SERENDIPITY ━ SUGG. ✓

IX. REAL LIFE

FOR TWO DAYS AFTER, there was complete radio silence from Joe Sugg. Izzy would attempt to text him only to have no response, only seeing that he would read the texts, which frustrated the brunette even more.

The 24 year-old girl was sitting at a table in a quaint café now, waiting for Madeline Kowitz, who was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. She tapped her fingers on the table anxiously, wondering if the blonde girl was even going to show up or if yet again, she'd been stood up by one of her best friends.

Isabela Brooks reached for her phone, her fingers fumbling for it inside the pocket of her coat before retrieving it, only to see two messages from Maddie.

maddie tk:
hey izzy, i'm so sorry i'm not going to be able to make it!

maddie tk:
can we reschedule soon?

Izzy sighed, knowing all along that this was a possibility. She texted back a quick reply, telling her friend that it was fine and they definitely had to reschedule. She looked around the café, wondering if she should just leave or order something, now aware of the table that she was occupying and the absence of food in front of her. She was about to give up her table to go and get something when her phone vibrated against the table, stopping her.

The brunette girl looked down at it, only to see that no one other than Joe had finally texted her after two days of complete and utter silence.

suggy:
i'm standing outside this café right now and there's this girl that looks exactly like you...

izzy:
really?

suggy:
yeah, same brown hair, same eyes.

izzy:
i have a doppelgänger

suggy:
look up at the window, silly.

Izzy looked at his text, slightly confused, before looking up and around, her eyes finally stopping at the large pane of glass that separated the inside of the café from the outside world. Her mouth fell open once she saw the boy standing outside, a lopsided smile on his face as he stared back at her.

She got up abruptly, disrupting the couple beside her, before grabbing her phone from the table she had previously been sitting at and running towards the door. She pushed it forcefully⎯the warm air hitting her face in a sudden rush⎯before standing it front of the door, frozen and in shock as she stared at the brown-haired boy.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asked, a smile still on his face, glasses framing his eyes. She took slow steps towards him, an indescribable feeling her chest as he did the same. When they met in the middle, she found herself putting her arms around him, embracing him tightly, afraid that if she let him go, he would fall away from her and the whole thing would be a dream.

"You're real," she whispered, breathing him in and hearing him chuckle softly. He pulled away and looked at her, the reflection of the sun blocking his beautiful blue eyes.

"I am indeed," he matched her same tone, before looking down at the flower in his hand and holding it out to her. She looked at the single delicate rose, the petals a deep shade of crimson and the stem a dark shade of green. "That's for you."

"It's beautiful."

To everyone looking out the café window and out on the street, the two adults appeared to be in a relationship, maybe separated and finally reunited, but to Izzy and Joe they were meeting for the first time, now breathing in each other's scents and looking at all the features that a picture on Instagram couldn't show them.

"Shall we go in?"

"Just give me a second," she whispered, looking at him fully.

"If you take a picture, it'll last longer."

"A picture couldn't show me all the things that seeing you in real life can."

"You'll be able to stare at me all day, Brooks," he smiled, the same dazzling smile with teeth that she had a newfound love for. "Come on, people are staring."

"I know exactly why," she whispered quietly low enough for only her to hear and him to wonder what she was whispering about. Joe Sugg was handsome in every single meaning of the word and to Isabela Brooks, he was gorgeous and everything more.

Although, she would never be able to tell him that because to her, it seemed that all he wanted was a friendship.

When they settled in, got their respective drinks and sat down seated across from each other, the two simply stared at each other for a moment, neither believing that this was real. That they were in front of each other, breathing, living flesh, and not a person online or in pictures.

"How did you know I was here?" She finally asked, breaking the silence between the two of them, although there was plenty of chatter around them. Joe took a sip of his drink before pointing his finger at the brunette.

"You're smart, Brooks, I except you to figure it out."

"Maddie," Izzy whispered before looking at him, watching as he simply nodded. "She bailed on purpose."

"Yes she did, and she put me in her place."

"Why?"

"Probably figured that it was time for us to meet," he guessed, looking down at the crimson rose that she had placed on the table. "I mean it was."

"I agree completely," she agreed quickly, hearing him chuckle softly and watching as he tousled his hair with a single hand, looking out past her.

"You're even more beautiful in real life," he whispered, finally looking at her and making her look down and laugh.

"You're too kind."

"I mean it, I really do."

"That's not the type of thing that honourary best friends say to each other, Sugg," she pointed out, taking a sip of the coffee in front of her and holding the paper cup in his hands.

"'Honourary best friends' is a very loose term to me."

"Is that why you agreed with it?"

"Maybe," he replied, taking off the glasses on his face and finally revealing his eyes. She watched him as he folded the ends and tucked it into his jacket project, a curl of his brown hair falling out of order and dangling in front of his forehead.

"How cheeky," her comment was curt as she looked out the window, watching the amount of people that passed by.

"Are you adventurous?"

"I like to think so," she admitted, watching him with cautious eyes.

"Let's go somewhere."

"What?"

"Let's go roam," he motioned towards the window and looked at the crowd of people passing the shop, being outside, while they were in this café. She looked at him, watching as he held out his hand, a small smile on his face.

Isabela Brooks looked down at his hand, cautiously taking it, watching as he slid out of his seat and willed her to follow him. She surprisingly did, her right hand in his and the rose in her left, a smile on her face. To anyone there, they appeared to be in love, but Isabela Brooks and Joe Sugg were merely friends and would stay that way until they could both come to terms with their feelings.

☓

i enjoyed writing this so much and i hope that you all enjoyed reading it!