After Hours

1 - I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet

Statistically, almost 11 million people fall in love every year. And out of these 11 million people, a lot of them fall in love in December. There's just something about the holiday season that puts love in the air. This is something I discovered one of the nights I cried about being lonely when I was 13, you know how 7th grade is.

In my junior year of high school, despite being probably one of the most romantic people you'd ever meet, I'd never fallen in love. I joked about it all the time, I probably said that I'd fallen in love at least twice a day. And I looked for it everywhere I went: in class, driving home from school, while buying lemon blueberry bread from Whole Foods, but I'd never actually fallen in love. But that year I was determined; I would find someone by the end of the year. Even if it wasn't a full-blown-out romance and only the beginning of something special, I promised myself I would find someone by Christmas.

"Dylan, tell mom I went out when she gets home, okay?" I asked my brother from where I sat on the stairs in the hallway, tying the laces of my boots. It began snowing an hour ago, and I'd have used any excuse to break into my new Tims. Dylan had his eyes glued to the TV in the living room, fingers tapping away at a controller. His acknowledgment of my request came as a simple hummed "yes," which was enough for me. Without any further prodding, I left the house.

With everything I've said about love, you probably could've expected me to be feeling a little more hopeful than usual about my meet-cute fantasies when I walked into Swindon Books to Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran. My favorite bookstore-slash-cafe playing my favorite Ed Sheeran song? It had to be a sign.

It wasn't as busy as usual, which was probably to be expected for a Saturday evening. They were closing in just about two hours at that point. I already had plans for that night, but something in me was craving the cozy atmosphere. Blame it on the first snow of the year, or the soft pop I'd been listening to all afternoon, or the fact that I'd been looking for a new book, but something in me was begging to go there.

I made my way to the already short line, already sure of what I would order. Sure, maybe I was planning to get a mocha iced coffee at 6 pm, but just in a little while I would be at a party (well, of five people anyway) that was sure to be chaotic, and God knew I needed the energy for it. The introvert in me hadn't wanted to go at all, but they were my friends, I had to.

I tapped my foot to the soft song coming through the speakers, allowing myself to become distracted by the thought of listening to it with someone special before I finally reached the counter. And maybe that was why I was so stunned when I saw her for the first time.

The first thing that struck me was her soft green eyes: a reflection of the rebirth of nature in the spring, like peaceful meadows and dewy glades of grass at sunrise. Then it was her auburn hair and blonde highlights that reached just to her neck, bringing her aura from spring to autumn, like cinnamon and nutmeg and crisp leaves. But more than anything, my initial attraction was most drawn to the freckles dusted lightly over her nose, a feature that automatically deemed her beautiful in my mind.

"Hi, can I help you?" She said, and oh god, she even had a gorgeous voice. It was silvery and perfect, and suddenly I couldn't remember my order because I couldn't think about anything besides that I was in love with everything about her.

"Um...What do you recommend?" I finally managed to get out.

"Well, anything without foam in it. My foam art has been pretty terrible today." She admitted with a chuckle. I smiled at the adorableness of it.

"I'm sure it's not that bad." I offered, to which she chuckled.

"You say that now, but you didn't see how many messed up orders I had to drink to the point that my hands are now shaking." She revealed and held up her hand for me to see that it was, in fact, shaking.