A bit of creative writing

She couldn’t help herself from smiling every time he crossed her mind. Thoughts of him summoned up butterflies in her stomach and made her want to listen to soppy love songs. The last few days had been spent in his company and couldn’t have been any better unless he had said outright that he liked her back. In a weird, convoluted way, it was almost better that the subject hadn’t been directly broached out loud between them. He had only just broken up with his previous girlfriend (who, it must be noted, had been present at the party the previous evening and had been absolutely lovely); she didn’t want him to say something which he would then take back later on as having been something only said as a result of loneliness or some kind of rebound thing. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Whether as a result of the amount of time she had been spending aimlessly over the previous week, or whether it would have been the same if she had had work to preoccupy her mind, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she couldn’t stop thinking about him and that, even though she could barely concentrate on anything else, she didn’t want to stop. The way he had looked in his silly fancy dress outfit for the halloween party, baggy t-shirt hanging off him and the sleeves of his woollen jumper covering the knuckles on his beautiful hands; the way he touched her knee to emphasise a particularly animated comment to her; the lingering smiles he had shone her way when they were alone...she could go on and on thinking about more and more things she liked about him. The freckle on the back of his ear; his sharp brown eyes behind the photochromic lenses of his glasses; the loud laugh that unashamedly bolted from him when something particularly humoured or tickled him. Then there was that awkward conversation between her and his friend, where the friend had just been in the process of telling her that he fancied her when he and his brother came to join the conversation. She was completely nonplussed as to what her response should have been, unable as she was to drown out the tidal wave of rising excitement inside her to discover that maybe he actually did like her back...! They hadn’t been working together for long - and had only been spending their time together more and more frequently in the previous week or so - but she was almost shocked to discover just how quickly she couldn’t get him out of her head. They had talked about how much they enjoyed one another’s company at the party, which had been followed up by one of the aforementioned lingering smiles. She had broken their mutual gaze first, afraid that her feelings would be written all over her face. Now she wished that she could have been able to hold his gaze for longer. They had slowly drifted into sleep on the sofa together as the final party guests were beginning to show signs of leaving and although her sleep had been broken and uncomfortable, it had been one of the best nights’ sleep she had had in days, due to no other reason than the fact that she had been able to rest her head on his shoulder and cuddle up to him, the thin disguise of being asleep a good enough excuse to be able to laugh it off in the morning if necessary. It hadn’t been necessary, though. In the morning, when she and his friend had been chatting and he had slowly drifted back into awakeness, he had stretched his lithe body out across the whole sofa, curling his legs around her and ensuring that she remained close to him. She had been unable to miss the way he watched her for longer and longer periods of time, even when the lazy sofa-conversation between them and his friend had continued into the morning; even when other friends returned from their dreams to the sitting room to join them. He had helped her to make breakfast and then eaten half of hers when she couldn’t manage it. They had laughed at the stupid programmes they were half-heartedly watching on the telly and he had closed off the conversation to just the two of them briefly several times to make light-hearted inside jokes that only the two of them understood. She hadn’t been able to stop smiling the entire time they were together, even when his friend had shot her a couple of knowing looks from across the room when catching her attempting to discretely glance at the beautiful boy next to her, with his constellations of freckles and superbly charming eloquence and wit. They had sat together in the back of the car on the way home from the party and he had gotten out of the car with her at her house to help her retrieve her bags from the boot of the car. He had hugged her briefly and smiled at her, before returning to the back seat of the car and leaving her with her butterfly-inducing thoughts and her desire to see him again.