Just The Girl

Chapter 3

D A H L I A

Me: Hi, I'm glad. You're welcome.

I hit sent, seeing that I was three hours late to reply, realizing that he had sent the message earlier at seven in the evening. Placing my phone on top of the bedside table and was about to close my eyes and call it a night, when my phone suddenly vibrated, indicating a message. I only turned my head to stare at my phone, torn between ignoring it or seeing if the notification came from Jace.

It's not that I like him or anything, he just intrigues me.

And so, I sat up, turned my night light back on and opened my phone, my breath hitching slightly to see his name there on the screen.

Jace: Are you a regular there at the shop? I assumed since you looked like you knew your way around the place.

Was he observing me the whole time? That I couldn't really process since I've only noticed him that one moment when I saw him at the isle. Were my actions a takeaway that I knew all the nicks and corners of the place? Of course I'm a regular there at the shop, it's where I buy most of my art materials, not to mention that it's also where my mom buys her office stationaries. Sometimes she lets me be the one to buy her stationaries every time she gets busy at the office.

Me: Not really a regular, just sometimes. Which wasn't a lie, not entirely the truth either. Why?

Jace: Oh, I was back there yesterday and thought I'd bump into you again.

Me: I was busy running errands yesterday, I had no time to drop by.

Mom wanted me to pay the water bills yesterday, and the line there was ridiculous. Plus, dad wanted me to buy that extension wire he had been eyeing at the hardware shop near the house, so I had to drop by there too.

Jace: I see.

Jace: I wanted to ask for your opinion again about which ones were better, Batman or Spiderman?

And again, a big man asking me weird questions.

Me: What were they?

Jace: Ballpens.

I blinked down on my phone screen, letting out a snort of a laugh before shaking my head. A smile twitching on my face.

Me: Were you able to end up choosing one?

Jace: Yeah, Batman.

I had to bite down on my bottom lip to restrain a smile from forming. A big man liking a big superhero, not straight out of the ordinary, but he looked like he'd be someone who would really like batman.

Me: That's great. To whom was the ballpen for this time? Your little brother?

Jace: No, it was for me.

How old was this guy? I started thinking of instances where boys would look surprisingly older for their age. Was he one of them? He obviously looked to be 2 or 3 years older than I was, but was he actually younger than that? Younger than me? Don't tell me this guy is still a minor—

I had to hold onto that thought, looking down on my phone screen and realized that 5 minutes had already passed, and I still haven't given him a reply. I was going to type away when another message on his end popped up, this time, I couldn't help the smile from forming on my face.

Jace: I'm sorry for weirding you out, is it weirding you out? I swear I just like Batman. I mean, you like turtles and I don't find you weird, not even a bit. I found it rather cute, actually.