love in the 21st century//jancy

18.

three lights are lit, but the fourth one's out...

Will was the exact image of Jonathan, just a few inches shorter. Same floppy, light brown hair hanging in his eyes, same style of clothing, same shy and knowing smile. He carried a sketch pad with him and wore a Dungeons & Dragons t-shirt with faded jeans and Converse. He seemed like the perfect friend for Mike, and Nancy couldn't stop herself from smiling. That might also be because Jonathan was looking at her with that same shy smile, his camera hung around his neck and his hands buried deep in his pockets. For some reason, she just felt really warm, and the blush creeping up her cheeks wouldn't stop.

"What do you play as?" Mike asked, not even bothering to introduce himself.

"Human wizard," Will responded.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Typical." But he was smiling a little.

Nancy gave him a little shove. "Don't be such an elitist douchebag, Mike." He shoved her back, and she stuck her tongue out at him before taking Holly's hand and turning back to Jonathan.

"You're not gonna run off this time, are you?" he asked.

"No. You're not gonna tell me that we're too different to be friends and then tell me to leave you alone, are you?"

"No."

"Hey!" Mike exclaimed. "You two, stop flirting. What's the plan for the day?"

She looked at Jonathan, smiling expectantly, hoping that he had some sort of plan, but he simply shrugged. "I don't know. I was thinking maybe we could just walk around the city. Maybe we could take them to Times Square and the Statue of Liberty. Will wants to go back to the art museum."

"Do you like art?" Will asked Mike.

Mike shrugged. "I like comic books."

"Me too!"

"Okay, who would win in a fight, Superman or Batman?"

"Superman. But I like Marvel comics better."

"Me too."

Nancy breathed a sigh of relief, glad that her little brother seemed to be getting along with Will. She only wished that she had someone for Holly. Holly seemed content just clinging to Nancy's side, though. Jonathan stooped so that he was eye level with Holly, introduced himself, and then went to shake Mike's hand.

"Coffee?" he asked. "I'm buying. For all of us."

"Mike's not big on coffee, but I love caramel macchiatos. How did you know that, by the way? When you ordered last time?"

"Oh. Um..." They started walking. Jonathan flipped his hair out of his face and shoved his hands in his pockets again. His shoulder brushed hers for a moment, and then he took a couple of steps to the right, keeping his distance. She thought for a brief second about reaching out to take his hand, but she also felt like maybe she wasn't ready for that yet.

"I was behind you at the coffee stand one day, and I heard you order it," he mumbled, his voice barely audible. "I don't...I don't really know why I remembered that."

She ducked her head, trying to hide the smile that was making its way onto her face. A boy who might have seen her at the coffee shop and thought she was pretty remembered details about her more than Steve ever did.

"It was after we started texting," he said. "I knew who you were, but you didn't know me. You ordered a caramel macchiato and a blueberry muffin. I didn't think that was weird at the time, but now it seems a little weird. I'm sorry. I pay attention to details."

"You don't have to apologize." She looked over at him and smiled, and surprisingly, he smiled back. "Did you...um..." Did you like me then was what she wanted to ask, but she found that it wouldn't come out.

They were at the coffee shop down the road from campus now. Jonathan opened the door and held it open for Nancy and the others.

It smelled warm and delightful, like cinnamon and honey and fresh brewed coffee with a slight undertone of cookies and baked sweets. This was the smell that she would remember when she looked back on this day -- a familiar, homey smell that filled her with an unspeakable joy.

"Get whatever you want, I'm buying," Jonathan said. "For all of us."

"Oh, that's really not necessary--"

"I want to." He smiled a little at her and looked away, though his eyes flicked over to her every once in a while, as if he was afraid of looking directly at her. He seemed embarrassed, like that wasn't the right thing to do, and she didn't understand because no one had ever offered to pay for her and her siblings except for their parents, and she certainly wouldn't have expected him to do it the first time they were all meeting.

"Nance, Mom is calling again," Mike said, waving his phone in the air, but she couldn't see the screen. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and talk to her. Don't get me anything."

"O-okay," she said. He suddenly seemed very tense and very quiet, and she watched as he walked away with his head ducked down and the phone pressed against his ear. He somehow looked...sad. And about five years older.

"Let's go sit down while your brother orders," Nancy said, lightly touching Will's shoulder and steering him toward the same booth she and Jonathan had sat in a few weeks before. She never took her eyes off Mike until he pushed open the door and disappeared to the other side.

She slid into the booth right next to Holly, while Will sat across from her and pulled out his sketch pad and a pack of pencils.

"Will, if he's not back in about ten minutes, could you go check on him for me?" she asked. For some reason, she couldn't shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen. Everything had seemed fine, but she couldn't help but wonder if maybe she wasn't noticing something all along.

"Sure," Will said with a little smile. "I really like you, by the way. You're nice. And pretty. My mom would like you too."

The compliment took her by surprise, and she couldn't help the smile that graced her features. "Thanks, Will. You're sweet."

"You wanna see my sketches?"

"Um, absolutely!"

Will was seriously talented. She had been to the art museum several times and visited the art exhibits on campus, and his drawings were better than some that she had seen there. A lot of his drawings were fantasy based, and most were of his character that he played in D&D and different scenarios he had gotten himself into. He made fantasy look like reality.

But as focused as she was on his sketches, she couldn't help letting her gaze wander back to the bathroom, where she kept hoping she would see Mike returning from, but there was nothing. Maybe she had no reason to worry, but she couldn't get her mind to stop going into overdrive, convincing her that Mike had done something horribly wrong.

When Jonathan came to them and set Nancy's coffee and Holly's hot chocolate down on the table, Nancy couldn't hold her fear back any longer. "Will? Go check on Mike?"

"Sure." He squeezed out of the booth past Jonathan, and Jonathan, confused, took his spot right across from Nancy.

"Everything okay?" he asked. His fingers twitched on the side of his cup of coffee, as if he wanted to stretch them out toward her, maybe take her hand in his.

"Um...yeah. Yeah. I'm just worrying more than I should, I guess," she said. Her heart was accelerating. Holly seemed content right next to her, unconcerned with anything going on. Hands shaking, she raised her cup to her lips and sipped it. It filled her with a momentary warmth, but really, she just felt cold. She gripped Holly's hand in her own and squeezed it tight. There was a certain look in Mike's eyes...

"Nancy?" She looked up at the voice suddenly above her and felt her heart drop. Will was back. Alone. "He's not in there. The window was open, and his phone was on the floor. I...I don't know where he went."

;;

cliffhanger? ;)