Prologue

he looked at me today.

green eyes speckled

with baby blue.

wind-swept sandy hair

falling over his brows.

his lingering smile

toying at those lips.

a spark of curiosity

in those striking greens.

but i

look

away.

bird's nest locks flying

across my forehead.

specs sliding down

my nose.

eyelashes in a disarray.

choking back the fierce

beating of my heart,

threatening to escape

as a shaky breath.

and this happens

every time he looks my way.

which today, of the twenty-seven

we have had this year,

is the first.