Heather & Thane // I Lost My Head
“Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.”
Thane walked, mindfully avoiding people coming his way, and flipped through the pages of a book he so purposefully avoided reading his freshman year of high school. Now, he read in hopes of feeling connected to something, to someone. Stories that held tortured characters, faults much like his own. They were the one time he allowed himself to be truthful, even if only in his thoughts. When he read, he felt his actions. What would have happened if he'd just stayed in school, studied, made friends with the people he called idiots and laughed at, blunt between his teeth. Maybe, if he'd made an effort. Things would be different. Maybe if he'd made an effort, he wouldn't be alone.
"Oh. Sorry." He mumbled to the passing body that his shoulder had hit, eyes distracted by the words on a page. Closing the book, Thane shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans and hooked thumbs into the belt loops, keeping eyes up to avoid knocking into anyone else. Something caught his attention, drawing his eye up and Thane found himself thinking back to the girl in the park. Heather. He smiled for a moment, wishing to forget the awful mess he'd left their first meeting in. With a cautious step, he walked into the coffee shop, bell ringing as the door swung open, only to see this girl was someone else. A polite smile, he moved aside to let her pass. Which was good...because honestly, if it had been her, what would he say? He couldn't explain his odd behavior without telling her everything.
Jaw clenched he turned, and as luck would have it, this time it was her. He considered leaving, before she saw him but instead, with an unnoticeable breath he took steps to where she sat and cleared his throat. "Heather?" Her name sounded odd on his tongue, but he quite liked saying it.