Like Real People Do

3

My nerves are through the roof as I make my way to the restaurant they had picked. Coincidentally, one of my favorite places to eat, and close enough to campus that I could walk.

I'm incredibly self conscious of the outfit that I'm wearing of course. As happy as I was to have an excuse to just pick what I was wearing and be done with it, I hadn't much thought of the fact that I was walking into lunch wearing a t-shirt of the band who I would be meeting.

I debate for a moment buttoning the flannel to save myself from the embarrassment, but I decide better of it. It's not like they wouldn't see me at the concert later wearing the same shirt.

My hands are shaking a bit as I open the door to the small cafe, looking around to see if I could find them, soon being met with a very distinct mess of dark curly hair at a small booth in the corner with a few other people who I recognized as Alex, their bassist, Mia who played keyboard, and Rory, the drummer.

I begin to shyly make my way to the table, hearing the tail end of their quiet conversation and laughter before being noticed by Andrew, who offered me a smile as a greeting, which I returned.

"Hey, sorry I'm a bit late, There's this concert I'm going tonight, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to wear." I offer a small wave to the rest of them and take a seat next to Andrew.

"Glad to put a face to the name, Andy's been talking about the way you played last night since the moment he got back last night." Mia holds her hand out for me to shake. "I'm Mia."

I laugh a little bit and take her hand "Yeah, I know." She returns my laugh equally, as does the rest of the band.

The waitress comes back for a moment to take my order, having already taken everyone else's.

"I'll just have a matcha latte and a raspberry lemon scone please." I tell her, not even looking at the menu. I had been here enough to know what I wanted without needing to look. She nodded and set off.

"Glad we picked a place you like. I was a bit worried about that." Andrew says low enough that over the conversation between the others that had already moved past my introduction.

I smile up at him. "This is actually one of my favorite places to study. The scones are fantastic."

It's almost weird how comforting his presence is, there's no tension between the two of us, even though we had just met, it's like the nervousness that I felt melted the second I saw him. He was like this beacon of calming energy. It was strange.

"I might have to try a bite of yours then." His smile is just as bright as it was during our first interaction. God he's so perfect.

No. Stop that shit.

I couldn't be thinking of him that way. Not only was he completely unattainable, but I knew all too well that he was on tour right now, and he would be in the states until December. Plus, by all definitions he was just an acquaintance, potentially a friend. Everything between us was platonic, why would I ruin it by thinking otherwise?

"You're gonna love it." The waitress returns with my drink, setting it down in front of me. I thank her and shoot her a warm smile which she returns before asking us all to let her know if we need anything else and reassuring everyone that food was on the way.

Andrew thanks her again with a smile while she walks back to the counter. Her gaze lingers over him for quite a bit longer than. Is comfortable, it makes me oddly achey in the very pit of my stomach. I refused to label the feeling as jealousy. No. I was just upset because we're friends. She was looking at him like he was a piece of meat, I was just being protective over a new friend. That was it.