Awkward Young Love

Her eyes betray her. She’s never been able to mask any emotion with her face. She is the proverbial open book. If only she were like those other girls, the ones who can smile and flirt shamelessly with witty comebacks. They are the ones who are in full control of their emotions, stringing the boys along as if it were sport. She longs to be like them. She’s embarrassed by her lack of grace.

She will not meet his face for fear that he can read her emotions. She loves him. If she looks at him then her face will blush with the flaming evidence of her inexperience. She pleads with herself to keep her feelings in check long enough to look at him and give him one smile. Once she does, she’ll see that his eyes betray as much as hers do.

Fumbling for words and small talk, he tries to draw her into conversation. He mistakes her unwillingness to look at him as boredom. His heart breaks every time she looks away and yet he refuses to give up. She’s so unlike the other girls, he knows that she would never string him along. Her sweet nature and innocence have captivated him. He’s determined that she will be his one day.

And she will be.

This silly dance, this awkward courtship will become a happy memory. As they grow older, he will delight in the fact that she still retains her innocence. The light he sees within her is still there. She still betrays her feelings with her eyes. She laughs too loud. She loves him too much. And luckily for her, she still is not like those other girls. They have all grown into sad parodies of the girls they used too be. Hard, lonely women who used to string boys along only to realize that it was they who were being used.

Perhaps if they had learned to show their emotions with their eyes.

Perhaps.
This post features A Difference of Opinion, painted by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema.