Love Charms

I started having a good day. This particular morning, as I trudged along the cedar chip path to my first class, I found myself behind my classroom scope. This was a remarkable coincidence since she was on my mind even moreso than usual. It was a rather chilly overcast morning but it instantly brightened for me. I watched the bounce of her honey blonde hair, caught a glimpse of her pretty profile as she checked for traffic. My mind was alive, knowing I must capture each motion, nuance, and happening. Encounters like this are few and far between and I knew I'd be feeding off this memory for quite some time. I watched her carefully, following a few yards behind. She passed the pond, tossing a quick glance at the ducks. She might even have smiled. It would've been a winning beautiful smile. Some other girls were just issuing out of the nearby science building, across the way. They saw her and waved, calling hello. This went from a good day to a redletter day. Her name was Jaime. There. Simple as that, I learned her name was Jaime. It looked like following Jaime would turn into my life's profession -- she even looked like she was heading toward the same place, the library. She actually was! I had lagged behind but with a few quick steps was right behind her, catching the door as she let it close. She gestured with her little hand as if pushing the door back open. She's doing that for me, I told myself. She looked back for a second, saw me, and smiled. I grinned back, beaming uncontrollably at the people in the lobby, my face already red from the cold. I followed close behind, passing the stairway and through the first set of doors, through the magnetized anti-theft gate, into the large vast room of the first floor. I had the sudden crazy thought that I'd wind up following her right to her table, sitting with her. Then I had another crazy thought. Maybe she was here to research the same assignment, the witchcraft paper. That would really be something, since the reason I was here was research for the witchcraft paper.

"You here for the witchcraft paper?"
"Whuh?" I asked. I had followed her into one of the aisles, and she had now turned on me.
"You're in the witchcraft class, right?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah I am."
She smiled. "Yeah, I thought so. What are you going to do it on?"

I couldn't believe I was standing here talking to her. Or at least trying to talk. But I still had the presence of mind not to spill any trade secrets. "Unnnnh. The persecutions I think." There was no way I could ever tell her. Ever. Even though she would be involved. It was too silly. And too scary. I started feeling ill-at-ease just thinking about it. Or was that just because she was here in front of me. Still, it was easy to feel uneasy over what I had in mind. I'd seen enough movies to know this sort of impetuosity might have dangerous consequences. You couldn't call this a simple chemistry experiment. There were a lot of unknowns involved here -- the biggest being my own inexperience. And to think I'd be doing my research while she was standing right beside me! But, then again, this could be taken as some sort of sign, right? This could mean it might work now, right?

"I think I'm going to do mine on love potions."
I jerked upright, staring straight into her pale blue eyes. She looked back innocently, even though it seemed as if she'd just read my mind.
"My boyfriend suggested it, really" she continued.
Two heart palpitations so close together would surely kill me, I thought. --Damn! A boyfriend.
"But I think it'll be interesting." She shrugged and then smiled. "Besides, it's Spring."
"Maybe," I began, conscious of trying to keep my speech under control, "maybe we could do our studying together." I was amazed I'd said this. Just to keep my mind off other things, I'd blurted out something I never would've been able to ask in a million years.
"Oh, I can't" she said, looking truly saddened. "Craig's going to meet me here. But if I see anything on the persecutions I'll let you know, okay?"
I stepped back, nodding. "That would be nice. Thank you."
"Sure."
"Well. Um. See you later. I mean, see you tomorrow."
"Bye-bye."

I escaped around the corner into the next aisle. My books were over on her side, but I couldn't get to them now. I was too embarrassed. Damn; a boyfriend. A boyfriend named Craig. What a stupid name. It probably belonged to some huge bull-necked football player. All football players were named Craig. And all football players were extremely handsome with gorgeous girls. Except for the ones who were extremely ugly and still with gorgeous girls. Any way you looked at it, Craigs always had Jaimes and guys like me were stuck doing their research papers alone. I leaned against the books, clutched my notebook to me, and scanned some titles on the shelves. I thought I could make out Jaime's shoulder behind the books. I slid somewhat left. I wished she would find her stuff and leave. I couldn't stand here all day -- I had work to do.

I pulled down some old books from the rack. Old hard covers, with generic terms like Witches and Witchcraft. I could do some general research while I bided my time. As it turned out, I found plenty of information right here before me. I wasn't even sure if Jaime was still there on the other side of the bookshelves, but I deliberately took the long way out, making a big circle to the checkout desk. I filled out the forms and tucked the books under my arm. I made a quick glance over to where Jaime had been. I saw her sitting at one of the long tables. Sitting next to her was a big guy in a high school varsity jacket; his hair was cut very short, bright yellow -- almost white, and curly in front. His face was big and flat, seeming to flow formlessly down to his neck. He was almost exactly what I expected. But it didn't matter to me now. In a few hours I'd be changing my Alternative Religions class into a practicum.