Worth It

Her scent permeates the air: I can practically taste peaches coming off her tousled, honey hair, still wet from a shower. Her creamy, caramel skin is aglow, fully hydrated from what I assume was vanilla scented body lotion. I catch a faint whiff of hazelnut coffee out of her rosy lips as she gives out a slow exhale. I casually glance up past her lips to the rest of her face; her eyes are closed, and one of her delicate fingers reaches up to move a strand of hair and tuck it behind a petite ear. She has her earbuds in and is unaware of my attention. Her eyes slowly open, and I see that dark, chestnut brown with a hint of minty green before I look away to avoid her gaze. My eyes focus heavily on the advertisement above her head: “L’Oreal…Because You’re Worth It” accompanied by a woman whose looks are but a dull sedimentary stone compared to the gem next to me. “Worth it, indeed”, I quietly muse to myself.

The bus creaks and groans and comes to a stop. I’m not entirely sure what stop we are at, but the girl walks towards the exit, and so do I. I quickly task my eyes to identifying the surroundings. We’re at a small shopping center of sorts. There’s a Starbucks, a convenience store, a ratty looking tattoo parlor, and an ice cream shop. Just a little past the shopping area, a small trail goes off into the woods.

I cautiously followed behind her, making sure to stay around 50ft back from her and walking slowly and quietly. She went into the Starbucks, but I did not follow her all the way inside. I stopped to sit at a bench just outside, with my back mostly turned away from her and the Starbucks, but I was still able to take peeks inside out of the corner of my eyes. I watched her order her coffee, and I wondered what her drink of choice was. Did she take her coffee black? With cream or sugar? Or did she like the luxurious froufrou drinks like a cinnamon roll Frappuccino or a pumpkin spice latte? I saw her smile and laugh at something the male barista said, and I felt jealousy pierce into my heart. She shouldn’t flirt with other men, it wasn’t right!

I fumed while she waited for her drink, while she lingered and chatted with this retail shmuck. Eventually, she walked towards the exit, and I turned away from the store and pretended to be on the phone. I felt my hatred as venom in my veins and fire behind my eyes as she smiled and looked at her coffee. I knew that she was thinking about him. I ran my fingers through my tangled, blonde hair, yanking a few strands out to distract and calm myself. I couldn’t get emotional yet. I had a little bit more work to do, but boy, was she going to be worth it.

My exquisite desire tossed her coffee cup into the trash, and put her earbuds back in. She stretched briefly, bending over to each side, and lunging forward on each leg. My clueless beloved was heading out to jog on a trail into the woods. It’s truly almost like she wants me to follow her. Of course, I oblige.

It’s difficult to keep up with her without being too obvious; she’s in better shape than I thought, and my lungs and legs complain about the jog. There are many branches and shrubs and sudden turns in these woods, and I eventually lose sight of her. I frantically smell the air, trying to catch her sweet scent, and I strain my eyes trying to find a glimpse of her. My lips turn up into a smile; I can still sense that faint smell of vanilla. She must be nearby.

I feel a flash of heat followed by a sharp pain in my back underneath my ribs. My thoughts feel scattered, frantic. What happened? What…what is this? My knees buckle underneath me, and my hands feebly clasp at my back. I have some trouble locating the source of the pain because my back is unusually slippery. I find an odd stick or something protruding from my back, connected to…a hand? Before I have time to process this new information, the unfamiliar hand yanks back and a new wave of pain washes over me. I try to gasp in air, but this only causes fresh pain to infiltrate my lungs.

“You know, at first I wasn’t sure if I should bother putting in the effort for this,” a low-pitched, gravelly yet feminine voice whispered into my ear. “I thought, should I call out of work today? Should I get off the bus even though I’ll probably have to uber home later? Should I cancel my dinner plans, even though I was really looking forward to tonight?” she continued, as my pulse grew shallower. I could feel my heart in my throat now, as I often could when my hands were on someone else’s neck in their final moments.

“But then I saw that desire, that danger in your eyes, that I have seen so many times before,” her voice grew louder, quicker, more excited. Just like mine usually did. My vision was growing more spotted, more black. I fell onto my hands but made myself to turn around and look up at her. All I could see were those chestnut eyes before I fell completely over. I could no longer see her, but I could hear her.

“So even though normally it would be such an inconvenience, such a hassle, I decided to do it… because you’re worth it”