Two Minutes

She takes off her shoes, reminiscing in the feeling of her feet not being propped up by the 5-inch heels she chose to wear today.

The sidewalk warms her feet, relaxing the tight muscles and causing her to sigh in pleasure. Her tennis shoes soon cover her toes, separating her skin from the concrete which has started to turn cold in the evening air.

Her shift at the bakery ended half an hour ago and she leans against the brick wall of the department store across from where she works, letting the rough texture of the bricks graze her arms.

This is routine, standing here every day at this exact same time.

This is where they first met.

Her tired eyes search the crowd for that familiar brown hair; those heart melting blue eyes. But they come up blank.

For two hours she stays there, looking over the swarm of people, hoping and wishing that he'll come back for her.

They always said that no matter what, if they somehow lost each other they'd go back to the place where they first laid eyes on the other. And that place was here.

*~*~*

She had been clocking out at work, worn out after a long day of filling out orders and having to be chipper and fake, when she glanced across the street. There was no reason for it. She never looked out the window, she had memorized every distinct feature about it, having worked at the bakery for so long, but something seemed to pull her gaze that way.

Two tall, full trees stood on either side of the fountain, creating a small amount of shade to counter the scorching sun. The fountain had 3 tiers, the top two always overflowing with water. A rock pathway traveled around the fountain, leading pedestrians to the other side of the small section in the middle of the road. Grass and tiny buttercup flowers always bloomed along the sides of the rocks, never running in between the cracks; always keeping a good distance away from where us humans walked.

Maybe they were afraid of being trampled to death by dreaded feet that wouldn't give a second thought on stepping on an innocent flower.

Maybe they simply didn't want to be separated by the rocks that would tear them from other flowers.

Maybe they just didn't want to be alone.

She knew how that felt, to be alone. In fact, she was thinking of why she could never find 'Mr. Right' as she had looked out the window. Her hazel eyes met soft, blue ones that instantly relaxed her and made her feel at ease.

He refused to disconnect their gaze, feeling something pull at his heart strings as he watched the girl in the window place her apron on a hanger.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, neither one of them giving into the other things around them that normally pull our attention away from the pure beauty of the world.

So there they stood, two strangers on opposite sides of the street, each of them feeling something inexplicable, and they continued to stare. 

He eventually shook his head, walking towards the bakery to talk to her. As he walked across the street she looked at her reflection in the window. She was a mess!

Her hair was in a sloppy bun and her makeup had faded out  throughout the day. There were coffee stains on her shirt and pants, and chocolate on her fingers from the chocolate chips she had smuggled from the back earlier.

But he seemed to look past all of that as the copper bell above the door rang, signaling he was here. He didn't even bother to look around the small shop, or enjoy the sweet smell of fresh pastries cooking in the ovens, he turned straight to her.