Just The Girl

Chapter 5

D A H L I A

I have been hanging out with Jace these past few days, even on days when he'd take his work with him to Café Bistro, the café we both had agreed to always hangout at whenever we both needed a cup of coffee. I told him that he didn't have the need to hang out with me every day, especially when he's so cramped with work, but he would always tell me again and again, that he if he wanted to, he would.

I'll be honest, that part about him had warmed my heart a couple of times I couldn't even count.

We both exchanged numbers as well, he remembered that our internet at home was always playing games, so he suggested that we exchanged numbers instead, in case I couldn't reply to him due to bad Wi-Fi connection.

I haven't told anyone about Jace yet, I wanted to test the waters first. Plus, we're just friends and nothing more. Just two people who love hanging out while sipping a cup of coffee, or maybe eating pasta from the same plate. Still friends, just friends.

Saturday mornings are usually quiet on this side of town. But today, I could clearly hear the loudness of my own heart thumping rapidly against my ribcage as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. A white sundress and a pair of red sandals wasn't what I had expected to be in on a weekend, I'm so used to prisoning myself inside these four walls.

But no, I'm not going to prison myself today. I'm going out. I'm going on a date with Jace.

Is it considered a date? I'm not sure. Well, he specifically mentioned in his text last night that he wanted to take me out for lunch today. This is our first time hanging out and having a meal together, so I guess this is a date. It should be a date, or I'll just be assuming things if this ended up being just a casual Saturday for him.

Shaking my head, I then sat down on top of my bed and waited for his text message. He said he'll pick me up at 10:30, now it's 10:28.

I was about to go run and take a quick visual check inside the bathroom when the text I've been waiting for from Jace had finally arrived, saying that he was already outside waiting for me.

As soon as I got out from the gates, Jace's tall physique has what had greeted me right away. He was wearing a white shirt this time, denim shorts, paired with white sneakers. His hands tucked deep inside his pockets as he leaned against his olive-colored pick up. And that smile, that boyish smile that would always give me the butterflies, sometimes making my knees weak, it probably did right now as we speak.

"Someone's wearing white too." he commented, smiling even brighter this time. God, has no one ever told him that he was the most charismatic man to every walk into my life? Perhaps not, I'd probably be the first one to say it. "Great minds, think alike?" I tried to joke, glad that he had chuckled at that lame line.

"You're so beautiful, Lia."

Being called beautiful wasn't something my heart would easily warm up to, I don't think being called beautiful was amazing enough to start swooning for a man—but it was because of what he called me. Lia. The only person who calls me that is my grandfather who passed away just two years ago due to cancer. We both were close, closer than I ever was with my parents, and when he left, a part of me left with him too.

If only my grandfather was still here, life would've been much more bearable.

After losing him, I forbade anyone from calling me Lia, only wanting to give that nickname to my grandfather and him alone. If he left this word, then he can take my nickname with him. But the sound of that nickname rolling off from Jace's tongue had sent nostalgia against my heart that it felt like my grandfather was here with me again.