I accidentally slam the door of Will's black Mercedes and I watch him flinch.
"Sorry. I didn't mean that." I say opening the door and closing it again slowly and less hard.
"You break Shaniqua's door, you pay for it," he says driving out of the parking spot without looking my way.
I laugh at his immaturity and the fact that he named his car Shaniqua.
He looked at me and raised both his eyebrows, "Laugh all you want. But I will send you the bill."
My laughter stopped. "You're joking right?"
He looks back at the road and shakes his head, "I'm not. You hurt Shaniqua. We are going to have problems. Just ask Jace. He accidentally slashed a hole in the right tire and I made him pay for that and an oil change."
"Why the oil change?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Why not." He shrugs it off.
"Because an unnecessary oil change is a waste of money that could be spent elsewhere," I say.
He looks at me, rolls his eyes, smiles, then continues to look at the road. "I have money. Jace has money. Why not give Shaniqua an oil change?"
I snorted and leaned my head against the window, "Rich people."
He doesn't respond and then I realizes that the radio is on and The Fray play softly in the background.
I quirk my eyebrow, "You listen to The Fray?"
"Yes. Why wouldn't I?" He asks me, as if it's the most stupidest thing to ask.
"You look more like a Black Veiled Brides kinda guy," with the black hair, the constant use of black clothing, and that walk that earns him the turning of heads and respect, you'd think he listened to Black Veil Brides as background music.
"I listen to them on occasion. Usually when I work out, but I prefer The Fray for everything," he lowers the volume.
"Why'd you do that?" I go to raise the volume up, but he playfully slaps it.
Once again his tone of voice makes me feel stupid, "Because I want to have a conversation with you. Duh."
"Oh. Well, um. What do you want to talk about?" I, Tessa Gray, am horrible at making conversation. So naturally, when I am asked I have no idea what to say.
With a quick glance at me he responds, "Tell me about yourself."
"My name is Tessa Gray. I'm twenty years old, my birthday is October twenty eighth-"
Will shook his head, "No not those types of things. What do you want to do with your life, why do you want to do that, how you grew up, tell me the good stuff."
I furrowed my eyebrows and thought for awhile about my answer.
"I'm studying at NYU. Majoring in English Literature. But not at the moment since it's June and school just ended. I want to be a writer."
Without taking his eyes off the road he asks, "Why?"
I smile slightly at his interest in my career choice, "When you read, you enter another world and meet new people. I always loved that feeling, and I strongly believe that with the right determination I could make people feel that way."
The car grows silent. Not even The Fray can be heard.
I look outside the window and I recognize the houses and the bodegas on the street.
"Hey," I say a smile forming on my face and point to the familiar small café on a corner, "Let's go in there."
He nods and parks his car. "You sure?"
I smile, "Yeah."
He shrugs and gets out of the car and I do the same.
Walking into the café I yell, "Oi! Josey! You here girl?!"
A tall, tan colored Hispanic girl with dark curls my age steps out of the kitchen wearing an apron, "Quien carajo me esta-Tessa!"
"Josey!" She runs to me and I to her and we hug for such a long time.
"Oh my god, Tessa it's been so long, mija. Look at you," she smiles brightly at me. Then her eyes turn to Will. "Who's this?"
Will gasped in feigned offence and put his hand on his chest.
So freakin' dramatic.
Rolling my eyes I answer, "This is Will Herondale. He's highly offended that you do not know him."
Josey raises her naturally well-shaped eyebrow, "Okay. Well, since you two are here and I am currently working, why don't I give you guys the café special on the house?"
I feel my mouth water, "The buttery croissant and your special Cuban coffee?"
Josey nods, "Actually, it's a chocolate croissant and hot chocolate, but you somehow hate chocolate so I bent the rules a bit and made butter croissant and Cuban croissant the special. But tomato tomahto."
Will interrupts our conversation, "Wait a minute. You don't like chocolate?"
I nod, "I hate it."
He makes a face that almost makes him look unattractive.
Almost.
"What type of bloody monster are you?"
"One who doesn't like chocolate."
"How? Why? Are you even human?"
Josey claps her hands together, "As much as I would love to listen to the two of you argue about how hating chocolate makes you a monster-it does by the way- I need to work so if the two of you would follow me." She turns her back on us and makes a sign with her hand to follow her.
She leads us to a booth in the corner and takes out her notepad, "So, for Theresa you'll have the usual?"
I nod.
She nods to Will, "Y tu, hermoso?"
"I'll have the same as her except with chocolate."
I roll my eyes as Josey shuts the notepad and walks away to get our orders.
"So," Will laces his fingers on the table and leans back, "How do you know Miss Latinamerica?"
"Her name is Josefina, but everyone calls her Josey. She, Clary, and I are best friends friends. We grew up here."
"Really?" He asks as a Josey comes back with our orders and then leaves soon after.
"Yeah," I take a bite out of the croissant.
He places his head on his hand, "Tell me more."
"Tell you more about what?"
He smiles briefly before drinking his hot chocolate, "Tell me more about how you grew up."
"I'm nothing special. Just a girl who grew up in the Bronx."
"No please. Go on." His violet blue eyes sparkle with interest.
I sigh. Why not? "Fine."
He claps his hands together and does mini happy dance in his seat.
"So where do I start?"
"Start from the beginning," he says softly, his Welsh accent thickening.
And so I do.
And we sit there.
In the little café.
Laughing over nonsense things from my childhood and him trying to make me eat chocolate which I decline numerous times.
Smiles are present on our faces and our sides hurt from laughing.
And for the second time since I've known Will.
I could've stayed there forever.
***
A/N
New update. Yaayy! Vote, comment, whatever.
Thank you my lovelies for reading. I know I update reeeaally slow but thank you all for still reading and not giving up on this little story of mine.
Love ya,
Lily ➰
