Moments like this were happening more and more often. Did everyone know all my emotions? It sure felt like that, like I was naked and on stage. That made me not want to do anything, but I knew I had to share it anyways. I couldn’t keep it inside forever, could I? I’d be a liar if I tried.

As our group headed over towards the umbrella tables, I watched her go. She turned to Reese and smiled, her black curled hair winged back slightly by the sudden turn of her head, her sudden, unplanned smile honest and warm, and sky blue eyes, sparkling and infinite that I suddenly felt like I didn’t have enough breath in my lungs. Mismatched high tops, a shirt that was a swirl of colors, and a jean skirt as long as a dress dabbed with paint — she probably would not have matched my vision of an ideal girl, if I even had one; but she was like no-one I had ever known. I felt suddenly guilty, as though I had seen something not meant for my eyes or something far too good for me. But as I looked into the distance, a word came to me that captured everything about her. I didn’t say it, couldn’t say it yet, but that one word echoed in my mind even louder than thunder: beautiful.