Through The Glass.

There was a beautiful man leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping on his beer occasionally. He had messy, black hair that fell against his creamy, pale skin and deep, honey brown eyes. As I walked in, he stared at me, and I almost felt entranced. In all of my seventeen years of life, never, ever, had I felt so captivated by anyone of the male species. Ever.

I averted my eyes away from his glance. I coughed uncomfortably. I headed to the fridge and pulled of a can of Pepsi. I opened it and took a huge sip. When I looked back, he was still staring at me.

I wanted to run out of the kitchen and go back home. But that wouldn't be cool. So I fumbled around in the fridge for something else, pretended there was nothing else interesting in there, and began to turn around when he spoke.

"Happy birthday, Allison."

I felt like my heart stopped beating, but somehow my body managed to turn around and look at him. I examined him thoroughly before I realized that I knew this guy from somewhere. I remembered his name.

"Thanks, Matthew."

Matthew had been one of my brother's best friends during high school. He used to come over our house every night years ago, when he was a teenager. He'd spend the night often, and I remembered that he used to always eat all of the food he could get his hands on. That was about ten years ago, when I was seven. My brother and Matthew had stayed in touch during college, and I remember hearing that he was an art major, but after three years in college he dropped out. My brother said he was going down the wrong path.

But here he was, standing right in front of me, and he looked great. He was ten years older then me, but at 27, he looked youthful and handsome. He was much more attractive than I remembered him being at 17.

He spoke. "My, you've gotten so beautiful. I remember when you were a skinny little thing."

I blushed. "Thanks," I said shyly. "What are you doing at a high school party?"

He sipped his beer leisurely. "I'm a friend of Chris' sister. Naturally, I'm invited to all of Chris' parties, but I don't usually come. But I found out it was your birthday, and figured it'd be real nice to see you after so long." The silence was awkward as I blushed profusely. "How's your brother?"

"Still in school, as always," I laughed. I had a sudden burst of courage and began to broaden the conversation. "I have no clue what my brother does for fun. He probably studies."

Matthew chuckled. I smiled. He was so handsome, and he had laughed at my joke. "Do you remember," he began, "the time your brother and I were babysitting you, and we called for pizza? As soon as the delivery guy got to your house, I grabbed a baseball bat and started swinging and yelling."

"I do remember. We got free pizza that day." I smiled.

"Those were such good days," he sighed, and I could see sadness in his eyes, and his expression looked tired.

I nodded. "They were."

He smiled at me again. "It's so good to see you, Al."

My face began to heat up. "It's good to see you, too."

Just then, Chris walked in, babbling on about a twister contest in the living room, and proceeded to drag me by the arm to the rest of the party. I looked back at Matt one more time before he was out of my sight. He smiled warmly and waved.

And I knew it right then. I had fallen in love.