An Encounter At The Stairwell

It's 9:37am. I'm walking up the stairs in a hurry, on my way to class. I see someone else coming down. I look up, and realize it's her. No one else is around.

We make eye contact. At first we both look away in a mixture of surprise and uneasiness, but then we look at each other again. This time we both smile. But we continue our journeys, passing by each other without saying anything.

Then in the matter of a split second, I decide to break the silence. I have something to say.

Cub: "A, do you have a moment?"
AEK: "Ok."

I run back down the stairs. There's still no one else around. We're alone in the stairwell.

Cub: "Can we talk briefly?"
AEK: "OK." She smiles.
Cub: "My heart's burdened." My voice cracks. I fight back emotion, even tears.
AEK: "Yeah, I was going to call you."

Silence and nervousness, for about 5 seconds.

Cub: "When could we talk? Do you want to wait until next weekend, after all our assignments, exams, and papers are done?"
AEK: "Yeah. Sometime over Christmas."
Cub: "Ok. Have a good day."
AEK: "You too."

We both continue on our ways. I arrive in class, in a bit of a frenzy. For about 15 minutes, my eyes must have been glazed: trying to make sense of the brief encounter.

She looked good. She looked beautiful.