Eyes and Smiles
“You’re quite the observer, Alok, aren’t you?” Ameha asked me. For a moment, I wasn’t sure how to respond, but then I gathered my courage and replied, “When you have someone as beautiful as a painting in front of you, you can't help but become one.”
I smiled, realizing my confidence had come from a lesson learned the day before. My best friend, Saumya, had shared some advice when I told her about this date. “A girl always knows a girl better,” she had said, and I’m starting to see how true that is.
Ameha laughed softly, and I felt relieved, knowing I’d managed to make her smile. She wasn’t wrong; I do notice things, like how she always begins her conversations with, “You know,” raising her eyebrows as if I should already guess what’s coming. It’s that little gesture that makes her “you-don’t-know” expression so charming. And, in that moment, I noticed how it accentuated the beauty mark on her lower lip. I know it might sound strange, but when you're falling for someone, even those details seem captivating.
“Alok, where’d you go?” she asked, surprising me out of my thoughts.
“Oh, sorry, I was just thinking,” I stammered, a little embarrassed.
“You’re kind of irritating, you know that?” she teased.
“Ouch, that hurt,” I said, laughing, but deep down I wondered if I’d overdone it a bit. My overthinking kicked in, as it always does.
Then, out of nowhere, silence settled between us again. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though, just one of those pauses that felt like it would naturally break soon enough.
“Alokkkkk,” Ameha finally called, drawing out my name in a playful, almost childlike way that only made her sound cuter. I turned to her, meeting her gaze. Her eyes, a soft shade of brown, sparkled under the light. I often catch myself wondering how her eyes always manage to shine like that—so warm, so full of life. With brows so perfectly shaped, her eyes are worth every moment of admiration.
