Nylon Strings

Note 2: Coffee Tinted Eyes

'What the hell did I get myself into?'

I asked myself once again as I sat down at the café close to the shop that I normally go to before and after my shift. I looked at him from my seat, he was ordering for both of us.

We basically just met earlier, didn't even have a normal conversation and now we're hanging out in a café as if it's normal. We barely even know each other's name.

I found out his name is Cyrus just a few moments ago as we were heading here.

-----

"Oh shit! What's your name? Wouldn't it be really awkward if we just hang out without even knowing each other's name?" I asked him.

He chuckled.

"Cyrus, Cyrus Chevalier." He answered me.

"Chevalier? That's a cool last name."

"My dad's of French decent." He explained. His voice was still quiet and timid and I could barely hear it, but it was nice to the ears.

"What about you?"

"My name is... Don't laugh at it okay?"

He nodded.

"Luna Harper..." I told him, lowering my head.

It's not like I'm embarrassed of my last name, I'm embarrassed of my whole name.

My father's last name isn't really the most masculine or gender neutral last name, so to counter that, most men born in the family were given very masculine names, not me though!

For some reason they gave me a name that could be given to a girl and a boy, but mostly girls. And matched with my feminine looking physical features and body structure in general, it doesn't really work well for me.

"Pretty name." Was all he said but it made my heart skip.

I put my right hand over my chest and looked away.

'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, HEART!? It was probably because of his voice right? Yeah! It's because of his voice...'

-----
"I ordered already." Cyrus said, snapping me out of my flashback.

"Oh ok."

He sat on the chair in front of me and now silence and awkwardness took over us. This is what happens when you ask a person you just met to hang out with you.

"So... Why'd you return the strings you bought? In case you don't mind." I asked him.

He looked down and looked out the window. He sighed deeply and shook his head. I was about to say that he didn't need to answer it, but he beat me to speaking.

"I bought those for my childhood friend." He answered.

"Oh, and you returned it because?"

"I was about to give it to him as a gift... But then I found out someone already gave him the same strings..."

"Who?"

"His girlfriend."

I looked at him, not knowing what expression to have on my face and didn't know what to say.

"Yes... He's a guy. I'm gay..." He told me, mumbling the last part, but I still heard it.

I was a bit shocked but didn't really care since I myself am pansexual.

"Is that so? So you like you basically have an unrequited love with your childhood friend who's straight and then you found out he has a girlfriend?" I asked him, making sure.

He nodded in response and I nodded back.

Now we sat in silence but no awkwardness this time. I leaned back on the chair, sighed and closed my eyes.

"I won't judge you. I'm pan myself." I told him.

He looked at me and sighed in relief. He was about to say something but our number got called out. He stood up and got the food and drinks we ordered.

He returned and then gave me the strawberry frappe and the strawberry shortcake I ordered. He ordered a matcha flavored milkshake and a sandwich that I didn't know what was the filling inside.

We ate, drank and talked as if we've been friends for years now. There was no more awkwardness nor was there a quiet moment. Though I talked more, the times he did talk, it was very entertaining and pleasing to listen to.

Cyrus Chavalier, 22 years old. Been in love with his childhood friend for 15 years, Evan Louie Choi. Cyrus is currently in college studying architecture. His favorite color is sage green and he likes matcha.

It's obvious that he's a quiet, timid, shy and introverted. I could barely hear him half of the time because of his quiet voice, but it's fine, his voice is calming. There were many times where he looked out the window and the sun hit his eye. Though his long wavy hair covered most of his eyes, I still saw how his eyes became a beautiful tint of coffee, I was mesmerized

-----

"So... Three hours has passed already it seems." I said as I looked at the time on my phone. "Do you plan to do something else? Or are you gonna go home now?"

He hesitated in answering and opened and closed his mouth many times, not knowing what to answer. I chuckled and told him he could just say what he wanted.

He finally made up his mind and was about to say something but he got cut off.

"Cy? Is that really you? Hanging out with someone?" I heard from a voice behind me.

Cyrus' eyes widened and he seemed panicked. The person approached the out table and I saw that there are two of them, one woman and one man. The man was obviously taller than me but not by much and looked very clean and neat. The woman looked shorter than me and looked very cute with her short hair and over the knee dress.

"Oh hello Lou... And Lizzy." Cyrus said with a slightly high pitched voice.

'So this is the childhood friend and his girlfriend...'

"I knew it, there's no way I'll ever mistake you for someone else!" The said Evan Louie told Cyrus as he jokingly punched Cyrus on his shoulder. They both laughed but it was obvious that Cyrus was forcing it.

"Oh! This is my girlfriend btw, she wasn't able to see you earlier because you left right away. Why did you leave right away by the way?" Evan Louie told and asked Louie.

"Hi Cyrus! My name's Lizzaile (Li-zeyl), you can call me Lizzy. I'm glad that I can finally meet Van's best friend and childhood friend." Lizzaile, or Lizzy, said with a very happy voice as she waved her hand to Cyrus.

"Hi... Lizzy nice to meet you. I'm also glad to meet this idiot's girlfriend." Cyrus told Lizzy with a slightly louder voice than usual.

"Idiot? Who are you calling idiot, huh?" Evan Louie asked Cyrus jokingly. They both laughed and I reacted with a soft smile.

"Well then! I was about to say something but then I remembered that you're with a friend!" Evan Louie said as he turned to me. He gave me a smile and then looked at Cyrus with a weird facial expression.

"Ehem! May I know who this is Cyrus? Friend? Boyfriend maybe?" Evan Louie asked Cyrus while elbowing Cyrus while saying "eh" in a teasing way.

I laughed and stood up, gonna introduce myself.

"Hello Evan Louie, my name is Luna. And my relationship with Cyrus is acqu-"

"Luna's my boyfriend."

To be continued...