A Surefire Way to Fall in Love

Chapter Three: We Meet Again

AN: Is this an update after being MIA for like six months? Yes. The goal is to remain consistent. But we'll also see because life has been lifing.

Anyways. Please comment and vote. I appreciate all of you who have supported me throughout the years.

Nyla's whiskey-colored orbs stared intently at the ink on the page. She was back at the coffee shop, sitting at the bar this time behind a glass of pastries, well after the hours when most patrons would be indulging in their favorite brew. But the girl was most content when she felt she had the shop to herself.

As she sipped her the last of her mocha, the setting amber sun creating violets and pink in the swirling clouds, she sat awestruck as she absorbed the words from the book in her hands. It was "Ashes", Jabari's poetry book. After another hectic week of working and prepping for the panel tomorrow morning – and needing a distraction from the constant turmoil rolling in her mind like waves, she finally took time to see what exactly makes for a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

And wow was all the girl could utter, already more than a third of a way through the thick book. Now, Nyla loved poetry, she loved all words that painted life and scenarios in ways that you had to decipher to understand. She had been blown away by simple words before, but Jabari's art took her breath away. The wordsmith had created a realm in his book, painting pain in a delectably delicious way that Nyla knew was sorrowful and wrong but filled her with a strange guilt of wanting to continue to experience it.

"Is he... killing you softly with his words?" Denise had joked in a singsong voice when she saw her best friend's nose deep in the pages.

Nyla had barely heard her, so far gone in Jabari's mind bleeding on the page. She tore her eyes from the stanza and looked up at Denise who was wiping the rims of mugs as she prepared to wind down for the evening.

"I've never read anything like this," Nyla admitted finally, "I read books all day, some of them absolutely amazing. But this?" She held the book in her hands in disbelief.

She knew Denise could care less about the book world. In fact, the only book Denise read in the past year was Nyla's debut, but she watched her friend rest her head in her hands as Nyla rambled in acute detail about "Ashes" and how it blows her own little novella out of the water.

"I don't think it's healthy for you to compare your book to his," Denise interrupted, "They're two different realms of greatness."

Nyla huffed, that same tug of uncertainty pulling at her. She knew Denise was right but something still nagged at her.

"Either way," Nyla began changing the subject, "This is a work of art. No wonder it's getting so much praise. Why hadn't I read this sooner?" Before Denise could respond, Nyla's nose was back in the pages, but she knew she had rolled her eyes.

"I need to do inventory in the back," Denise spoke, "It's only me for the next few hours so if you want something else to drink you better let me know now."

"Uuum, another mocha is fine, Niecy, thanks," Nyla mumbled pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

The bell over the shop door pulled the girls' attention then, and suddenly she felt her stomach fall to her feet.

"Are yall still open?" a familiar voice met the air, and the same warm brown eyes met hers.

It was Jabari. Sporting a burnt orange jacket and dark blue slacks. Today, he wore dark brown glasses, fogged up from the warmth of the coffee shop.