forgetting charlie

two

two ::

It seems so easy to like someone you see everyday. It's interesting, isn't it, how you always draw close to someone that's so familiar even if you know absolutely nothing about them. But you see them everyday and because you see them everyday, you feel like you know them. But what do you really know? You maybe know their habits, but nothing really important. Like how they always have that calculating look on their face like they're trying to read what you're going to say before you say it. Or how they try to compensate not knowing something that you know a lot about by being precociously clever in order to prove some sort of point that neither of you actually care about. Or how they simply smile whenever you surprise them.

Charlie surprised me.

It was how quickly he took to our English readings, like he had something to prove to me. I never really questioned it. I was simply flattered.

We had Astronomy right before noon. It wasn't a class I was particularly excited for. I was horrible at science and only needed the credits to fulfill my science requirement. Instead of taking biology or chemistry or physics, I opted for studying stars because I thought that would be easier and if not, more enjoyable. I was already learning that I would actually have to read the textbook in order to get anything my professor was saying in class, so I suppose it was no different than the more traditional science classes. Though, it was much more interesting.

I sat in the center of the small lecture-styled classroom. Charlie sat up front because he apparently really liked science and was rather good at it. I suppose I could have sat next to him, but in the beginning it hadn't cross my mind. I didn't know him. And to be quite frank, I don't think I was interested in knowing him at all.

Yet, that day he surprised me and since then, I was more than interested in getting to know him.

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea; my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite," he whispered to me after coming up behind me as he entered the room from the back door. I looked up at him a bit startled and he smiled at me foolishly before heading down to his seat towards the front of class.

Was he serious?

As I went over the lines of Shakespeare in my head, Charlie glanced back up at me briefly before our professor walked in and began the day's lesson.

So, I was undoubtedly confused. I hadn't known Charlie very long before then; literally, we had only known each other for a few weeks at most. It hadn't been that long since our first day of term and he was already professing his undeniable love for me. It was odd and so out of place. Then I thought, maybe he didn't know what those words meant. Granted, he probably didn't know the extent of their meaning yet; we hadn't actually gone over Act Two of Romeo & Juliet. Professor Wiseman made it a habit to go over every line, every word of every scene in great depth. And of course, he would go on great digressions along the way. The man enjoyed talking and we enjoyed him talking at us. He was quite the speaker, Professor Wiseman. His tangents were interesting, humorous and quite memorable. But I digress.

He didn't know what those words meant; I had convinced myself that much. After all, they weren't lines a man would say. They were Juliet's.

Naturally, I was distracted for the whole class. I couldn't possibly tell you what we learned that day. It had something to do with the creation of stars, but the details are hazy. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts, with those lines, with Charlie. It was just something that I didn't expect. It surprised me. Here I am thinking that my life was so predictable. And to be quite honest, it normally is. Even then, I never would have expected that, whatever that was that happened. I know I seem to be obsessing, but you must know, that was what I was thinking at the time. I was obsessing. No one had ever whispered lines of Shakespeare in my ear like that, his voice so leveled, so smooth. It was like he kissed me. It was just like that.