Frightened Mate

Meeting in the Cafe

Sorry for the shorter chapter! It's late here and I'm exhausted. Enjoy!

It takes me a few moments to respond, due to getting lost in his beautiful brown eyes. Even after I regain my attention, my mouth opens and closes a few times, lost for words. Why am I affected like this? I've talked to guys who are extremely attractive before, granted he may be the most attractive guy I've ever seen, but I've never been at a loss for words this badly.

The beautiful man chuckles and holds his hand out, "I believe this is the part where you say 'Hi, my name is...'".

I blush and an embarrassed giggle leaves my mouth.

"My name is Holly" I place my hand in his and jerk it back when shocks go through my body starting from where we touched. "Sorry, you uh, shocked me there"

"Ah, my apologies" He smiles. "May I?" He gestures to the seat across from me.

I hesitate, but nod. Caden gracefully pulls the chair out and sits down. He places his elbows on the table and leans forward and looks at me expectedly. I look at him over the screen of my laptop, confused. Why is he sitting here and then not making conversation?

How old are you?" He inquires.

I sigh internally, "I'm 18. I graduated this past year."

He nods, mulling it over.

"What college do you go to? What's your major?" He asks.

I cringe, "Uh I'm actually not going to college. Well at least not at this point."

"Ah, why is that?" He asks confused. "I thought most people wanted to go to college and 'live it up'."

"Education is important. I understand that, but at this point I just want a break. I've been building up a photography business and it's starting to sort of go well. I just want to be a photographer." I explain.

Caden smiles softly and leans back in his seat. This time he doesn't start the conversation. I push down the urge to continue editing pictures like I need to, and try to continue the conversation. The problem for me is that I want to talk to people, but I never know what to say.

"What about you? How old are you? Where are you going to school or where did you go to school. What was your major?" I ask.

"I am 23. I did some online classes for business a few years ago, but I took over my dad's business when I was your age, so I don't have much time or reason to go back to school" Caden answers smoothly.

I smile and nod, not entirely sure how to respond. I know I should really try to make an attempt to talk with him, but I really don't know what to say to him, and that makes me really upset. It's not every day an attractive guy gives me attention, but the idea of Caden losing interest in me makes me upset.

"Do you come to the café often?" He finally asks, filling the silence between us.

"Yes" I blush. "I come here way too often actually. It's slightly embarrassing. I just can't help it. It's so calming here, it feels nice to be here."

"What do you do when you come here?" He asks. "I mean, if you say that you come here way too often that it's slightly embarrassing, you must have a lot of stuff going on."

"Well, like I said, I'm a photographer. Photographers usually have pictures to edit." I turn my laptop towards him. "My problem is that I get trigger happy and end up with way too many pictures"

"Well isn't it better to have too many than too little?" Caden retorts, smiling.

I smile and nod my head in agreement. I stay silent though and watch as he looks at some of the pictures I have chosen to edit. I try to hide my smile. It seems as if he's actually interested in what I have to say and he wants to see what I have. I smile and nod as he points and makes a comment about one of the pictures.