Coffee Stains (Discovery of Love)

Chapter Seven- Ristretto

{Chapter Seven}-Max's P.O.V:

Misunderstood.

That is what I am by her, misunderstood.  There is no doubt that she a good and genuine person so she can't despise my guts for no reason.  No matter how much I try, I can't get her figured out.  I have memorized every feature and expression by now, trying.  The way her naturally arched eyebrow rises, the way her dark eyes twinkle when she laughs, her gentle and bright smile,  her bouncy and silky curls.  Even the subtly and comforting scent of coffee that flows off of her.  The fact that I have a thing for coffee doesn't help the urge to sniff her as weird as that may sound. 

Everyone thinks that I want her heart but it's not like that.  There is just something different about her.  Something that other girl's don't have.  Something that makes everyone want to get close to her.  If you heard her name in a conversation it was probably about her helping someone or a ton of compliments.  Sure, there are people who dislike her for disliking her sake but that amount is small and I can see why.  After what she did in the cafeteria, I knew what everyone said about her was true.  So why does she dislike me?

I lean my head to the side in thought as she walks away, having the last word.  I take note of her worn out clothes and fading bag.  I am not one of those rich boys who instantly fall in love with the person who dislikes them.  I don't like her nor am I in love with her. That day with our little incident just made me notice her more.  It made her now stand out strongly from the rest of the female population.  No, I'm not pursuing her like everyone thinks, instead I'm hoping to make her smile.  People may not notice it but she has this grey cloud on top of her head.  Her shoulders are hunched like they have lots of responsibility on them.  Maybe that's what makes her interesting, the secrets that lie under the strong mask she has up but I'm going to stripe it down and find out.  Find out what took away her carefree teen years.

"She's not an easy one, is she?" my friend, Mike says with a smile.

"Got that right," I return the smile.

"You think it's her?" Mike asks with genuine curiosity.

"I don't know," I drawl softly as I watch her figure go around the corner, out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heartbreaker.

That's what I'm known as. The heir who has a new girlfriend every month and hasn't been in a relationship for more than two months maximum. The person who flirts with every girl and makes them cry. However, I'm more than that. I believe in true love as well. I know, a heartbreaker believes in love? Ironic right? Well, love is something we need to survive whether it be from family, friends or spouses. I'm searching for the right one who will steal my heart. Someone who will know me inside and out. Someone who looks pass my money and reputation.

While boys my age think that reading books or watching movies with romance or romantic relationships makes you less of a boy or man, I have always appreciated them. The thought of having a soulmate or someone you spend the rest of your life with has always fascinated me. When I find her, I will protect her at all cost and care for her.

I drift out of my thoughts and look up to see Jade's hair invading my view of the board. I smirk as I tear a piece of paper out of my notebook, scribbling today's pick-up line and folding it into a paper airplane. My tongue sticks out slightly to the side as I aim the plane at Jade. I release it and it goes flying, landing on her table. A victorious smile takes over my face as I smugly sit back. Jade turns around in confusion but when her eyes lands on me, recognition flashes around her dark irises. She turns back around, unfolding the plane. I lean to the side so I can see her face.  However, her untamed yet beautiful curls block any chance of me seeing her expression.  I see a slight shake of her shoulders and freeze in awe.  I actually made her laugh.  She turns around and rolls her eyes but I don't miss the smile fighting to appear on her lips.   Jade faces front again while I stay frozen in shock from seeing the familiar twinkle in her eyes.

"Now is probably a good time to stop staring," Mike whispers beside me, not looking up from his notebook as the teacher blabbers on about something or the other.

"I'm not imagining things, right?" I ask in shock.

"No?" he looks at me like I'm crazy.

"She smiled. She actually smiled," I say, a broad smile of my own adorning my lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, let's just say that smile didn't last very long. A few weeks and a shower of pickup lines later, Jade is the grumpiest she has ever been. I mean, come on, they were some really good ones like:

Was your father a mechanic? Then how did you get such a finely tuned body?

You're a hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the room.

Are you a magician? Because when I look at you everyone else disappears.

However, with her grumpiness came bags and dark circles under her eyes, yawns and napping in class. Those are thing you don't see her do usually. At first, it was just yawning or the occasional dozing off but it slowly got worse and worse. I haven't forgotten the way she acted before she smiled on that day. Even though I annoy her, she never snapped at me like that before. Something just doesn't seem right at all.

I slam the book shut that I had been trying to read for the last hour. I take my feet down from the coffee table that stood in the middle of the ring of chairs and stand up, placing the book in one of the large, wide shelves that line the walls of the room. My feet start to pace the room as I try to think of what could be wrong. Coming up with nothing, I pick up the phone that rest on the desk, pushed into the corner of the room. After dialing, I listen to the ringing before a click is heard.

"Hello?" A deep voice comes through the phone.

"Josh, how are you, man?" I say, as I lean against the front of the desk, twirling a small globe in my hand.

"Max, just get to the point. What do you want?" Josh chuckles lightly on the other side of the line.

"You know me too well," I chuckle.

"You only call me at this number when you need something so what is it?" he points out.

"I need you to look in to someone for me." I get straight to the point, all seriousness in my voice.