Margo Spotted

A hot plate of manicotti settled in his stomach. He scooted around in the theatre chair, his slacks clinging to the velour upholstery. He felt the need to slouch below his 6"3 stature, which probably gave the wrong impression of disinterest. And he knew with performances like these there would be space for quiet, which he would interrupt with his smoker's cough. Already, he felt out of place and unwanted. Though this was his idea of a date. 

To his left, Amy sat acutely. Enveloped in pink and white clothes, blonde hair tied back with a bow. He had glanced at her while she swiped endlessly through her phone. Under this light, her face was even more ghastly. Her pale skin was pulled back over her cheekbones so tight it peeled back her eyelids. When he met her, he was embarrassed to learn she was 19, these taut features were unfitting for a teenager. Earlier that night, she pecked at her plate of bruschetta. She did order it herself but hadn't known what it was until it was served. These menus had no pictures, no descriptions. 'It was simply the easiest thing to pronounce' Jet observed, which turned him off. He also deduced she wasn't fond of the plate's use of bread. Rather than indulge in culture, and his $30, she starved at the threat of gaining weight, 'How deadly, how ironic'.

But when she looked back at him, she smiled and he smiled back. Their gaze immediately broken by dimming lights and immense clapping. 

The first performance was gorgeous. He saw curling reds and endless cyan oceans. He wondered if Amy was provoked by the art. 'Was she one for interpretations?' he wondered. But since she reached for his hand halfway through, he seemed to forget his question. As the conductor walked off stage, the clapping carried through, and a tall figure emerged from the shadowed steps. Her face finding the stage's warm light.

'She has a very pretty smile', he thought.

Margo.

Curled hair maned her cheeks. Her button nose held up large glasses. After an addressed wave, she turned around to face her ensemble, but it was enough time for Jet to recognize his former lover. Suddenly, Amy's hand felt so unfamiliar. Too small. 

The theatre goes quiet as she raises her arms-suspension. She turns her head to a younger man, sax first chair. He nods and raises the instrument to his lips, white glaring off his glasses and his suit a size too large.

She rolls her wrist. The young man began playing, entering the note as softly as he could. Jet follows the breathiness of the music, his own is choking with shock as he tries not to alarm his date. The player's body waning in and out of his chair, his sax. His dark brows burrow beneath his glasses surface. The melody was slow and dark. Jet dares to peek back at Margo, her arms were like sunlight on the water. Her neck was swinging her head, rolling along the insides of her arms, which were bowed like a ballerina. She pulled the music out from the woodwind, charming it with her body. Suddenly her buttocks pushed in and her shoulders jumped. Jet realized his transfixion and he braced himself for the loud jazzy entrance of the rest of the band. 

-You have the prettiest eyes. she had said.

He could do nothing but blush. He wasn't sure how to take a compliment. He'd never been told that.

-I've never been told that. His smile matching hers. 

The picnic blanket thinly veiled what sharp grass covered the park. They fed over food and conversation for the mind. They shared, they sustained, they created. It was an odd setting, where usually they met in the darkness of a movie theatre for a film class. He was sure everyone hated the two of them, talking their ways through movies and laughing at inappropriate times, but who cared about everyone?

-Not to your face. Whatever she meant by that, seeing as how Margo was the only girl to ever show interest in him at that point. That point being their first year of college, which Jet always thought was too long of a time for any attractive person to be single. He thought then, he must be ugly. But for someone as pretty as Margo to be interested, he must have something.

The warmth of her palms on his cheeks and the heat of his blush made him sleepy, but he couldn't close his eyes. He couldn't look away from her. She was trying to be serious, studying his forehead with a blank expression. But the absurdity of there being something interesting about the baldness of a forehead made him laugh. She too must've realized her own queerness, and turned into her shoulder to laugh. He tried to peek at her face, to which she protested.

-I'm sorry, her voice muffled, trying to answer his confusion. 

-it's hard to explain. The ostrich emerged from her hole, 

-It's like, I want to stare at you without you staring at me. He laughed, but she continued.

-I don't know if I like what you see as much as I like what I see."

He heard his heart crack. It sounded like dried mud snapping back into sand. "I have to come clean, Margo. I wanted to be this close to you the moment we met." Before she had time to jest-"I think about your smile to go to sleep."

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WIP

He really wasn't sure what she was talking about. Margo was the first girl to show any interest in him since kindergarten. They were freshman in college now. This prolongment of eye contact made him nervous. But as he stared back, her smile grew brighter and she buried her face into her shoulder.

 went 

to cover it with her mouth.

He didn't know where he got the nerve, but he pulled it away and kissed her.

Now, Amy was his 4th girlfriend of this year. Woman? Lover? Close-female-friend? He still didn't know what, 

"I'm sorry," her voice muffled, trying to answer his confusion. "it's hard to explain." The ostrich emerged from her hole, "It's like, I want to stare at you without you staring at me." He laughed, but she continued. "I don't know if I like what you see as much as I like what I see."

He heard his heart crack. It sounded like dried mud snapping back into sand. "I have to come clean, Margo. I wanted to be this close to you the moment we met." Before she had time to jest-"I think about your smile to go to sleep."

///