Break of Dawn

19 | not a coffee date

THE BEST KEPT secret at The Grant was Yasmin's baked goods, the second one was a soft serve machine located on the fifth floor.

Rory wasn't even sure if it was that much of a secret, but when Collin invited her for ice cream and pressed the fifth floor button on the elevator, she was certainly confused.

He had stopped by the office looking for Quincy, who everyone knew always left before 4pm to pick up his kids from school, and when she informed him of that well known fact, he casually asked if she wanted to take a break.

There was no way she could deny ice cream after the day she had.

"I still don't understand the concept behind a soft serve machine at an athletic center" Rory admitted when Collin handed her a cone - yes, they even had cones, the good waffle type.

She licked a bit of the creamy delicacy while they both leaned against the glass railing of the lookout deck. The view of Lake Yoma glistening under blue autumn skies in contrast with the green of the mountains in the backdrop was breathtakingly beautiful. It was Rory's first time at the fifth floor and it had already became her favorite spot in the whole building - perhaps the whole campus.

"They throw a bunch of events here, especially for sponsors" Collin answered, he didn't have a cone of his own, he'd said he couldn't eat it because he had practice later, which was weird considering he had been the one to invite her "there's great booze but the ice cream is always the biggest hit."

"People probably get nostalgic for their childhood" Rory said absentmindedly, the vanilla dairy melting in her tongue combined with that spectacular view was having a great effect of soothing her mood.

Rory had her eyes trained ahead, but she could feel his gaze on herself "What makes you nostalgic for childhood?"

It was such a personal question, but the way he said it, his voice soft and gruff, made it sound comfortable, almost compelling her to answer.

"It's kinda silly, but one of the fondest memories I have from childhood is from watching cartoon on Saturday morning" She admitted and gave another lick on the ice cream "My brother and I are four years apart, so deciding what to watch was always a big drama, but there was this one show we both enjoyed, so usually on Saturday mornings we would wake up, get our cereal and sit down to watch it."

Rory sighed longingly, she missed Alex so damn much, but even more so, she missed times when life was easier, when they were always there for each other and she didn't have to share him with the whole state of New York "No fighting, no talking, just us watching TV." From her peripheral sight, she saw Collin turning his back to the view, leaning his elbows against the railing, face turned in her direction "Actually, we had this one fight every time, because he always poured milk before the cereal and it drove me crazy."

"Well, that's the only way to do it" Collin said matter-of-factly although she could feel the smile in his voice.

"No, it isn't" Rory countered "You put the cereal before, everyone knows that"

"I knew there had to be something wrong with you" He joked teasingly, ever the charmer "We'll have to agree to disagree on that one."

Rory made the mistake of finally looking over his way, the heaviness of his stare on the side of her face feeling like too much to handle. He had a good-natured grin on his lips, a dimple showing on each side of his mouth, his front teeth slightly sticking out in a charming way. The afternoon light kissing their skin made his brown hair look sandy and highlighted his angular cheekbones, the stubble that framed his face was a bit overgrown making him look less like a boy and more like a man, but one look at his eyes made her forget all the rest.

Under the sunlight his eyes looked as clear as water, the color of the Aegean Sea on an early summer morning, but still so deep she wondered if they held the ocean in - so blue, she thought she could drown.

A drop of something cold hitting her thumb made her avert her gaze and look down at her hands. The soft serve was melting down under the heat and she went to lick if off the cone "What about you, what's your nostalgic memory from childhood?"

"It would definitely be spending the day sailing with my family." If he had noticed her gawking at him, he didn't act on it. Instead, his voice sounded like pure affection, it was so genuine that it warmed her insides "My dad's a lobsterman and even though he spent all week in the water, he still took us sailing every other Sunday just because he knew how much we loved it."

Rory kept eating the ice cream, hoping he would keep talking. She liked listening to him, she had decided, there was something so honest about the way he spoke and also the way his voice sounded deep, yet smooth that made her feel like she could listen to him talk all day.

"My mom would pack us a bunch of food and we would spend all day out in the sea" He added longingly "Me and my sisters loved it"

"That sounds amazing" Rory admitted wholeheartedly "How many sisters do you have?"

"Four" Rory's eyebrows shot up "Yeah, I'm the odd one out" He chuckled, it sounded like a pre-rehearsed phrase, something he always said whenever he spoke about his family "Hannah is the eldest, she's a year older than me. Then there's Kat and Lou, the twins, they are fifteen. And Mia, my parents midlife crises, just turned six"

"Did it feel weird, growing up surrounded by girls?"  She asked before taking a bite of the waffle cone.

"Not really" He shrugged "I mean I know the difference between contour and bronzer" Rory laughed out loud and he followed with a throaty chuckle "I'm joking, I really don't, but I guess it gave me a lot of insight on how to treat women."

It actually made a lot of sense that he had grown up surrounded by women. That explained how he was charming yet knew his boundaries, how he was ridiculously forthcoming but politely so. He had forcibly learned how to treat girls, and it only made him even more captivating, which was the worst possible thing for Rory - it was getting harder by the minute to avoid feeling attracted to him.

"You only have one brother?"

"Yeah" Rory took the last bite of the waffle cone and, as if on cue, her phone pinged in her back pocket. "Sorry" She said before fishing it out, her left arm brushing his right one while she did it. She took a step to the side before unlocking her screen, it was dangerous being that close to him "I really have to go back."

"Yeah, sure, I have kept you for too long." He looked at her arm, that one that had touched his, before looking back at her face.

Rory pinched the bridge of her nose and positioned herself directly in from of him, with a few feet between them. "This was really nice, thank you very much for the ice cream."

"Anytime" He did the good boy move of running his hand through his hair and grinned at her "Not a coffee date, but I guess it's the second best thing."

She hitched a breath, Collin Whitaker wasn't giving up on her just yet, and she was afraid she actually didn't want him too.

Rory took one last look into his ocean blue eyes and thought drowning had never looked so damn appealing.