Girl on the Bench

I’m a college student and I love the college I go to. Right in front of it is a huge park perfect for students to study so it usually has at least ten people scattered around. On my way to college one morning I decided to take a longer route of walking through the park as I had woken up extra early and it was a nice day out. As I was walking I looked to my left to see a beautiful girl sitting alone on a bench reading a book, studying I assumed. She had a dated, 2ooo kind of style which made her stand out and it was quite charming.I assumed she was also a student at the college. She glanced up from her book and caught me staring. She smirked and I immediately looked away, feeling my cheeks turn a bright red shade.

The next day I decided to take the long route again because it was also a great day, but i secretly hoped to see the girl a second time. As I walked past the bench I saw her sitting there again, reading her book. I took out a book from my bag and sat down on the grass, at a reasonable length away from her. She looked at me and gave me a small smile and a wave. I smiled back and felt my heart getting heavy. I wanted to go up to her and start a conversation, I played it all out in my head, but I was just too nervous. So I sat there pretending to read my book until I realised it was time for me to head to class.

It had been a week since I saw the girl because weather predicts my routes and it had been rainy lately so I walked the shorter way. I was walking the short route when a man stopped me and told me I would have to go around through the park to get to my college due to construction. I was pretty annoyed as I would have to walk further in the rain and I had no form of protection because I wasn’t wasting the little money I had on an umbrella. To my surprise, I saw the girl sitting on the bench, reading her book, drenched and not even wearing a coat. She looked up and smiled at me. Full smile with teeth showing and squinted eyes. I was slightly freaked out as we were the only ones there and this girl was giving me weird vibes. I avoided eye contact and continued on my way to college.

I told myself that it was finally time to confront this girl on the bench. So I got up early and made my way to the park. I was thinking of how I could introduce myself and what I was going to say when I realised I was already here. She was where I expected her to be, sitting on the bench reading a book. As I looked around I noticed no one else in the park excepted for three people sitting really far away. I also noticed that there were no other benches in the park. I never realised that until now. She was sitting on the only bench in the entire park and she looked beautiful. I took a deep breath and approached her. I looked down at my feet as I walked to avoid awkward eye contact as I got closer to her. I could see the leg of the bench so I looked up to be faced with an empty bench. I was left in confusion as I looked at the shiny plaque that read, “Katie Clarke, a great friend to all, 1980 – 2001”.