Caramel Frappe-Chino II Lander

❥𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐

Friday, 5:20 p.m.

I walk into the coffee shop, gazing around to find the grape haired boy. It doesn't take long, however, because I see him sleeping at the register.

Well, he must be tired.

I walk over, lightly tapping his hand.

"Zander?" I say, gently shaking his shoulder. He stirs, opening his hazy lavender eyes.

"Mm.." He mutters, sitting up. He looks around, realizing he'd fallen asleep at work.

"Uh- wow, sorry. I guess I was tired." He says. I can see a blush of embarrassment creeping over his cheeks, but I don't comment on it. I chuckle.

"Oh, no, it's ok." I say, smiling slightly.

"Do you want me to get you anything?" He asks, and I look up at the menu again. Not that I'll get anything different.

"Another caramel frappe-chino." I say, looking back down at him. He smiles, putting something into his machine. I pull out my money to pay.

"Don't bother," He says, "I can cover it this time."

I look at him.

"You sure?"

He nods. I shrug and put my wallet away. He tells me it'll be maybe half an hour before his shift is over, so I decide to stick around. I brought my book again, so once I receive my drink I sit down at a table and begin reading.

The book is titled "They Both Die At The End," (A/N that book made me sob 🥲🥲)

I'm nearly halfway through the book. I'd needed something to distract me in the 2 weeks I'd been off school. Speaking of which, I should probably be doing my school work right now..

I brush it off. I'm already here, anyway. I continue to read my book.

A light tap sounds out, and I look up to see Zander. He's no longer wearing his work clothes, but instead wearing a white collar shirt with a dark purple sweater overtop, black pants, and some black running shoes.

I nearly blush, and my heart flutters in my chest. He has a stunning fashion sense.

"Good book?" He asks, and I nod as I put my bookmark between the 2 pages and close it. He takes it, reading the title.

"'They Both Die At The End'? Really? That's a spoiling title." He criticizes, and I chuckle.

"That's the entire point, I think." I say, taking the book back and placing it beside me on the table. He raises an eyebrow.

"How so?"

I study the cover, thinking about how to put my thoughts into words.

"So you know that at any moment, either of them could die. So you.. try not to get attached. Kinda like real life. You never know when you'll loose someone." I say, looking away from the cover and out the window.

"That's.. slightly dark." He says, looking down. I look back over at him, then taking the book and putting it in my bag.

We sit in awkward silence, and I can tell he has questions I don't want to answer. But he doesn't ask them, thank goodness, and instead changed the topic.

"So, you like reading. Any other interests?" He inquires, and I nod.

"I enjoy music to," I say, "And I play the drums. I was actually in a music club until recently.. we broke up the club because we don't have a pianist anymore due to.." I pause, looking for the right word. "Events."

He looks confused, and I prepare myself for questions.

"Like.. sorry if this sounds nosy, but are you all still friends?" He asks. I nod. He seems content with that, leaving his other questions to be unspoken. We sit in awkward silence for a couple minutes, and I debate on leaving. But I decide not to.

"What are your interests?" I question, and he's pulled back from his thoughts.

"I enjoy reading to, and I actually play piano. My mom taught me, since she plays. That's.. why I was intrigued when you mentioned your clubs pianist." He states, and I nod.

Saylor would've liked him...

He goes on with other things, something about classical music here and something about piano there, but I'm not paying attention. Just another reminder. Of her.

"And- Hey, Luke, you okay?" He questions, and I'm dragged back into the real world. I fumble with my words for a second before responding.

"Wh- uh- uhm- yeah, I'm good." I stutter. I mentally cringe. That wasn't obvious.

He gives me a look I can't quite read. My phone buzzes.

Hailey: Hey Luke, how's it going? Are you feeling better? The gang and I met up today, and you never showed. Did you ever receive my text?

I stare at the screen. Of course I got her text. I just didn't want to tell them I was abandoning them for some random barista I met at a coffee shop. The coffee shop Hailey told me to go to.

"Luke? Are you okay? You seem really distracted." Zander confronts. I look up from the small screen in my hand. I was so distracted trying to figure out how to respond to Hailey that I forgot where I was.

I sigh.

"I'm fine. Just.. a lot going on for me I guess. Keep going about your interests, I'll listen now." I say, turning my phone on silent and setting it down.

"Okay, then.. if you need to go, that's fine to. I could give you my number so we could text sometime." He says, and I feel that flutter in my chest again.

Oh, Luke! Stop thinking that way! You met this boy a week ago, how are you already falling for him?! Besides, it's just so you can text. It's not like he's flirting or anything. He's-

"Luke?"

I snap out of my thoughts. I feel so embarrassed for spacing out to much.

"Uh- yeah, sure, that'd be nice. I should probably go home anyway. My mom is probably worried..."

Zander nods. We exchange our phones and put our numbers in. We give the phones back to one another.

"Nice. Well, I should probably go to. Don't want to worry my mom either." He says. I nod. We both stand up, saying goodbye outside the coffee shop before we go our separate ways.

I stare down at the screen, almost in shock he gave me his number. I try to tell myself it's just a friend thing, but no use. Every time I check to make sure it wasn't just a dream, my heart flutters and I feel flops in my stomach.

I got his number...

"Luke!"

I look up from the screen to see a teal haired girl in front of me, with the gang behind her.

"What are you doing?!"

Word Count: 1121

A/N:

Thoughts? :]

Hey! I hope your enjoying the story :) And thank you SOSOSOSOSOSOOOOO MUCH FOR 93 READS! It hasn't been that long and I'm nearly at 100 reads!! You guys really are the best :D

You're cool :}

- Rain <3