Infinity

Chapter three

I woke up with a thump in my head, and a sore back from un uncomfortable sleep. I turned my head and faced him, he looked beautiful in the morning. He breathed slowly and rhythmically, still deep in sleep. The thump in my head seemed to grow louder and heavier by the breaths he took.
I shifted my weight and Charlie stopped breathing for a moment. I froze. But his breathing turned back to normal as I manoeuvred my way off the couch. My feet firmly on the ground I jumped up before I could wake him.
Walking behind the couch and using the tainted memory's of the night before as a guide, I found my boots. Pulling them on, the boots made my feet feel a whole lot better. In the time it took me to recover my coat, phone, and keys, which were in fact in my pocket, the sun had risen. Charlie stirred as the sun coloured his eyelids in a pale glowing yellow. He shifted and raised his hand in front of his eyes. Still half asleep, he looked lost. I wanted to stay. I really did.
But I left.
I walked down the pathway toward the coffee shop. The place had felt like home to me for what seemed like forever. But as I reached for the metallic feel of the door handle I felt a change. A change in the direction of the wind, or the time of the day even, but a change for sure.
I retracted my hand and took a step backward, with a smile broadening over my face. I felt like a new person. After our little secrets endeavour in the car, Charlie and I realised it was almost midnight. We made our way down the hill toward the city... I may have almost crashed his car. From then on Charlie drove, back to his house where I slept on his couch and I made myself an acquaintance.
And I walked up the street, looking for a faint glow out a window, a taste of coffee in the air.
Eventually I found myself standing in front of a black chalk board on the street, set up outside a fancy-looking coffee shop. It was different, more modern and less cozy. I decided to give it a try.
As I entered I looked around and the place was full of people. I walked up to the counter past the tables, and received dirty looks from the people. They seemed to be different than me, and to them I must seem different too. They looked at me as if I were a rat, although my hair was sticking up every which way, my breath smelled of coffee and my clothes were wrinkled. The only thing even remotely like them about me was my boots.
I put both arms on the high counter, folded over eachother, and put my chin on my hands. The barista looked like she couldn't care less that I was standing there, so I cleared my throat.
She took my order. And I didn't order anything like I did before. I ordered a cinnamon spice latte with whipped cream, and a croissant. Although I wasn't even remotely hungry, I figured, what the hell.
As I turned away from the counter I found myself facing a problem. All the tables were full, except one which was partly taken up by a boy about my age with glasses. The table was covered in papers, and his brow was furrowed in either frustration or confusion, maybe both.
I was feeling spontaneous.
I decided to try Charlie's approach, and strode over to the table and sat down, the chair scraping sharply behind me. I swept my hair onto one shoulder, and the boy across from me looked up. As he looked at me his eyes became less concerned, less frustrated and more friendly. He smiled a perfect smile. And the way he looked at me made me melt.
I studied him from head to toe. His head was covered in a mop of sandy blonde hair, brushing just above his eyes. A beautiful light blue, like a clear ocean. His face had no sharp edges, it was rounded under the chin with a defined jawline. My eyes travelled over his perfectly sculpted collarbone, down past his broad shoulders to the tabletop.
I didn't notice he was talking to me until my eyes reached his face again.
"...from around here are you?"
And I answered before I could think about it.
"I am. I just never come here."
"Why?" He seemed curious.
"Because I guess I'm not ordinary."
The barista handed me my coffee and I got up, cupping both hands around it to keep myself warm.
He looked up at me, forehead wrinkling, and he was one of those people who looked innocent when they looked up at you like that.
"You seem pretty ordinary to me", he says, "in a good way". He smiles.
"My cafe", I pause to take a tentative sip of my latte, "is down the street."
He looks at me like he's surprised but kind of expecting it. A weird look.
"I have never been to another coffee shop in my life."
"I guess we have something in common then", I say as I walk away. I walk to the door and turn around to see him taking off his glasses. He looks at me with those eyes again. "Will I see you here again?"
I just smile and walk away.