Days Go By | lavashipping

..*.

Skylor, she/he

Oh, so that's her name.

“Ah, you're Kai's favourite. Large black to go, if I remember correctly?”

“Yeah. Yup, that would be me.”

“Well, you certainly left an impression,” he sighed, then looked at him with a smile after she put away the money. “That doesn't happen often.”

“Kai's not working today?”

“Uh...” She glanced at her watch. “Well, he was supposed to be here an hour and a half ago... so it's safe to assume he overslept again. Or got caught up in traffic. Or just got distracted, that happened a few times too.” Cole laughed, despite the quiet disappointment he felt.

“Well, have a good day.”

“Thanks,” Cole replied. “You too.”

Thank god for his quick reflexes, otherwise his day would start with not only Kai's absence (which doesn't matter anyway, obviously) but a huge coffee stain all over his clothes. Maybe some burns too.

His heart was beating so hard, he felt it in his ears, like beats of a song.

“Shit! Shit, I'm so sorry–” And then his heart stopped when he saw the dishevelled person in front of him. Kai's face seemed to get even more flushed as his eyes met Cole's and they quickly brushed their fingers through his hair in a poor attempt to fix it.

“Oh thank god, I made it,” he breathed, then bent over to catch his breath.

“Um, as far as I know, you're an hour and a half late,” Cole said. “That doesn't seem like ‘I made it’ to me.” He watched them with a smile.

“But I saw you, that's important.”

Now it was his turn to flush, Cole guessed as he felt his face heat up. Kai quickly straightened his stance.

“I mean... You know, to make sure you're all right or something... surely would be odd if you didn't come... That's– God.” They dragged both hands over their face, keeping them there. “Why do you always make me say the most embarrassing shit,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I promise I'm a cool guy.”

“It's fine, don't worry.” However, despite trying to assure Kai, he had a hard time handling all of the various feelings that were going haywire inside of him.

“Sorry for... you know, almost crashing into you and all...”

“No, I get it. Don't worry, it's fine, really.”

“Okay,” he muttered, nodding his head. Cole was aware he had a job to go to and that with each passing moment, he was closer and closer to ending up like Kai but for whatever reason, he found himself unable to move. Unable to walk away. Unable to say goodbye for the day.

At least it seemed Kai was on the same page, for he also just idly stood there, looking back at him. Some unspoken words hung in the air between them and with every beat, the sounds around got quieter and quieter.

Cole blinked.

“You should probably...” He motioned with his full hand towards the door.

“Oh shit, you're right!” As if he got him out of some sort of a trance. “Bye, Cole! See ya!”

“Bye!”

He couldn't shake the weird feeling off for the rest of the day.