she can sense his presence before seeing him. it had been that way since their early high school years; knowing he had entered the hallway before he crossed the sea of people to reach her, sensing he was walking up to her as she gossiped with her friends during lunch. she could find him in every crowd, and the feeling had more than once been reciprocal. how he could immediately spot her in the bleachers even if she changed spots from game to game, how he could turn his head in the right direction the exact moment he exited the locker room. nadia used to fantasize about it, how they’d move to a different city, he’d find her in every college game in the crowd and she’s wink at him from the age after every performance, connected and intertwined to the point they were almost magnetic.
and then things changed, because of course they would. high school sweethearts was only a thing in the movies and reality had hit her even before the graduation cap went flying above their heads. even then, she had made her mission to not see it, him with another girl, him flirting with another girl. she’d turned the other way so many times, gone without reapplying her lipstick so she could evade the bathroom chatting, skipped a few many parties so she wouldn’t be tricked by that pull. until prom happened. and, of course, he wouldn’t go alone, neither would she. but she could still see him, opposite sides of the room, swaying with some girl she barely knew, meeting her gaze through the sea of bodies and looking away just as quickly as she did. she’d finally met the downside of their connection.
tonight, it’s not much different. he’s standing in a corner but she spots him immediately, smile surfacing only to die down a moment later, swallowing dry before reaching for the counter, needing some drink to distract her from the vision. it didn’t look like a date — granted, it had been a while since she’s been in one — but the setting didn’t feel casual either. she refused to look back, holding her shoulders to her ears as she kept her back to whatever was going on in the opposite side of the bar. maybe she had been fool enough to think there was something sparkling again between, or even innocent to read it as anything more than drunk people who had history on their shoulders. if he was on a date then, maybe she— the thought is cut short as head shifts in his direction again, so absentmindedly she doesn’t have time to stop herself, swallowing the shock as his eyes are the first thing she meets. it’s quick, because her cheeks burn up and she’s looking away again, refusing to return the smile that spreads over his features.
she considers leaving, dropping some money on the counter and turning to the grocery store for a bottle of wine instead. she considers turning back and letting him see her frown, making sure he knows she’d thought there was something blooming between them again. but she doesn’t neither, just stays in place, drink sitting in front of her, because she can feel him walking in her direction.