With You at Mooney's

1

Of course, this story starts with a rainy day, most do. I was standing, gazing out of the window of my heated apartment, my eyes following the raindrops slowly sliding down the glass pane. This could only be given a few moments of my time, I was running late. On the way out, my eyes forced me to look into the tall mirror, silver outlining the frame. The girl I saw in there wore a flowery shirt that flowed around her mid. Her loose jeans had little marker drawings from her five-year-old cousin scribbled haphazardly over the denim. Her sweet and luminous brown eyes were almost too big for her face but complimented her reddish-brown curly hair that sat at her shoulders. I'm late. I slammed the door behind me and was out on the footpath faster than you could say Jack Robinson. Shit. Rain on my denim jeans. They were my mom's. The cold seemed to be neglecting my four layers of clothing and finding ways to creep up my sleeves. I was halfway down the street, rushing. Keep it together. When I reached the coffee shop, there was a young unfamiliar face hovering at the counter to grab his coffee.

'Morning.'

'Only now I have my double shot cappa with whipped cream and chocolate powder!'

Yes, it basically started with that. I was tired on the morning we met. Really tired. I'd gone to sleep at I think two o'clock in the morning. Stupid shit like binging shows, laying on my bed with the light on, listening to a few sad songs; getting up again because I couldn't fall asleep, making a snack, going back to my laptop. Stupid shit. Something about him made me a little more awake that morning.

He grinned at me. I gave a weak smile in return, moving out of the way so he could exit through the door.

'After you,' He chuckled.

'Thanks,' I walked out, glancing briefly up at the sign above the door - Early Bird Café. I began to walk away, as one does, when he said,

'So where are you headed?'

Why should he care?

'Oh, the airport. Gonna be travelling Europe, then touring beaches in Hawaii, maybe check out New York.'

He laughed and I sighed, taking a few minuscule steps back in his direction.

'I'm heading to work.' I said.

'So am I, it's my first day. I just moved here, I live down the road.' He said glancing behind him at the streets of bleak apartments.

'That's cool, where are you starting work?' We were both just standing there outside the cafe. It was a little windy that day, but otherwise not too cold. I noticed an old watch on his wrist, the material fading and the screen a little cracked.

'Some old thrift shop,' He ignored the wind as it ruffled his hair. His hair was dark brown. I like that colour, now that I think about it. 'I think it's called - '
'Mag's?' I asked, already knowing it was. 'Magnolia's, I mean?'
'Yeah,' He titled his face a little, smiling curiously. 'You know it, I'm assuming?'

'Course. I work there too. There's only one vintage store in this town, doesn't take much to guess Magnolia's. Only a few people work there though, as it's so small. My question is, why choose there? My friends call it cheap grandma clothes.'

He chuckled. 'I'm into that stuff, I guess you could say I'm a sucker for records and converse, you know, I think I'm an old soul.'

'Me too.' I nodded approvingly, my face breaking into a smile as I looked at him. He grinned again. When he grinned I saw his teeth, which were remarkably white and although they weren't perfect (his front teeth were bigger and some were uneven), I really liked seeing his smile. And that's because his hazel eyes lit up in excitement.

'Hey why don't we walk there now, we're gonna be late.' I said quickly, avoiding a silence, and avoiding having to leave him.

We walked all of the twenty minutes to Magnolia's. We chatted a bit more but barely. I enjoyed the comfortable silence we were able to have together as the wind howled and gold autumn leaves scurried across the pathway.
At midday, I took him across the street for lunch.
We stood together under the flimsy shelter, the protruding roof of the lunch bar covering us not enough to avoid the sprinkle of rain in our faces. The rain was beating down, heavy now, drizzling down car windows, slushing around gutters. There was a distant smell wafting from inside the stuffy hot dining area of Macca's; the scent of chicken salt and stringy fries. He had his hand around my waist, he'd slipped it there when we left. And now we stood next to each other. Close. Very close. He was a bit taller than me because I felt his soft breathing ruffle my hair a tiny bit. Then suddenly he shoved me forward into the rain, I was getting soaked but giggling and trying to pull him out with me. He couldn't stop laughing at me, straight white teeth beaming at me, soft lips talking to me. I finally yanked him out into the rain, both of us laughing and grasping each other. Inside, I saw a few people staring. I didn't care. I was with him. He was with me. We were out in the rain, dancing around, semi-hugging, giggling. Now we were running along the street. Our shoes hit the wet pavement simultaneously, there was no rhythm though, it was a stupid, messy, beautiful run through the rain. I was smiling like I never had, remembering childhood films that had scenes just like this one. I remembered the old music playing in the background. I felt as though I were living a dream. And then we reached the bus stop. And we both had to slow down, toppling onto the metal seats, waiting for the next bus, out of breath.

It rocked up about five minutes later, jammed full of people. Our chests rubbed against each other as we squeezed through everyone. In the end, we were forced to stay standing up, smushed against countless other people because all the seats were taken. The journey was a blur, all I could think about was how your arms were around me and my head was nuzzled into your chest as we stood together, swaying a bit as the bus passed speed bumps, and sharing our body heat.

When we arrived at his house, no one was home. He fished for the spare key under the mat at the front door.

'Basic hiding place.' I teased.

'Dad's idea, creative right?' We laughed.

Push, click, turn. We were inside, and it was so warm and so inviting. He nudged me further inside as he shut the door behind us. Then he turned to me, looking into my face.

'Go up to my room if you want, Netflix and chill?'

'Sounds perfect,' I smiled and headed towards the stairs. I sat on his bed for a good few minutes, waiting for him, getting comfortable. I heard something like the clinking of plates or cups. I stayed quiet, listening for his heavy footsteps on the carpeted stairs. Yeah, I could recognise them.

'Hey, awe you waited,' he said, finally walking into the room and joining me on his bed. 'could've picked a show, you know I don't mind, my stuff is your stuff, remember?'

'Oh yeah, what's this?' He had handed me a bowl of ice cream and smarties.

'Haha, thought we could do with a snack.'

'You're a snack,' It slipped out of my mouth before I could think.

'Huh?' He gave me a cute, confused smile. It was out of the blue, I don't even know why I said it, it was a joke, but he liked it. I started laughing. We started laughing. And then we stopped, quite suddenly.