "I thought you quit on me. You're the one who left me, remember?"
He smirked. "And you're the one who cheated on me, remember?"
She bit her lip to keep herself from gasping like a stupid damsel. He was always so damn honest with her. Sometimes it was lovely, but other times, like just now, it felt like he'd stabbed her; a double-edged sword, if cliches are your thing.
"I didn't...." She shifted her weight, annoyingly restless. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Oh really?" He scoffed. "So...what? You figured you'd just go off and have sex with him and I'd be perfectly okay with it?"
"I didn't--!" She stopped herself, took a figurative deep breath. "I didn't have sex with him. At all."
She hardly finished when he snarled, "Well, you two certainly looked cozy for not having sex."
Now she couldn't help facing him. "That's unfair, and you know it, Seamus." Her tone was getting edgy, she knew, but hell, maybe it was about time she let herself explode. "I had no intention of having sex with him."
"Bullshit, you didn't." He stood, took a step towards her, half-talking with his hands as angered people tend to do. "You really expect me to believe that? After hearing all that hype about how insanely attracted you were to him?"
Her eyes linked with his, and she noticed that in this dim lighting his eyes seemed more empty and more lonely than she remembered. Such raw pain in his eyes--had she really done that to him?
"Didn't you trust me at all?" she said a little softly, the sheer emotion emanating from his eyes calming her anger.
"I did," he said evenly. "I used to until I found you were sharing a bed with him."
She closed her eyes, chaos churning her blood. "You told me you loved me."
He scoffed, taking another step towards her. "What does that have to do with--?"
"Love is about trust, Seamus," she interrupted, simultaneously opening her eyes and then narrowing them as she spoke. "And yet you wouldn't even listen--."
"Because I knew it was just bullshit," he explained. "Vanessa, I really did love you, but I knew it would've been unrealistic to consider anything else."
"To consider what? That maybe I was telling the truth?"
He sighed. "Vanessa, you told me--."
"That what?" she spat. "I was attracted to him?" She paused shortly. "Well, I also told you that I was more attracted to you than I'd ever been to him." He didn't answer that, and she stepped right up into his personal space, as angry people also tend to do. "You remember that?"
His eyes widened a little at the sudden intrusion, then he murmured, "I couldn't let myself be blinded just because I loved you. I just went with the evidence."
"What evidence?" she snapped. "That I happened to fall asleep in he same bed as him? I wasn't even under the covers with him. Or did you forget about that as well? And that I was also fully clothed?!"
He shifted his weight. "Vanessa--."
"Don't you dare," she snarled. Then she poked his chest as she added, "You wrenched me open, you told me to take a leap of faith with you, but you just pushed me off and laughed from the ledge. You broke my heart, you bastard."
"Vanessa," he started as she turned away from him, "I--."
"Just get out," she said, leaning against the sink, eyes closed, suddenly feeling rather fatigued. "Get out of my house."
There she stayed, waiting to hear his departing footsteps, the front door closing behind him, but she heard no such thing. Instead, there was silence for a moment. Then, a gentle whisper near her ear:
"You must remember this
a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh
the fundamental things apply
as time goes by."
Against her better judgment, she found herself wanting to sing along. To keep herself from being an idiot, though, she bit her lip and kept her eyes closed. Also, perhaps it should be noted, what she didn't do was speak up and kick him out of her house as maybe she should've when he failed to obey her command prior.
"And when two lovers woo
they still say, 'I love you'
on that you can rely
no matter what the future brings
as time goes by."
At this point, he slowly slid his arms around her waist and, for some reason, she didn't flinch, but rather felt like sighing, maybe knowing just how he was manipulating her emotions and simply not caring.
"It's still the same old story
a fight for love and glory
a case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
as time goes by.
Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
as time goes by...."
Almost automatically, she turned, his hands still resting on her waist, and there was another pause where both of them dared the other with their eyes to make the first move, and each of them afraid to do it. And again it was her who spoke first: "You missed a verse."
He smiled, glancing obviously at her mouth. "Did I?"
She nodded as he put her head in his hands and pulled her to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, remembering also why she had once come to love more than just his eyes.
