Good At Surviving || Bucky Barnes ||

Chapter 2

For the next few days I was mostly working to keep my mind busy. Yet I could not stop myself from thinking about the man in the dark corner.

I didn't even knew his name.

I was reading today's newspaper and drank tea while on my break.

The diner door opened but I didn't really care since it was still my break.

I took a sip of my tea when someone literally slapped my arm. I looked around and it was Claire.

"What's wrong with you?" I whispered screamed (if you know what I mean).

Claire kept moving her head on the right side.

"You broke your neck?" I asked annoyed since she's probably just messing around.

"C'mon!" she kept making the same movement and wide opened her eyes.

I looked on the right.

It was him.

For a moment I forgot how to breathe. I looked at Claire.

"I'm on a break." I said tried to cover the disappointment in my voice.

"I don't think the boss will mind if you make this break a bit shorter." she winked and walked back to the counter.

I ran out of excuses so I stood up. I left the newspaper on the counter and took my notebook and pen.

Slowly I walked towards him. He was sitting calmly and as usual stared at his hands.

"Hi...may I take your order?" I asked kinda quietly.

"Just a coffee please." He said. He didn't even look up.

Not gonna lie. This kinda hurt.

I walked to the counter to make him a coffee. How stupid I was. I met this man once and now I'm upset cause he didn't look at me or said hi or whatever. Why do I even care?

I walked back to him, put down the coffee on the table, "There you go." and walked away.

"Hey..."

I stopped and so did my heart. Was he talking to me?

After a moment of panic I turned around. He was looking at me. His face was hurt even more since the last time I saw him. The pain in his eyes broke my heart.

"Yes?" I asked softly. I felt sorry for him. I was acting so cold before. After all I had no idea what he was going through. I was just really sorry.

"Would you mind if ..." he hesitated and looked down and then back at my eyes, "Would you like to have a cup of coffee with me?"

His eyes were sparkling in a different way. They were full of sadness and pain.

"I drink tea darling." I said and smiled a bit.

He looked down and smiled.

"I'll be right back." I said smiling and made my way to the counter.

I made myself a cup of tea and walked back to the table. I sat down on the chair, opposite from the man.

We sat there in silence for about five minutes. I started to worry since my break was way over. Luckily there wasn't many people at the diner so Claire was able to handle them all by herself.

"What's your name?" he asked and finally looked up.

"Emilia. But mostly people call me Emily." I said and sipped some tea. "You?" I asked and looked him.

He hesitated for a moment. Did he forgot his name?

"James. I think..." he looked down.

Should I feel bad? I didn't know that asking about his name will upset him.

"Sorry I just-..." I tried to make everything less awkward.

"It's okay. Do you mind if I call you Mia?" he asked.

No one ever called me Mia. Why did he want to call me Mia?

"Sure." I said and smiled for a second.
"So James. What happened to your face?" I didn't know if it was okay to ask that but since the name accident I didn't know if even speaking was acceptable topic.

"You don't like my face?" he smirked and looked me it the eyes.

His eyes oh my god.

"No no no I like your face. It's a beautiful face...I mean you know it's like a good looking I mean ... " I looked at him. He was laughing.

"Are you messing with me?!" I said as my face was blushing.

"Just a little..." he laughed.

It was unusual seeing him laugh. But it was beautiful. His laugh, the way his eyes sparkled as he laughed ... I couldn't help but laugh with him.

After we finally stopped laughing I looked at his bleeding lips.

"Please. Let me help you." I said a bit more quietly.

"Okay." he said. His answer surprised me so much that for a moment I didn't know how to react.

I stood up.

"Come with me..." I gave him an encouraging smile. Him letting me to help him meant a lot. He trusted me. At least a bit.

We walked into the staff room. He sat down on the chair and I looked for the first aid kit. When I found it I put it on the table next to him.

"First I'm going to clean the wounds. This may hurt a little."

He smiled...sadly? I had no idea why.

I started cleaning the wounds. I started with the one above the eye. He didn't even flinch.

"You live here?" he asked.

"The city? For now. Originally I live in New York with my older brother but I wanted to do something...by myself if you know what I mean." I said as I put a plaster above the eye.

I kneeled down. I started disinfecting his hurt lips and around them.

My heart started beating faster. The way he was looking at me while I was cleaning his hurt lip was different. He didn't look at me that way before.

Before I knew it when and how, he kissed me. I was in shock yet I didn't resist. I kissed him back.

Suddenly he stopped.

"Shit shit shit ..." he stood up frustrated.

Still down on my knees I looked up at him. Was I that bad? Did he regret kissing me?

"I'm so sorry..." he said without making an eye contact.

I noticed something I didn't expect at all. There was a tear running down his cheek.

"James I-..." I stood up. "Did I do something wrong?" I walked closer to him and wiped away his tears.

"Look I know we don't know eachother that well but I'm still worried about you." I said and tried to make him look at me.

He stayed quiet but he finally looked at me.

I looked at his face. That close I could see even more scars.

Before I could think I said. "If I could I would kiss away all your scars."

He closed his eyes for a moment then he walked away.

"I can't do this. Not to you." were his last words. He never came to the diner after that. For the next two years that I was working there he didn't come. Not even once.