It Had To Be You ~ Joost Klein

Chapter 9 - Sugar

"I'll have it to go today, alsjeblieft and dank je,"(Please and thank you) I stated, pulling out my wallet.

Bram paused at the register and looked up at me with a confused look in his eyes, "Dat is niet echt normal voor jou..." (That's not normal of you). I handed him my payment and he took it cautiously, looking at me through squinted eyes.

"Ik ga een weekendje weg, I'm leaving today," (I'm going away for the weekend) I explained and adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder, already sniffing out where this conversation would go.

"Ahhhh en met wie?" (Ahhhh, and with who?) he further questioned. The receipt started to print, and I tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. I looked down at my shoes, tapping my foot on the counter the register sat on.

"Er, you know Natalie... maybe Joost and his friends, I-" I barely spoke the last part, hoping Bram wouldn't hear. However, that was impossible since nothing about my demeanor got past him.

"Oh Joost," his eyes widened, and he let out a sarcastic laugh, "That reminds me, how did your outing go with him?"

I sighed and started to fidget with my hands, "It was really fun. We just hung out at Vondelpark and then got some food afterward. Nothing crazy... just some friends, bein' friends." I grabbed the receipt from Bram and walked over to the pickup counter. Before Bram followed, he had gotten another employee to work at the register while he continued to pry. He leaned on the pickup counter and scratched his head.

"That's good... he's nice?" He asked, and I nodded, a smile forming on my lips as the moments in the park popped up in my mind.

"You don't need to worry about me. He's genuine. If he isn't, well, that's just me having to learn another lesson in life," I was purposefully keeping out some details so Bram wouldn't worry, but then again, the way it was handled, the way Joost treated me during that was nothing but compassionate. Still, I kept that part to myself.

Bram stood up straight, and a smile of his own came upon his face, "Good, good. Just be careful and stick by Natalie. Don't feel like you're obligated to do anything you don't like because of someone else's generosity."

"Okay, will do," I said, and Bram got my order quickly, handing it to me. As I was about to walk out, he stopped me. I returned to the pickup counter confused, and he motioned for me to come closer. When I did, he grabbed the collar of my jacket and started to fix it, flattening it to the sides. The small gesture spoke a thousand words, and I felt grateful for Bram's observant self.

"It was all messed up, okay, doei!" (bye!) he stated, and we both waved bye. I walked out of the store, coffee and a slice of lemon bread in hand. I started to quickly make my way back to my dorm to finish any chores before Natalie and I had to be at the train station. Excitement bubbled in my chest. I felt like a young schoolgirl who found a note in her locker from her crush, but this was tenfold.

You are a schoolgirl with a crush. Let's be so real with ourselves for a moment, I thought to myself and scrunched up my face, my nose creasing. I don't know why I kept dancing around the fact that I liked Joost. I kept chalking it up to him being out of my league, but I knew it was a mixture of many things. I hadn't been in a proper relationship for quite some time, 2 years, and Saturday made me realize something. Maybe I wasn't healed, I only slapped a bandaid over the stab wound in the meantime. Whatever, there's a fat chance he doesn't see you in that light anyway, and you're strictly in a platonic/professional relationship.

I arrived at my dorm and immediately threw my dirty clothes in the wash, hoping to knock that out before the weekend. Both Natalie and I were packed to go, but we still had some things to organize around the place before we could leave. While I waited for my laundry, I hopped on my bed and started to scroll through TikTok, drinking my coffee as well.