It's Just You And Me

Chapter 2

The sun had risen too quickly, Gulf had only been awake for half an hour before finding himself in the queue for something warm at one of his favourite cafes that made possibly the greatest (although his mum's would always be superior) hot chocolates. He had been on his way to university, not that he had any classes until the afternoon but since he was awake, he thought he might as well make use of the morning in the library (a rare scene for Gulf but with exams coming up, he needed all the time he could get). Though that idea was short lived as when he looked around the café, his eyes instantly fell on the man wearing a navy suit - Mew. Gulf had to blink several times to make sure he was actually awake, and this was not some kind of dream or hallucination. It wasn't. Mew was sitting right there, near the back of the café. A laptop open in front of him and an array of sheets either side of him. He looked stressed and it was barely nine o'clock. Gulf turned away, afraid of getting caught for staring and moved along in line.

He had made his way over to Mew in a somewhat awkward manner, unaware of what he was really doing. He weaved in and out between the tables, unsure of whether this was a good idea or not until he stood opposite the man who hadn't even acknowledged his presence. Gulf cleared his throat several times, he was here now, he couldn't exactly back away. Mew looked up, removing the air pod from his ear and raising his brows in expectancy. Their eyes meet and Gulf's mouth instantly runs dry. All vocabulary had disappeared from his mind.

"Hey, um is this seat taken?" Gulf points to the seat in front of him. His voice is higher than usual and he wants to cough it out but the fear of drawing even more attention to himself forces him to choke on that thought. Mew looked around almost as if to say 'the café is practically empty, why here?' But instead of saying that he simply smiled and replied with:

"Not at all." His voice is as polite as anything. He's calm, his words perfectly pronounced and clear. Gulf adores the sound of his voice; it's comforting and warm; he needs to hear it more.

"May I sit?" Gulf asks, raising his eyebrows and running his hand over the back of the chair. Mew's eyes follow the hand and Gulf can't tell what he's thinking. If there was one thing Gulf had learned about Mew over the many minutes he had spent staring at him rather than playing football, was that Mew had a very unreadable face.

"Um...sure." Mew hesitantly says. Gulf's eyes widened with surprise, he was genuinely expecting to be turned down but with Mew's permission, he pulled out the chair and made himself comfortable, readjusting the collar of his white shirt and patting down his black trousers.

Silence falls over the two and the emptiness makes Gulf shiver. He wants the chair to absorb him. He hadn't thought this through at all. He'd dreamt about meeting Mew and actually having a conversation rather than just staring at him. Gulf had thought about what he would say, what he'd ask but now as they sat opposite one another Gulf was clueless on what to say. He's left to play with the cup in front of him, turning it and watching the hot chocolate swirl. Mew observes him for a moment or two, waiting for Gulf to say something. But after those minutes pass by with no words, Mew turns back to his computer screen, ignoring the man sitting opposite him.

It's perhaps another five minutes before Gulf says anything. "I haven't seen you at the pitch for a while?" Gulf starts the conversation. He had been searching for something, anything to talk about and this seemed to be the only thing he could come up with. He doesn't look up from his cup, slightly hoping that would stop him from choking on his words again.

"Hm? Oh. It's not football season anymore." Mew looks up, tilting his head ever so slightly. Gulf feels the heat rise to his cheeks in embarrassment. Of course he knew that. He was part of the team. Yet hearing Mew say that made him feel as if he were a foreigner to the sport. Gulf looks up at that moment, staring blankly at Mew who doesn't even cast him a glance.