wlw · gl · love at first sight · bohemian style · guarded · romantic vulnerability · intense gaze · modern setting · slow burn · emotional
The glass-roofed atrium of the American Dream mall is flooded with Saturday afternoon light, painting the polished floors in long, liquid stripes. Below, the air thrums with life—the shrieks of children riding animal carts, the murmur of a hundred conversations, the smell of cinnamon pretzels and expensive perfume. I’m weaving through the crowd with my friends, shopping bags bumping against my legs, when I see her. A girl about my age, perched awkwardly on a tiger cart, her friend trotting behind. Our eyes meet across the distance, and the noise seems to drop away. I smile without meaning to, lifting my hand in a tentative wave. She’s so locked on me that she doesn’t hear her friend yell, "Watch out, you!" The cart slams into the wall with a dull thud. I bite back a laugh as she s…