Chosen by Sarah Swan Page A

table, off to my left, was one of the most impressive guys I had ever seen.  He was tall – six-foot-two or -three, at least.  He wore a tight, black turtleneck that, on anybody else, would have looked completely nerdy.  But on him, it looked fabulous – because it showed off his body.  Every inch of him was pure muscle.  His body had the most beautiful shape I had ever seen.  His chest stood out and his arms were strong and lean.  His entire torso was shaped like a perfect “V”.  A trim waist built up to impressive shoulders.  The sleeves of his sweater were rolled halfway up his forearms to reveal perfectly striated muscle fibers that danced as he rolled his wrists.  His soot-black hair emphasized his dark facial features, which stood out under the cafeteria lights.
    Liz turned around slowly, dignified enough to be a queen.  All trace of her excitement from before had disappeared.  She had assumed an icy calm.  But, as soon as her eyes landed on the guy, every part of the illusion shattered.  Her resolve broke.  She grinned wildly, squealed out “Rob!”, and rocked right out of her seat to wrap her arms around him in a hug.
    He picked her up, spun her around once, and set her down.  “It’s good to see you, too,” he said as her feet touched the ground.  I was sure the single spin hadn’t been enough to make her dizzy, but that was exactly how she looked.  And all she could do was smile stupidly up at him.
    Without even asking for permission, he took her seat at the table, and patted his lap.  Liz jumped onto him quickly, and draped her arms around his neck.  Despite the intimacy, though, I could see some sort of… restraint… that she seemed to be fighting.
    “It’s good to see all of you, too,” he said to the table, eyeing each girl in turn.  Then his eyes landed on me, and time seemed to stand still.
    I didn’t realize it before, but he had the clearest green eyes I had ever seen.  Next to them, every other one of his features became completely secondary.  He could have been fifty pounds overweight and balding, and those eyes would still have held anybody entranced.  And that is how I felt at the moment.  With those eyes, he seemed to peer right into my soul, past all the insecurities and all the pretensions.  Somehow, he seemed to be looking right at me – the most unadulterated, most pure, most intimate and whole version of me I could ever imagine.  His gaze aroused a version of me I didn’t even know existed.  His eyes stood out against tanned, olive skin.  Their effect on me only grew as the seconds slowly ticked past.  I felt afraid and delighted, confident and uncertain, scared and elated, all at the same time.  Abruptly, I became all too aware of all the other eyes on me.  All the girls were staring, and Liz looked like she could have cut my throat right there.
    I cleared my throat uncomfortably and looked down.  I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.  Even a memory of that gaze made me flustered.  “What was that?” I asked softly.  I seemed to remember that a question had been asked of me, vaguely, in those few moments that time stood still.
    “He asked,” Liz repeated, in a tight voice, “who the new girl was.”  The way she said ‘new girl’ matched the way she had emphasized Chris’s name, earlier.
    “Oh.  I’m Tracy,” I said shyly, only now daring to look back up.  To my utter chagrin, the guy still hadn’t looked away.  He seemed to be completely oblivious to all the other girls.
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said slowly, and very smoothly.  He extended his hand across the table, and I had no choice but to take it.  His grip was strong, and felt a perfect complement to my own lackluster shake.  “My name is Rob.”
    “Rob,” I repeated quietly, letting the name roll off my tongue.  It was a simple name; a good name.  For those few seconds he had looked at me, every worry in the world seemed to disappear from my