You Had Me At Hello

The warm July sunshine crept through the large doors of Macy's and I desperately wished I was anywhere but at work. My day dragged as I restlessly paced around the counter looking for something to keep me occupied. Most of the time, you could catch me wandering around that store and not doing by job. Oddly enough, this specific day was different.

That warm July of 2008 is when I met her. In a crowd of gray people, she was the bright yellow sparkle that flew right to my Estee Lauder counter and smacked me in the face.

"Have you met?" Keri, my manager asked as she walked along side of Diane.

My smile stretched to each side of my face as I reached over to shake her hand. "Hi! It's nice to meet you!" The touch of her hand made my veins swell up with warmth as it fed my heart to violently try and escape my body.

With a grin, her strong voice shouted back "Hi" and she firmly shook my hand. For a second, I lost myself until Keri's sharp words rudely ripped and popped my floating, bubble-like state of mind.

"So... Mariana used to be a model. She was on a modeling competition show." I shyly smiled away from her comment with a shake of my head as I watched Diane's eyes pierced through me. With a goodbye, I watched them walk away with a strange desire of wanting more of her presence. I spent the rest of the day with her face engraved in my mind. Intoxicated by her beauty, the way she stood, the way she looked at me and the way she walked away made my body overflow with uncontrollable, electric shots of emotion. That night, I fell asleep rewinding and replaying each second of that unforgettable moment and the unexplained feelings.

As the days passed, I found myself anxious to get to work just to be able to see her. My usual effortless appearance of no make-up and pony tail hair got an upgrade as I was constantly on the look-out for this person I could not get my mind off of. Like a starving vulture, my eyes would scan the room for her and she would never got a chance to walk by unnoticed.

Our "Hi's" quickly turned into inside jokes and laughs the day I shocked her with my disastrously dramatic make-up a co-worker painted on me. She laughed and joked as I asked her if she liked it. Taken back by her reaction and jokes, I hurried away to wipe off my face just as she happened to walk by.

"You took off your make-up!" She said surprised. "You gave me a complex! I hope you're happy!" I shouted back at her as I joked.
As if she moved in slow motion, her words echoed in my ears. "I think you are absolutely beautiful without any make-up on." Those words cuddled me for days.