He asked her

haltingly,

if she was wearing colored contacts.

 

Not as an insult

because he did not find her eyes offensive,

only that

 

they seemed too bright to be real

bluer than an ocean;  than the sky

 

She put down her book-

something about Mythology-then

gazed at him for a moment,

saying nothing at all

 

It reminded him of his childhood and

his father telling him to never stare directly into the sun

"It'll blind you,"  he said.