We walk in silence, the girl seemingly lost in thought. I wanted to know what she was thinking about, but quickly pushed that aside. She was just being nice, that was it. Still, I figured I should introduce myself. "I'm Harry, by the way."
The young woman nods a little, but I can't tell if she recognizes me or not. Looking in my direction and raising a hand over her face to block the son, one corner of her mouth tips up. "It's nice to meet you, Harry."
I wait for her to introduce herself, but she doesn't. I quirk my head to the side, trying not to laugh at the prolonged silence. "Aren't you going to tell me your name?"
A flush of pink tinged her cheeks. Clearly, introducing herself did not cross her mind as we walked to her car. "Oh right, I'm Luz. Sorry."
Luz. I couldn't say why, but it fit her. I liked it. "That's quite alright, Luz. Is that short for- Wait, are you not wearing any shorts?" I started to ask her about her name, but as she lifted a hand to scratch her neck, her jumper rode up, and I noticed she wasn't wearing anything under her jumper.
If Luz had blushed before, her face was practically on fire. She scratched the back of her neck, and I could tell she was deliberately not meeting my eyes. "Yeah, I came straight from the beach, and I didn't want my bottoms to get my shorts all wet, so I opted for the pantsless look."
Luz laughs a little, and even if it feels a little forced, I find myself wanting to hear it again. Before I can think more on how much I liked her laugh, she spoke again. "In my defense, I didn't think I would be talking to anyone before I had a chance to change, let alone help a stranger wrap up their wrist, so..."
A small laugh bubbles up and out of my chest. "That explains the sand on your ankles and wet hair."
Luz bites her nail, like she was trying to hide her smile. Then her eyes widen, and I'm dying to know what she's thinking about. She smoothed a hand through her hair, almost as if she was embarrassed of the way it looked. I didn't mind it at all, and if it let my mind wander, I would go as far as saying the way it curled around her face made her look incredibly attractive, but she wasn't here for that and neither was I. When she approached the table Mitch and I were sitting at, there was a tiny bit of worry that she had been lying as a way to get my attention. But the longer I spoke to her and walked with her, I realized she was only trying to be kind, which made me want to get to know her more.
"Here we are." She finally stops in front of a car, one that looks mid-sized and a little on the older side, a surfboard strapped to the hood. Luz turns to me and holds out a takeaway bag for me. "Do you mind holding this while I unlock the car and get the bandage?"
Before I know it, I'm holding Luz's stuff as she disappears into the passenger seat of her car. For a few minutes, I stood next to Luz's car while she rooted around gathering stuff and putting on a pair of denim shorts. When she finally came around to where I was, her hair was up in a bun that was so tiny it was adorable, with short tendrils slipping free and falling around her face like springs.
With her hair up, I got a better look at her face. She had dark brown eyes and the cutest button nose, a smattering of freckles across the bridge. Her skin looked like it had been kissed by the sun, and I had to blink a couple of times before she realized I had been staring at her for longer than was probably necessary.
"Oh here I'll trade you," Luz says, seeming to realize that I'm still carrying her stuff for her. She hands me a roll of something tan and soft. She disappears again to put the takeaway bag in her car and comes back out, finally ready to wrap my wrist. Before she gets started, Luz apologizes for being a little out of it, but I only find it endearing, and maybe a little amusing.
How they met from H's perspective
Start from the beginning
