All The Small Things

I. Stolen

    "Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato for Kendra!"

   I got up from my seat and approached the counter to fetch my drink. I can't believe I'm actually letting Adam hitch a ride with me. He's not even here yet! God. Callum so owes me.

   "Cut the guy some slack. His car got shittied-up by his brother and you know how it is with this guy and public transportation... C'mon, Kenny. Do this or me, it's my birthday after all. Puh-leeeaaase?"

   

   Ugh.

   I got back to my seat  in the righthand corner of the square room by the shelves where they display their signature cups & tumblers and started scanning the cafe. The place wasn't that packed. There were very few teenagers, a couple of businessmen who were probably on their lunch break, and a group of rich-looking ladies who look like they were in their fifties. They're probably sick of their rich people hobbies & don't have anything to do in their luxurious houses so they just decided to hang out with their amigas at Starbucks. Cute.

   Several minutes passed and I grew insecure about how I looked. What if I look like a slob compared to him? I scanned my outfit slowly: a plain grey v-neck, denim shorts, and navy Nikes. Pretty decent...

   The bells by the door chimed and an awfully familiar dude strode in. He wore a navy polo shirt, khaki shorts and loafers. He looked kind of awkward, darting his eyes around, obviously looking for someone - me.  I was trying to look as casual as possible, as if I wasn't expecting him, as if I'm all calm but I almost felt sorry for the guy. He finally looked in my direction and eventually his eyes met mine.

   For a moment, he just stood there, his eyes fixed on mine. I could almost feel the world around us move in slow motion and every single sound around me seemed to cease...

   No.

   Just... NO.

   This cannot be happening again.

   Pull yourself together, Kendra.

   

   "Hey!" He walked towards me, as if he'd just woken up from a trance, a smile plastered on his face. He looked like he was about to offer me a hug but I got up, put on a smile and offered him my fist, "Uhh, here."

   Adam bumped my fist with his. Just like the old times. He smiled and looked like he was about to say something when I hastily nodded "Let's get going" and walked to the glass doors.

   We walked silently to the parking lot. He probably couldn't stand the awkward silence anymore so he started to make conversation.

    "Hey, thanks a lot for letting me hitch, Ken."

   "It was Cal's idea," I said as deadpan as possible. I didn't want this guy to assume I still have feeling for him. "He begged me to do it."

   "Oh... Thanks, anyway." He looked at me.

   "No big." I said, looking straight ahead.

   "Nice ri- Whoa! 'That yours!?"

   We got to my Camry and he was taken aback by the long wooden board strapped on top of it. He gawked at it as if it were a cat with 12 eyes instead of two.

   "Yup."

   "You surf!?"

   "Uhh, yeah."

   "Since when? How? Wow."

   "I've been doing it for almost a year now. Uhh, I started in Cali, when I was visiting my parents."

   I got in the car and he immediately got in the passenger seat right after, as if he was afraid I'd drive off without him. Funny, I was just thinking about doing that.

   Traffic was bearable and we were on the service road in no time. Callum's place wasn't that far from the mall, maybe a 20-30 minute drive. I turned the radio on & Dashboard Confessional's Stolen had just started playing on the station I regularly listen to. I didn't realize I was starting to quietly sing along until he said something that either released butterflies in my stomach or made me sick, I don't exactly know:

   "I missed you, hun."

   Surprused, I turned to look at him in the passenger seat.

   

   He was talking on his phone.

   /

To be continued! I got this feeling it's kinda lame though. :-/

Let me know what you think! Leave a message or whatever. :-) Thank you!

D.