You're the Music of My Heart

One: Picturesque

I walk into the coffee shop away from the frigid fall winds, embraced by the autumn incenses of pumpkin and cinnamon and the bitter whiffs of black coffee. The quaint and charming room wasn't too big and just the perfect place to relax and sit by the crackling and warming hearth. But after having Eren invite all of his friends into the dorm, I decided to just get out. But despite the fact of me staying here at the Cambridge University of the Visual and Performing Arts for several months, I simply resorted to watching Netflix and drawing in my dorm instead of socializing and attending our football games or other big events.

I trekked over to the chestnut-colored teak counter methodically and looked up at the guy behind it, my jaw going limp and slightly ajar. His soft, smooth, mocha hair trimmed at the sides of his bangs poofed out a bit, and to be honest, it was pretty adorable. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not even close to being straight like a circle. But I wasn't overt about it completely; some of my closest friends knew about it. 

His deep, gingerbread eyes fluttered like a butterfly as he kindly greeted me. But I was too entranced in his freckles to even notice... oh god, his freckles. There were so many scattered on his rosy cheeks that I could draw constellations out of them. And his cheeks bounced with his dimples... man they were so cute. The man with a small tag with "Marco" on it gave a friendly wave, trying to grasp my attention.

"Sir, are you alright?" Fortunately I was able to snap out of it and respond to his question. "Oh! Uh.. yeah. I'm fine," is all I can muster. Damn. I'm being such a dumb ass. He looks at me with a radiant smile. "So.. how can I help you today?" He shyly asks me.

Shit. I forgot to look at the menu. I didn't want to look humiliatingly dumb in front of him. "Well... got any preferences?" Internally, I felt like sweat-dropping and punching myself in the face. He laughs innocently. "To be honest, I just prefer a hot chocolate or a pumpkin spice frappe, but that's just because it's fall and it's the best." I nod. "Okay. How bout I get just a hot chocolate then?" I haven't been here before and 'Marco' was genuinely cute so maybe he's got good taste.

"Sure! I'll get it for you in just a second-" "Thanks." He beams back at me and I could feel my cheeks flush with a hot tingle. Weird. "Oh and what's your name?" "It's Jean..." He grins. "I like your name... it's charming." Oh man, here we go again.

"So... do you live around here?" Oh my God, Jean you are so stupid. He laughs again, dammit. "Yeah, I go to Cambridge here." No kidding he went to Cambridge. This is the campus's cafe. "Do you go to Cambridge or are you just from here?" He asks me kindly. I swear, I was going to blow up because he was so adorable. "Yeah, I major in economics." He looks up at me, his pumpkin eyes glinting a sign of curiosity. "Really? That seems pretty cool! Some of my friends take it, do you know Armin Arlert by chance?" 

I grin. "Yeah, he's one of my really close friends. And he's in my class, actually." He scratches his chin. "Hm... small world. But I'm in the orchestra program." Now that's pretty cool. "My friends Bertholdt Hoover, Mikasa Ackerman,   Reiner Braun, and Annie Leonhardt and in there too." His head snaps up. "Wow! Really? I didn't know you were friends with them! I'm always with Annie and Reiner and Bert since we're in the same class anyways." I nod again. "Yeah. Reiner plays the saxophone, Bert plays the clarinet, and Annie and Mikasa play the violin." "I sometimes play the violin in orchestra but I almost always play the piano during them." Damn. He must be insane if he can juggle violin AND piano.

"Oh, here's your hot chocolate by the way," he says kindly, his dimples bouncing. Adorable. "...Thanks!" I reply back and he beams again. "No problem, and by the way, your total is $4.23." I manage to pluck a five from my wallet and it slips out of my hand. Dammit, how are you so dumb to drop a bill? God, have mercy on me.

He laughs with a hint of naive. "Don't worry about it." He fiddles out a gambit of quarters and pennies and hands them to me in the palm of my hand alongside a small receipt. "Your total change is $0.77." "Thanks~" "Anytime." I turn around the drink and just before I can take a sip from it, my eyes catch light, fancy handwriting on it: Jean :). I blush.

Was this guy checking me out or was he just over excessively-friendly. I hope it was the first one but I couldn't even tell.

"Well, maybe I'll see you around Jean?" He queries me. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we will. And besides, we have some of the same friends. Maybe we can meet some other times through them." Wow, that sounds like I'm suggesting him for us to go on a date. Jean, you're so pathetic. "That sounds great!" I beam after his response. "Well, have a nice day, Jean." "Thanks. You too~" I wave him a friendly grin before walking to an empty crimson velvet love-seat beside the fireplace. The faint crackling of the fire and the warm, inviting, ambient atmosphere of the coffee shop was overwhelmingly cozy. I could just fall asleep holding my hot chocolate.

But just before I can lull myself to relax, I hear loud fidgeting come from the other side of the coffee shop. Marco.

"Shoot! I'm gonna be late for the orchestra practice! Sasha! Can you cover for me?" his voice sounds guilty and rash. A small head from behind the kitchen appears, her long, straight, light brunette done in a ponytail stuck to her forehead. A buttery croissant is clamped in her mouth and she takes a large bite of it voraciously, almost like she inhaled it in one mouthful. "Fine, but I get to take a few of your doughnuts and a muffin!" the slightly petite girl responds. "Okay, fine! But at least talk to Ms. Brzenska about it if she asks where I am, okay? She should know though!" He pulls up the sleeves of his gray cardigan sweater and grabs his beige canvas messenger bag and runs to the door. "Thanks, Sasha! You're the best!" Hey! Sasha worked here? How the hell did I not know that?!?! No wonder I never went outside the house...

Marco left the cafe and I decided since he wasn't around anymore that I had no interest in staying. And I did want to talk with Sasha but I just decided to go back to the dorm where Jaeger and Armin and Mikasa were, probably watching some depressingly sappy movie like Titanic or something. So I stood up and pushed my wallet back into my pocket and retreived my car keys from the other pocket of my jeans and strolled back out of the coffee shop. I should definitely come back her again, and maybe even talk with Marco again.~

-Okay so some of you might've caught the reference with TITANIC and i just thought of a sad movie and it had the same name as the anime so I HAD too! XD but expect more fluff might come in again and maybe one of them are able to see first hand the other one's skills of either drawing or orchestra... you'll have to guess and it'll be either in one of the next two chapters. I'll try to stay updated!!

~Stay classy, Andrew