Lip Service

I listen attentively to the French professor’s voice, slowly annunciating the question and scanning the room for an eager student, I follow his gaze and see her sitting in the front row. Plaid black and red skirt resting on her perfectly tanned legs, the top two unbuttoned buttons of her shirt tempt my gaze onto her chest and the professor’s voice fades into a background that didn’t exist a split second ago,

I’m mesmerized by her mouth. Her hand guards the professor’s view of her lips as she practices the French phrase silently to herself. Her forefinger rests just above the upper lip in a thoughtful pose and I can see the texture of her lips, the tiny hairs on her finger catch the glint of the light as my eyesight seems to miraculously improve and find a previously unknown precision of focus. I watch her lips move slowly, intentionally, forming the unfamiliar movements of brand new words. Involuntarily my breath deepens and slows, I watch as her thumb gently grazes her parting lips and now notice the detail on her polished thumbnail next to the shape of her upper lips.

My eyelids lower and close ever so slowly, the longest blink of my life sears the image on my mind, I breath out and as I open my eyes she’s still there, now bringing her bottom lip underneath the top and into her mouth and I can tell she’s about to wet her lips and practice the phrase again. She lets the tip of her tongue touch the knuckle of her thumb and mouths the words.  A string of spittle clings to her upper lip and then stretches and breaks as she opens her mouth, her tongue retreats into her mouth and as she feels the spit she quickly closes her mouth, purses and licks her lips clean of any excess, looks at her thumb to see if any got on her finger and then raises her hand to utter the phrase for the professor and the class. I don’t hear a word, none of my other senses work, sight jealously claims this moment as it’s exclusive property, shares it only with the memory, and I know I’ll never forget the gorgeous scene of young curly haired brunette silently practicing her French in the front row.