| The Girl in the Green Hat For days, he'd been seeing her walking around the venues. She'd always looked busy. Too busy to do anything but work. She'd always looked so caught up in it. And everyday as he carried out his normal tour routine, he would see her talking about this with this person and that with that person. He would turn his back for a second and when his eyes would find her again, she'd be in a completely different corner of the building, yelling into her cell phone. He found himself wondering what she was so busy with all the time and whenever he was met with a low point in his day, he would simply scan the room, searching for the girl in the green hat. Weeks after his first spotting of her, she continued to hurry around the venues as if the success of the entire tour rested on her shoulders alone. And he continued to watch...and wonder. "Why is she always hurrying around?" "Why does she always yell at the people she talks to on the phone?" Why does she always wear that green hat?" And soon, a month had passed. And he and the girl in the green hat still had not exchanged a word. Not even a glance. There was one time when he'd been eating in the cafeteria with Chris and he saw her across the room yelling on her cell phone, as usual. But something out of the ordinary happened. She looked up from a pile of papers she'd been jotting notes on and stared straight at him. He paled. "Is she really looking at me?" She pointed and motioned for him to come to her. She looked upset. He swalled nervously and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans before moving to stand up. But he was suddenly stopped by the sight of a crew member walking past him. He looked back at the girl and she was no longer looking at him. Her eyes were and had been locked on the crew member the whole time. And he cursed. He actually cursed. He missed a chance for her to see him. It seemed like she had talked to just about everyone on the tour except for him. And it was killing him. But he did nothing about it. He continued to lurk and simply watch from afar. She had no amazingly noticeable charicteristics, no outstanding marks of beauty. Just her stack of files, he cell phone, and her green hat. And soon, it wasn't enough for him to only see her when she entered the room. Soon, he was searching for her. Soon he was walking about the venues, fine-tuning his ears, trying to pick up her distinctive cell-phone-only yell. Soon he was quietly following her around, watching her interact with random crew members. Soon he was examining her handwriting when she set her papers down only to quickly scurry away when he heard the memorized fall of her footsteps. Soon, he became obsessed with the girl in the green hat. But he always made sure to hide when she started looking his way. He always ducked when he saw her coming closer. He was like a predator with his prey. Always there, but never seen. Until the day the predator was noticed. He and Chris were leisurely walking through the latest venue but Chris didn't realize that his friend had knowingly placed them right behind her. And when she accidentally dropped a slip of paper, Chris insisted on bringing it to her. The predator tried to jump behind a tall pile of electrical cords, but Chris ran after him, determined to have his friend meet this woman. He pulled him from behind the wires and they were face to face. For the first time in 2 months, 1 week, and 4 days, the watched and the watcher looked into each others' eyes. "It's good to finally meet you." She extended her hand, waiting for him to shake it, but he just looked at it. And then he suddenly snatched the green hat from her scalp... And ran in the opposite direction. FICTION HOME |
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