Not Yet

[OD****]

She was talking about anime like it was the most innocent conversation in the world.

Favorite characters. Favorite fights. The stories that stayed with her long after the episode ended.

And I liked listening to her.

But every once in a while, she would say something that made me look at her a little differently.

There was another side of her hiding underneath all of that.

I could feel it.

The kind of woman who likes attention but doesn’t need to beg for it. The kind who can hold a conversation, challenge you, make you laugh, then casually reveal something that makes you wonder just how deep that other side of her really goes.

I wouldn’t rush to find out.

That would ruin it.

I’d let her talk. Let her tease. Let her get comfortable enough to think she had me figured out.

Then, somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I’d get a little closer and tell her something I’d already been thinking.

“You know what I like about you? You act like you’re hard to read, but I think you’re just waiting on somebody patient enough to actually pay attention.”

She’d probably challenge me.

Tell me I didn’t know her well enough to say that.

And I’d smile.

“Not yet.”

Because that would be the part I’d enjoy most.

Learning her slowly.

Figuring out what makes her confidence slip for just a second. What makes her blush. What makes her suddenly quieter than she was five minutes ago. What kind of attention makes her soften, and what kind brings out that darker side she doesn’t show everybody.

I’d want her wondering which version of me she was going to get.

The one who makes her feel beautiful and wanted.

Or the one who gets close enough to make her forget what she was about to say.

Maybe both.

Because something tells me she doesn’t just want somebody who notices how attractive she is.

She wants somebody who notices everything else too.

The little changes in her voice. The attitude. The curiosity. The things she says without realizing how much they reveal.

And if I’m right, I wouldn’t need to rush her into showing me that other side.

I’d just keep giving her reasons to want to.

Not yet.

But eventually.