Love Is Symphony |✓

| 17 |

"Hi."

I suddenly looked up from wiping one of the tables at Infusion when you appeared. A small smile tugged at my lip-balm coated lips at how ridiculous you looked behind that huge brown teddy bear that you held. It was so huge that it was frighteningly almost as big as you.

For the past week, your presence at Infusion was already part of our normalcy. A day without you dropping by was considered incomplete. Why wouldn't it be when you made sure that you were remembered every single time. From pizza to donuts to burritos to even going beyond as far as cups of coffee from Coffee Bean (much to  disapproval), you sure made your presence known and today wasn't an exception.

I left the cloth on the table and wiped my hands on my apron. "Hey, what's up?"

You peeked out from behind the bear and gave me one of the most dazzling smiles I've ever seen on you. A smile that looked like it belonged to one of the happiest people alive. It was sweet, carefree, charming, young and happy all at once. And if only I could go back into that moment to take a snap and keep the memory alive as long as I could, then I definitely would. You were enchanting and I was completely blown away.

"I want you to meet a friend," you said, scrunching up your face shyly at me.

I raised my brow at your subtle attempt to bribe me with a stuffed bear. With looks as good as yours, I thought this kind of things came in easy with you. Suppose I was wrong. "Are we talking about Mr. Cuddles here?" I played along, running a hand over the bear's soft chestnut-brown fur.

A snort escaped your lips and you placed the bear down in an empty seat. Our eyes both followed the big ball of fur and stayed there as it sat motionlessly.

"Yeah," you chuckled, "I guess we are."

"So, why does Mr. Cuddles want to meet me? Is he craving some herbal tea?"

You looked up from ruffling the bear's head and smiled at me. A small, cautious smile that I couldn't help but return with one of my own. "He's hoping that his presence would be enough to help his friend in asking a really pretty girl out to dinner."

For a good moment, I was speechless. The words began swimming in my head in high speeds then it stopped; just stopped, leaving me with nothing to say. Were you talking about me? I stared at you, gauging the serious look on your face and decided that you probably weren't. You had a girlfriend who fit the "really pretty" description and assuming anything beneficial for me would only end up in more problems than one.

"Oh, date night with the girlfriend I see." I tried to smile and pretended to be genuinely interested in a positive way.

You frowned. "Miranda? No—I mean—you know. It's not like—just—will you have dinner with me? Or maybe lunch? Brunch? Whenever you're free."

I actually laughed. If I thought you were ridiculous earlier, you were more now. "What do you need my presence for? Trouble in paradise?"

I internally winced at my words. It sounded as if I was fishing for information when I knew for a fact that I had no intentions of doing that. It was supposed to be a playful teasing; only if it didn't come out as awful on my part. And you obviously noticed the fault at my words by the slight raise of your brow but decided against mentioning anything. I couldn't be more thankful.

"Nah, just thought I should treat you out. It's Cake Day tomorrow, right? You interested in tasting other bakers' cakes?"

My lips pursed. The idea was temptingly sweet—as sweet as the cake on the line, but it sounded wrong on so many levels. If I were Miranda, I wouldn't be at ease with the idea of my boyfriend having dinner with another girl. Platonic or not. Especially if he remembered small details about her, just like Cake Day.