It all began with a huge hello note covering Luke's window. It had been written using a black marker and the handwriting was slanted to the right, leaving no space between the five letters.
At first, I didn't think the note was meant for me but when it disappeared the next day and reappeared again a few minutes later with my name at the bottom of the hello, I knew that it was intended for me. Unless, of course, there was another Jasmine in the same street who happened to have a perfect view of Luke's window.
That was not the case and I did not understand why Luke was suddenly writing me window notes as if we were long lost friends.
Luke and I had been neighbors for seven years. We never went past the simple gestures of waving and smiling at each other from our windows because, well, I never left the house. Every once in a while, I would catch Luke staring in my direction. I will admit, I also had a habit of staring at his window for no reason. There were days where I thought I had a thing for him, and then there were days where I did not find him attractive. I was confused as to whether I liked him or not.
He was just an average looking boy. Sort of. His brown eyes had a hint of orange to them whenever he stood in the sun's light. His olive brown skin had traces of scars all over his arms, left cheekbone, and neck. He kept his afro short and puffy, making him look a tad bit younger than he actually was.
During the time we were neighbors I had observed a couple of things about Luke. The first observation was that he wore the ugliest sweaters known to humankind. They were made of wool and their colour combinations were along the lines of terrible and terrifying. The sweaters were always paired up with either a pair of denim jeans or grey sweatpants. I didn't understand how his friends or family would let him get away with that look.
The second observation was that he was an extreme extrovert. He enjoyed the outdoors and was always off on adventures that brought him back home with bandages and a busted lip. I would watch him put up pictures of all his adventures on his walls and grin with satisfaction.
He was just your typical average guy. He was just...Luke.
I, on the other hand, was totally different from Luke. For starters, I did not wear ugly sweaters because all I ever wore were summer dresses, even during winter time. Secondly, I hated the outdoors because I was afraid of the outside world. My mom called it being too paranoid while I just called it being safe. I did not want to leave the house after what had happened before, and whether people called me paranoid or not, I didn't care. The only adventure I had ever been on was when I had diarrhea and burning cookies in the oven on Christmas Eve.
And lastly, I never smiled as much as Luke did. I was not proud of it but the more reasons I dug for to make me smile, the more I realized that I had none resulting in me being sad. I didn't like being sad so I never really looked for reasons to smile. There were days I would smile but it would last for a split second and then fade away. Honestly, I could not even remember the last time I had grinned.
Okay, back to the note. The note that started it all. The note that changed my life for the better and for the worst.
After hours of thinking about what to write back, I conjured up the best response. Well, I didn't conjure up anything, it was all wikiHow's doing. Before you begin to judge me and all, keep in mind that I had never spoken to a boy before.
That's a lie.
I had spoken to a boy at an Ice Cream parlor some months ago because, well, he was serving me the ice cream. And there was also that one time I had to speak with my doctor because it was mandatory. So, what I mean is that I had no experience having a normal conversation with the male species. I could do the basic "hi", "how are you" tradition, but anything past that would either leave me embarrassed or embarrassed beyond words.
Circling back to the note (again) I grabbed a plain white piece of paper and scribbled "hey" on to it. Before I could put it up on my window, I became paranoid. What if those notes were not even for me? What if the other side of the paper had his study notes and there just happened to be my name there and the word hello on the prior note? What if it were all just one big misunderstanding. Who would want to speak with me anyway? And besides, what boy had the time to be writing little notes for a girl?
I looked down at the note and decided to that I was just being ridiculous before scrunching it up and leaving it on my desk. The next day, the note was taken down and I gave myself a little Jazz Talk on how I had just dodged several bullets.
A week later, as I was working on an assignment, a yellow board that covered Luke's entire window caught my eye. It read:
Jasmine I know you can see my notes:(
"Shoot," I mumbled starting to feel panick taking over me. wikiHow's response – which, by the way, was a simple hey with extra Ys – did not seem suitable for this particular situation.
For hours, I dug my brain for something to write back, finally managing to write something that seemed okay-ish in my eyes.
'What's good mate!'
Okay so maybe it was not so okay-ish, but it was too late to take it down because Luke read it the minute I put it up.