ever since i saw you

“ever since i laid eyes on you, i haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. i know that sounds like something people just say — but this? this feels different. real. like i blinked and you settled somewhere inside me. it wasn’t just how you looked. though, god — you were beautiful. not in the loud, untouchable kind of way. but in that effortless, unbothered, makes-time-slow-down kind of way. i remember the way the wind moved right as you walked past — how it brushed against me, like it carried your name and wanted me to notice. and i did. oh, i did. i noticed how you tucked your hair behind your ear like it wasn’t the softest motion i’d ever seen. how your eyes scanned the room like you were looking for something only you could see. and maybe it’s stupid, but for a second — i hoped it was me. i couldn’t even speak, just froze, caught in this quiet wonder like the universe had slipped up and let me witness something i wasn’t meant to. and then you laughed — not loud, just enough. like sunlight through a window on a cold day. and i swear, i’ve been chasing that warmth ever since. when we talked… it was simple. but even the simplest things felt special when they came from you. i love the way you move your hands when you speak — like your thoughts have shape and they just need space to stretch. i love how you say “hmm” when you’re thinking — how your lips curl around curiosity like it’s poetry. and the way you look at people when you really listen — you make the moment feel like it matters. you made me feel like maybe i mattered. and ever since that moment, i’ve been carrying you in little ways. in the way i pause when i hear your name. in how i smile at things i know you’d find funny. in the way i find myself wondering how your day’s been, even when we haven’t talked. it’s wild, isn’t it? how someone can appear and suddenly, every love song makes too much sense. i don’t want to rush anything, don’t want to scare it away. but i can’t lie and say you haven’t stayed on my mind longer than anyone else has. i don’t want to call it love — not yet. but i also can’t call it a crush, because crushes fade, and you? you’ve only grown brighter in my memory. and maybe this is nothing. or maybe it’s the start of something. but if nothing else, i hope you know: that one quiet look — that one moment when i saw you for the first time — was the closest thing to magic i’ve ever felt. and i haven’t stopped feeling it since.”