Hints of you

CHAPTER ONE - The Coffee Shop

Thursday, September 8, 9:36 am

It's been four years since Alban last saw his best friend, Esme. For thirteen years they were inseparable, then life happened and Esme moved to California with her high school sweetheart, Spencer. Alban still lives in the same house and the same small town he always has, working in the same tattoo parlor. Every morning he goes to the same coffee shop and orders the same drink and muffin, then drives the same route to work.

This morning is just like any other, except he accidentally slept in an hour past his alarm. Knowing that he needs to eat something in order to actually do his work well, he still stops at Tienda De Café on his commute to Saber Tattoo Parlor. As soon as he enters the quaint building he notices that there is a different person at the counter than he is used to.

Alban walks up to the counter to order when he meets eyes with the barista. He's never seen him before, he is sure of it, yet something about the black-haired guy in front of him seems very familiar nonetheless."

Are you new here?" He asks, and the barista looks up from whatever he was doing. His eyes flash something between surprise and interest before responding.

"At this shop or the city?"

"Well, I meant the coffee shop, but you seem familiar so it'd be nice to know that too."

"I moved here a few weeks ago, and today is my first shift here," Alban nodded in understanding, but still wondered why he looked so familiar. He asks where he moved from, and when Wren, as his name tag states, replies California Alban's interest is piqued. He has a thought but then pushes it aside. They couldn't be the same person... could they? After ordering his food and drink he hesitantly leaves the shop, feeling like he should stay.

When he arrives at Saber Tattoo Parlor where he works, his uncle, Foster, greets him inside, "Where have you been for the last hour?" he questions, "I had to reschedule a tattoo for you since you weren't here," Alban shrugs him off, walking over to his desk and immediately continues the art that he left incomplete the day before. It's an acacia flower, commonly used to symbolize true, immortal, love. As he works on the details of the spherical yellow flowers, he can't help but think back to the boy at the coffee shop. His age seemed about right, and his eyes were the exact same shade of blue. It's probably just wishful thinking. He stopped drawing at some point, staring into space at the iPad in front of him, and his uncle noticed.

"If you aren't going to draw anything could you at least clean or something? June still isn't going to be working for a while," he says, bringing up his daughter, and Alban's cousin, who recently got into an accident and broke her wrist. She recently got the cast removed, but it is still in a brace and even when she no longer needs it she still won't be able to do precise things, like tattoos, for a good time after.

"What about Lennox?" Alban mentions, only just noticing that his friend isn't there.

"Do you see him? Me neither. Probably off with his new girlfriend," Foster rolls his eyes, "Raya was her name, right?"

"Partner, and it's River," Alban corrects, "Why can't you get their pronouns right?" Foster shrugs carelessly and turns back to his computer, silently telling Alban that they were done talking. Needing to get away from his uncle for a bit, he walks to the bathroom, making sure to grab his phone.

Sitting on top of the toilet, lid closed, Alban stares at his phone's screen. On it is a contact, Esme Flores. He has tried to call multiple times throughout the last couple of years, but it always just kept ringing until eventually he was sent to voicemail. He presses the call button, and expecting this time to be just like any other, but hoping it wouldn't, he waits. One ring, two rings, three rings, then silence. No one on the other end said anything, but the timer at the top of his screen proved that someone had picked up.

"Esme?"

"Hi," The voice was quiet, and even though it didn't sound like how he remembered Esme, he still recognized it.

"It's not Esme anymore, is it?" He inquires, desperately hoping that his theory wasn't wrong— that would be awkward.

"No,"

"Wren, right?"

"Yeah," There are a few seconds of silence.

"Nice choice."

"You aren't mad?"

"Why would I be?" Alban asks, thinking about the last few years before he moved to California with Spencer. It all makes sense now. "I'm just glad you finally picked up, honestly."

"Sorry," Wren replies, a quiet chuckle barely audible. Alban feels a warm smile come to his face as he watches the numbers rise. Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight. He hasn't even been on the call for a minute, yet he feels like that might have been all the time that he needed to change his life for the better. His best friend is back! Wait... why is he here?

The first chapter is done! The next ones are going to be longer, but I couldn't help myself ending this one here (and yes, I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger. you can't stop me)

Anyway, thanks for reading!