The Stranger on the Train

Chapter 61: Exes and Stars

Pov y/n

We walk in silence as I guide her towards the inside of the town. I show her around and she listens to me as I tell her about how I met up with friends at certain spots after school to stroll through the city or how I accidentally ran into a sign because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.

She smiles when I show her my school and the spot where my parents took a picture of me on my first day of school and she recalls my mom showing her that picture.

Since Christmas was yesterday, most of the shops are still closed but a few cafés are open and we decide to go to one to drink some coffee and tea.
We choose a seat at a window that overlooks the nearby park and after we ordered, my eyes stay on Scarlett. She's looking out the window at the moment, a soft smile on her lips.
When she turns to look at me, she raises her eyebrows a little in question.

"Everything okay?" She asks and I nod, a little smile tugging on my lips.

"I just like looking at you, you are so beautiful." I say and realize that it must sound very cheesy but I don't really care. Her smile widens and she takes my hands, squeezing them a bit in thanks.

"I really like your hometown, it's sweet and so nice and definitely less busy than New York." She chuckles a bit at her own words. "It has more character and seems so calm."

I laugh a little at her description.
"I would highly worry if some random town was as busy as New York. But don't be fooled by it's calmness now, when it's not the holidays, it can be quite full and there's happening a lot." I nod to emphasize my words. Scarlett laughs and I can't help but to smile at that sound.

"You mean like children running over the street to get to school and grannies scolding them? Or the teenagers who walk to school, knowing fully well they are too late and the parents of younger children who shake their heads at the teenager's behavior?" She teases and I stifle a laugh.

"Pretty much, yeah." I agree and she grins.
"In summer we had band competitions in the park. They were only school bands and mostly not really good but it was always fun to watch." I point out and Scarlett laughs again, but not in a condescending way, more like adoring how I try to convince her that there are things happening here.
Our drinks come and she lets go of my hands to take a sip and seems surprised.

"The coffee is really good." She says and I roll my eyes playfully.

"Duh. What did you expect?" I ask and giggle when she swats my hand away as I try to steal the cookie that came with her coffee.

"Well, I didn't expect it to be bad, just not as good as it is. Almost as good as yours." She says and takes another sip and I lower my cup, looking at her almost offended.

"I said almost, babe." She laughs and I narrow my eyes a little, sending her a warning glare that just makes her laugh even more and I also can't keep a straight face and chuckle a bit.

It feels so good to hear her laugh this much. It's not that she didn't laugh before, it just seems more freely now. Maybe because the stress with Christmas and work and everything stayed home or maybe because she doesn't need to worry about paparazzi here.

Either way, I am more than happy to see her this joyful and hope to be able to make her laugh for as long as we're together, which hopefully will be for a long while.

We sip on our drinks while watching the outside and chatting lightly. We share glances in between and joke a little around. I pay for the both of us, feeling happy about it and Scarlett seems to be happy that I'm happy.
Just as we're coming back from a little stroll through the park, I hear someone calling my name.