One Summer Day (BWWM)

CHAPTER 13

After what Yon had said, I decided to take some time for myself. I mainly focused on working and picking up shifts, and I even started painting again—anything to keep my mind off of him. Speaking of him, ever since our hangout, he's been keeping his distance as well. I don't know if I should be anxious or thankful about it.

Hearing the jingle of the door, I look up to greet the customer who just walked in, only to find Roman looking at me—the very man I've been purposefully ignoring for a couple of days now. I freeze for a second and watch him approach me, and soon enough, he's right in front of me.

After a couple of minutes of silence, he breaks it. "Hi, Cléo," he breathes out, almost as if he's out of air.

"Hey, Roman," I reply in the same tone.

"I've missed you," he says softly, and I hold back awe and chuckle softly.

"I've missed you too." Walking from behind the counter, I approach Roman and open my arms toward him. He wraps his arms around my waist and snuggles his face into my neck while I wrap my arms around his neck. I feel his breath tickle my neck, and I giggle, pulling away.

"What are you doing here?" I step back slightly to look up at him. My brain short-circuits a bit when I find him staring right back at me, as if he's looking through me.

"I told you, I missed you. I also texted you multiple times, and you didn't answer, so I figured you were busy. First option was your dorm, which obviously was a bust, so your job was the next obvious choice," he says, letting go of my waist, and I almost miss the warmth of his arms around me. Clearing my throat, I say, "As much as I love talking to you, I've realized that there's a small line forming by the register, and I kind of want to keep my job. But I do get off in an hour, so you can always come back, and we could hang out," I say, slowly walking backward toward the register. "Cool with you?" I raise my thumbs up, smiling.

He mirrors my actions, puts his hands in his front pockets, and nods while smiling. "Cool."

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Our laughter can be heard by, I'm pretty sure, everyone in the diner, but neither of us could care less.

"Dude, what do you mean? Pickles are literally the best things in the world! I could eat pickles all day and die a happy man," Roman says as he bites into his burger. We decided to meet up after I got off work at the diner we had gone to last time with the rest of the crew. Today, I finally got something other than waffles and chicken; I ordered a spicy chicken sandwich and specifically asked for no pickles. Now Roman here is giving me so much shit for not liking pickles.

"They're like the penises of the vegetable family," he pauses and just stares at me. I stare right back. Soon we both burst into laughter once again, and I swear I saw an older lady give me the nastiest glare ever, which made me laugh even more, causing Roman to laugh even more. In the end, we had to take the rest of the food to go because we were just causing a ruckus in the diner.

We were walking downtown when we passed a tattoo and piercing parlor. I paused for a moment, looking at it and contemplating. Roman finally took notice of my absence next to him and turned around toward me.

"Cléo, you good?" he asks, and I tilt my head toward the parlor and smirk at him.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Finally processing what I mean, he frantically starts shaking his head. "No, Cléo, no! Look, I think you're just tired and you're not thinking straight," he attempts to convince me otherwise while I slowly approach him, reaching for his hands and pulling him toward the shop.

"Come on, Rom, it's just one little piercing, please, Rom, please," I plead, looking up at him and tugging at his arm. I hear him sigh heavily. "Okay," he says under his breath.