“Hello.”
A female voice.
I looked up from my notebook and saw a complete stranger. Long black hair, hazel eyes and a smile more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. Her eyes were on me.
“That poem is beautiful.” she said.
I returned her look blankly, getting lost in her features. My brain not functioning properly, she was slightly spooked by the silence.
“I hope you don’t mind my looking. I was just curious.”
I was snapped back into reality when I noticed an air of uncertainty creeping into her demeanor. Finally I opened my mouth and words came out.
“Uh no. No problem. Thanks, er…”
“Katya.” She finished my sentence for me. “But my friends call me Kat.”
I smiled. “Then I’ll call you Katya.”
The comment got a chuckle from her – inside I was pumping my fist in the air and jumping for glory.
“My name is Owen.” I introduced myself. She nodded.
“I know. My friend Sammi –“she pointed to a group of girls standing twenty metres away watching, any of them could have been Sammi, “is in your writing class.”
“Oh.” I said. “So your reading of my poem wasn’t just a spontaneous act?” I added playfully.
“Ah…” she searched for an answer. “No.” She couldn’t find one. “To tell you the truth, I asked my friends if they knew who you were – Sammi told me she knew you and said the best way to spark a conversation with you would be to compliment you on your writing.”
“Hmmm…” I made this noise to fill in time. This was the first time a girl had ever approached me. Ever. I was so flattered that I didn’t really know how to react. Thankfully, something in my brain allowed me to continue playing cool where I would normally have been tongue-tied.
“So you didn’t like the poem? Your words were a fraud? Oh, I’m hurt.” I teased, searching for more compliments.
“No, I really did like the poem.” She reassured me, knowing exactly what I was doing. I thanked her and then we just looked at each other for a while, appraising. Our eyes met and we were completely comfortable. Upon realizing this, I smiled widely, and so did she. After a few more moments of gazing, Katya spoke.
“So I was wondering if you would like to join my friends and I for drinks tonight?” she asked, making the first move.
“Tonight?” I asked. “Well, what are you doing now?”
“Um… I was just going to go home and study.”
“Well, why don’t we go for a drink now instead?” I suggested, making my move.
“Don’t you have class in a couple of minutes?” she inquired.
“Yeah” I paused thoughtfully. “But if I have to choose between class with an old lecturer or drinks with a pretty girl…” I paused again, allowing my corny compliment to be accepted. It was, with a smile. So I continued: “then I’m afraid the girl wins hands down.” I finished my sentence with a grin.
Her smile widened and in that moment her beauty eclipsed anything I’d ever before laid eyes on.
“Okay.” She said. “Let’s go to the Uni Bar.”
I closed my notebook and put it in my back pack. I then slung my back pack over my shoulder and got up off the bench. Katya turned to her friends who were still watching us with smiles on their faces. She waved goodbye to them and then we were off. As we walked to the bar we started chatting about all the getting-to-know-you stuff, and inside, taking in every word she said and every movement she made, I was pumping my fist in the air and jumping for glory.
