Part XVII - 6: Love at First Sight

I still remember every detail of the day I saw the love of my life for the first time.

Brad and I were walking together to go to our second hour class when suddenly, out of the blue this drop dead gorgeous girl that both Brad and I had never seen before appeared.

"Wow, man... Who is she?" Brad said to me.

"Gloria Harr, Junior, just moved here from California," I said as I scanned. "So far she hates it here, and she only digs guys who skateboard."

"Shit. I knew I should have kept that skateboard," Brad muttered. "I guess I'll just have to buy a new one."

As we watched her walk by, neither of us noticed another girl approaching and taking as strong an interest in Brad as we had in Gloria.

"Hi, Brad," a meek voice said, the pair of us barely even hearing it.

"Huh? Oh, hi, Jennifer," Brad said, just glancing to see who it was before watching Gloria's ass turn the corner.

When I turned around to say something to Brad, having already forgotten about the little voice who had spoken, I found myself in awe of the most beautiful person had ever seen in my life.

"I'll see ya around, okay?" the meek voice said hopefully.

"Uh, yeah. Okay," Brad said, his best attempt at not hurting the girl's feelings while getting rid of her.

I stood there as the source of the most incredible looking symbols I had ever seen and the purest of hearts I had ever felt walked away discouraged, and it wasn't until the crowd's mess of symbols swallowed hers up that I remembered Brad had known her name.

"Who was that?!" I said as I finally looked through my eyes to try and see what she looked like.

"Who? You mean Jennifer? She's just one of Sandi's old friends from grade school, that's all."

"She's... beautiful," I whispered, unable to speak loudly from the awe I still felt.

"What did you say?" Brad said, not believing his ears.

"I said she was beautiful," I said, leaning up against the lockers to keep from falling over.

"Are we talking about the same person?"

"You said her name was Jennifer," I said distantly. "Jennifer... Jennifer what?"

"Are you all right?" Brad said with his brow knotted in a frown.

"I'm fine," I said. "What's her last name?" I insisted.

"Corrigan, I think," Brad said. "Look, man. I think you need to have your eyes checked. Jennifer Corrigan is a dog. A real woof woof. You're starting to scare me with this beautiful shit. Come on. We got to get to class."

I didn't even try to argue with him, for I had peeked in his head as he recalled Jennifer's image and saw that she was somewhat on the unattractive side. But I couldn't get her out of my mind. Those symbols... and the purity of her soul...

I pulled a few strings and managed to find out her locker number, then got out of my last period early enough to get to her locker before the bell rang.

I stood on the other side of the hall with my 'ignore everything I do' transmitter on high. I waited as the crowd flowed past, no one seeming to see me yet there wasn't a single person who didn't walk around me if I was in their way.

My heart started to pound when I finally detected her mind's incredible pattern coming closer, then as it emerged from the sea of thoughts, I remembered to look through my eyes at her sight.

At first I couldn't see anything, for she was shorter than most of the people walking towards me. But then I got a few glances, and I was thinking that Brad must have been exaggerating about her looks before I got a good look and found his image had been accurate.

Oh, but I didn't care. Not only did the symbols flowing gracefully around her head have a beauty and style all their own, but my empathic senses were going bonkers from her romantic day dreaming as she walked up to her locker.

Jennifer didn't speak a word as she dialed to open her locker, but then another girl walked by and whispered something in her ear.

At first I thought I had died again and I was hearing an angel singing to me, but then I realized it had simply been her laugh instead. Everything about her seemed so beautiful to me. Even her laugh...

I stood there frozen the entire time as I watched her get her stuff and get ready to leave. And then, the most amazing thing happened.

She glanced at me... and NOTICED me!

I don't know who was startled the most, her or I. My expression was of surprise and shock, but hers was...

Well, I had an emotional reaction if that tells you anything. She thought I was staring at her physical looks, not her beauty within. The anguish I felt made me turn and hurry away, never even looking back once to see her do the same.

The next day I had a terrible time keeping my mind off my Jennifer. I had so many questions, so many things I felt I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't get over how horrible she had felt when she had seen me staring at her.

And when Rachael showed up at my locker after school for our weekly fuck, I tried making up an excuse to get out of it, but by that time my sluts couldn't take no for an answer and I knew it.

It was while Rachael's ass was busily fucking my cock that I realized there was something I had been missing with my sluts. Every single one of them needed an empathic touch from someone, but there wasn't any real feelings of love there. They just wanted to share in a mutual exchange of pleasure, something which is intimate, yet not truly love.

For the first time since my wipe, I wished to feel an emotion like I had used to. I wanted to feel love for another person, and feel that love being returned. I became lovesick while I came inside Rachael's twitching orgasming ass.

Another day went by before I convinced myself I had to speak with Jennifer just so I could have some peace of mind. I knew I was letting my lovesickness dictate my actions a little, and I wasn't sure if she was even interested in forming a relationship with anyone, especially someone who was three grades above her.

But then again, she had approached Brad the day before, and I knew that it had taken a lot of guts for her to do so considering Brad had never shown interest in her before. I know he didn't have the senses I had, but I couldn't believe Brad was so blinded by her looks that he never even felt the joy of her laugh.

As I felt Jennifer approach her locker, I was distressed by the lonely thoughts my encounter with her had caused, and for a moment I wanted to just go away.

But my heartache grew the longer I felt her loneliness, and before I even knew I was doing it, I had stepped out in front of her and said, "I'm sorry."

"What did you say?" she shakily asked once her panic had decreased enough that she was allowed to think.

I opened my mouth to say it again, but found I too was so shaken up I couldn't even speak. But when she started to think I was trying to tease her somehow, I found my voice and said, "I'm sorry for watching you. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I need to get to my bus," she said nervously as she hurriedly walked around me towards her locker.

"Jennifer, please," I said desperately. "I need to talk to you."

"How do you know my name?" she said defensively.

"Brad told me," I said guiltily. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you before, but... "

"Please, just leave me alone, okay?" she said. "I know what you're doing, so just stop. I already feel like I'm trash, so go away!"

"You're not trash," I said even more desperately. "You're kind, you're romantic, you have the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard... Ever since I first saw you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I know you don't know anything about me, but I swear to God I'd never tease you or anyone like that. Ask anyone who knows me. Ask Brad or Sandi, or... "

I felt it happen then. When her eyes glanced into mine, I felt that familiar feeling just like I had felt with Joey or Suzi those first few times. It was like my life had started all over again, for I could love another like I had loved them.

But just as I reached a state of euphoria, I found everything crashing down as Jennifer hurried away yelling, "Stay away from me!" with tears forming in her eyes.

I couldn't let her go like that. All I could think was that she needed me as badly as I needed her. Without consideration of any of the possible consequences, I ordered the crowd to block her path while clearing the way for me to reach her.

"Please, let me through!" she cried while trying to push her way against the tightly flowing crowd.

My entire body went ice cold when she whimpered from my touching of her shoulder, then felt my own tears forming as I stopped my manipulation of the crowd's flow and watched her head towards the stairs in a panicked run.

I went straight home to the south mansion to be alone, my mother having moved into the North mansion after returning from her honeymoon last spring. I spent the rest of the day and night just sinking deeper into an illogical depression that I hadn't felt for what seemed to have been a life time.

No one within my empathic range escaped my sadness the next morning, the depressing mood which I inflicted on my classmates and teachers only worsened my own, and it wasn't until my class with Joey that anyone could do anything about it.

"Hey, bud," Joey said, struggling against the feelings I was assaulting him with unintentionally. "What's wrong? You're making everyone feel blue."

"I know, but I can't help it," I said.

"Then we better go see Higgs," he wisely said.

I didn't bother arguing with him for I didn't really care. Joey went up to tell the teacher, then came back to my desk and walked me out with an arm behind my back.

"Shit Tim. How long you been feeling this way?" he said once we left the room.

"Since yesterday," I admitted.

"Is it something Suzi or I did?" he asked.

"No, nothing to do with you two."

"What about Eric's move?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh. Eric's dad got transferred to Atlanta. I though you knew."

"No, that's the first I heard of it," I said with a sigh. "When does he leave?"

"He's already gone. He left last Tuesday."

"Oh. Oh well."

"Come on, Tim. It's me. Joey. Tell me what's wrong," he said, feeling himself sliding into my despair.

"Jennifer thinks I'm some kind of creep," I simply said.

"Jennifer? Jennifer who?"

"Jennifer Corrigan. She's a freshman."

"Why does she think you're a creep?"

"Because she thinks she's ugly and can't understand why I'd want to have anything to do with her. She thinks I'm trying to lead her on so I can dump her. But she's not ugly. She's beautiful. She's the most beautiful person I've ever met, and she hates me."

Joey had stopped in his tracks from my revelation, and for a moment I thought he was going to cry himself.

But then he shrugged it off and smiled a big smile before saying, "You have a crush on her?"

"I guess," I said, somehow feeling better just from hearing him say that.

"That's... That's GREAT!" he whooped. "Does your mom know? Have you felt anything else like... like... Shit, just anything else?"

"No, my mom doesn't know, and I've been miserable ever since Jennifer ran to the bus crying when I tried to tell her... "

"Tell her what? Do you love her?" Joey said settling down from his excitement.

"Do I? I guess so. I want to, but only if she can love me back. I feel so helpless."

"You? Helpless? Come on, Tim. You're the most un-helpless person I've ever known. Just think it to her if nothing else. Once she got over the shock... "

"She's immune to it," I said simply, sinking down to the floor against the lockers in that hall. "I can read her thoughts, but I can't send her mine. And I'm afraid to use my empathy on her. She's so delicate, so lonely... I can't risk permanently hurting her by making her feel what I'm feeling."

"Shit," Joey said, sinking down besides me. "That does make it harder."

"I just want to talk with her," I said to break the silence. "She has the most incredible symbols, Joey. They're like nothing I've ever seen before. And the worst part is, I've only heard her laugh once, and I'm sure I'll never hear it again because she's scared of me."

"Don't do this, Tim," Joey said, resting his head against mine. "We should be happy that you're finally starting to feel things again. I've missed you. So has Suzi, I can tell. We hate not being able to share stuff with you, but until now... "

"I thought we were going to go see Higgs," I said.

"I'm too depressed," Joey admitted. "The only person I want to see now is Suzi. Could you?"

"Okay," I said as I reached out to her with my mind.

Five minutes later, we heard Suzi's feet hurrying down the steps after finally convincing her teacher she had to leave for a few minutes.

"What's wrong?" she said in a near panic when she saw us helplessly laying against the lockers like two rag dolls.

"Suz," Joey whimpered as he held his arms out to her like a little boy needing his mother.

"What's going on?" she said when she walked into my field of empathic sadness.

"Tim's in love," Joey blurted out in despair. "But she hates him. She HATES him!"

I started to blubber after he said that, and Joey started to also even while he wrapped his arms around Suzi in a hug.

"Stop it," she said sternly. "Tim, get a hold of yourself before this goes any further. You can control your emotions, remember?"

"Not anymore," I blubbered out.

"Try anyway!" Suzi said, leaning forward to look in my eyes.

While Joey floundered to get her to go back to him so he could hold her again, Suzi's eyes stared into mine with such intensity I swore they could have glowed. I didn't feel that familiar feeling form between us, so I guess Suzi somehow used her own natural empathy to clear my head enough to think a moment.

I did the only thing I could think of, and that was to command myself to stop being depressed.

The effect was so immediate, it was like someone had turned off the misery switch and turned on the lights.

"Thanks," I said to Suzi a moment after I had recovered my wits.

"Both of you, thanks," I added as Joey started sobering up.

"Any time," Joey said sniffing and grinning weakly. "Just don't wait until we come to you."

"Yes, Timmy. You can always come to one of us if you need someone," she said, gently wiping the wetness from my face with her hand.

"I'll try to remember that next time. But just because I'm not feeling depressed anymore, doesn't mean I'm all better. I think the reason I'm having so much trouble with feeling emotions is because Joey blocked my memories from returning when I first started having them. I'll need to undo what I just did pretty soon if I don't want to make things worse."

"All right then, what exactly is the problem?" Suzi said.

Joey and I explained it to her, then after she sat down between us with a sigh, she said, "Well then do it the old fashioned way."

"How?" I asked. "She thinks I'm trying to trick her."

"Just don't give up, that's all. Come on Timmy. I know you can romance a girl off her feet if just put your mind to it. She may be immune to your telepathy, but nobody can resist your charm."

"Yeah, Tim. Shit, you even charmed me into being your friend all those years," Joey said, his sense of humor returning.

"I suppose you're right," I said seriously. "Even if I don't end up feeling romantic, I know how to act romantic. I've gotten pretty good at acting like I feel things."

"Timmy?" Suzi said turning her head towards me. "Do you have all your memories back yet?"

"No, but I have enough of them to know what is right and wrong, to behave like I used to, and apply the things I've learned."

"But do you remember feelings?"

"I remember the physical sensations, but until yesterday I didn't remember how powerful they could be."

"Promise me something?" she said a moment later.

"Sure. What?"

"Promise me you'll come to us for help if you ever need it? I don't want to worry about you. You're very important to me, you know."

"I know. I promise. You're both important to me too. I wish I could say I love you, but I'd be lying if I did. I hope you understand what I mean."

"I think we do," Joey said, instinctively wrapping his arms around Suzi from behind while resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Joey," Suzi warned him, "Not in front of Tim."

"Oh yeah," Joey said, releasing her. "Sorry."

I frowned a moment, then said, "That's odd... Joey, do that again."

"Are you sure?" he asked with a look of surprise.

"As sure as I can be without a second test," I rationally said.

Joey restored his arms and chin their proper places, then they both watched me for my reaction.

"Hmm... Nothing. Try kissing," I suggested.

"Tim, I don't... " Suzi said before Joey's hand covered her mouth and pulled her lips towards his.

They only exchanged a simple kiss, then on my suggestion, gave each other a longer one, then proceeded to make out a little.