ᴵᶠ ᵀᵒᵐᵒʳʳᵒʷ ᴺᵉᵛᵉʳ ᶜᵒᵐᵉˢ

{ Chapter 4 }

< Chapter 4: Coffee >
[ song ]
< Alleyways - The Neighborhood >
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I waited behind Dean as he unlocked his apartment door.
His apartment building was beautiful from what I can tell. He lives on the top floor, there are only four doors. I'm guessing one leads out to the patio roof.

"And after you," Dean said, gesturing me inside.
Holy shit. Is he rich as fuck or something?!
His apartment was huge. It was decorated in white with red accents everywhere.
It was absolutely amazing.

"T-this is where you live?" I asked hesitantly.
"No, I just unlocked some random person's house."
"Ha Ha," I replied mockingly.

A smile crossed his lips as he headed into the kitchen.
"Coffee?"
"Please." I sighed, taking a seat at the island, across from where he was standing.

"You have a wonderful home, Mr. Cu- ...shit, Dean." I corrected myself with a laugh.

"You're fine." He chuckled, setting a red coffee cup in front of me.
He took a seat across from me, sipping his coffee.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I spoke, breaking the silence as I spun my mug around slowly.
"I didn't know I'd be working so late."

"Please, don't worry about it." He assured me.

"Right, sorry."
"Stop apologizing." He said rather sternly.

"Oh, I'm so-.. It's a habit." I muttered, feeling embarrassed as his deep brown eyes pierced into mine.

"Tell me about yourself."
I let out a sigh as I flipped through my memories, "There's not much to tell." I smiled.

"I'm sure there's plenty...Where are you from?"
"A very small town in Maine." I nodded.

"Maine, that's whiles away, how'd you end up here?"
I went quiet for a few minutes as I thought about the topic. Was this something I wanted to share with him?
I began to pick at the skin around my nails as I fell more into thought.

"Esmeralda?" Dean's eyes flashed from my hands to my face, studying me.

I shook my head, pulling myself out of my trance, looking back up at him.

"You alright?"
"Yeah-yes, I'm good." I smiled.

Lies.

"Uhm, I grew up in Maine, my mother died giving birth to me, my father killed himself when I was 16, I then was sent to live with my uncle in California...who Uhm...yeah, I was sent to live with him, when I was 17 he'd had enough of me and sent me here, to Washington to finish high school at a boarding school. When I turned 18 and graduated, I was kicked out. I lived out of my car for a few months until I met Rosslyn. She helped me get into college, get a job, and stuff. And now I'm here." I shrugged.
Moments later I covered my mouth, realizing I'd just told my life story to a stranger, well...most of it.
He didn't need to know the in-between details.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. That was a lot of information that you didn't ask for, I just ramble sometimes, like now i'm-"

"Esme. Take a breath." He smiled.
"It's okay, I'm happy you told me."