not looking up, she took the paper from under his foot and put it back in her notebook, ignoring the faint boot print on new white sheet. it was when the stranger entered her line of sight did she look over at him, not quite catching his eye but taking his facial features nonetheless.
his face made maryâs hands pause in their gathering, outstretched and ready to grab another piece of her notebook. he was a bit hollow in the cheeks, a bit thin in the mouth, but oddly familiar. not comforting - the boy made her stomach do a weird lurch, and his voice was making the back of her brain light up with some sort of feeling she hadnât felt in a long time - but just familiar. â itâs okay. iâm kinda hard to spot, â maryanne replied, looking away and smiling just a bit. â i was a heck of a hide-and-seek player when i was a kid. â she laughed, seeing him picking up her papers too. how kind. â iâm all right. my foot just caught a piece of sidewalk. no blood or bruises. â
when she was finished, she reached out to take back the few things he had collected. it was a few pages of the most important thing sheâd ever written - the book based on her childhood imaginary friends. â thank you, for helping me, i mean. most other people sorta just, yâknow, keep on going. â their fingers brushed as she took the pages from his hand, and she went pink in the cheeks again. handling people was something she could do, definitely, but handling boys, especially at such a close proximity ? if he smile a certain way, the brunette would be down for the count.
Randall reached of a piece of paper on the ground in front of him, but reached about a foot too high. He mentally scolded himself; he thought he had gotten that under control. Going from four arms to two was still messing with him. He quickly ratified it, putting his hand on the paper and grabbing a few more before handing them to her.
You were hard to find before, now youâre just taunting me.
At her assuring him no blood or bruises, he sighed in fake relief. âThatâs good.â He then shook his head, a charming smile forming on his face. âItâs no trouble, youâd do the same for me, right?â
His eyes met hers for the first time, strategically. He was gauging her reaction to him, seeing if even a part of her remembered their past. He couldnât tell at this point, but it would become evident soon enough. âOh, sorry, um...â he started, pretending he was nervous. Even though there was rage in his heart, he couldnât deny she grew up into a decent looking human, âI didnât catch your name.â