Consequence

5:50pm.

10 minutes till pickup.

-----

she took a deep breath.

and smiled.

her reflection was immaculate.

a vision in red flowers.

face perfectly toned with the right make-up.

legs showing but not to the point of vulgarity.

long jeweled earings droop from her head.

cascading brunette hair waved in ripples past her shoulders.

the emaralds in her eye sockets gleaming.she was ready.

picking up her crocodile skin purse, she walked outside.

and she waited.

she sat on her porch.

and waited.

and waited.

and waited.

for him to come along. to take her away.

6:20pm.

20 minutes after pickup time.

-----

she didn't text.

she didn't call.

she didn't communicate.

she simply waited.

she wouldn't be creepy, like those needy attention seeking gushers she went to school with.

she would be classy.

and wait.

for the boy she loved.

the sky began to turn a orange with burning streaks of red.

she looked at her watch.

-----

6:25pm.

25 minutes after pickup time.

-----

surely she hadn't been stood up.

of course not.

proposterous.

he was just as serious as she was.

right?

right?

her hands were clammy, and she was twiddling her thumbs.

now that she thought about it,

it was all rather out of the blue.

hadn't he one day just started talking to her?

was it just because nobody else would say yes?

paranoia.

had he changed his mind?

or was it all a joke from the beginning.

-----

6:45pm.

45 minutes after pickup time.

-----

she clutched her purse,

and stormed inside.

stood up.

for homecoming.

what person could do that? be so cold hearted?

obviously she had made a msitake.

she locked herself in her room.

put her headphones in her ears.

and listened to the angsty songs that had first contributed to her self-consciousness.

-----

she didn't see the bashes in his car.

how only one of the headlights was working.

how one of the windows was broken and there were cuts all over his face.

all because she couldn't hear the doorbell ring at 7:00.

--mark