Coffee Shop ✓

Levi Is My Guru ✓

C H A P T E R .  F O U R

"Ye finally got her number, then?" Levi almost yells out in excitement.

It's Saturday and Thomas has his whole weekend free of work from The Attic. About ten minutes ago, Thomas had sent Levi a text saying, "Cara and I talked yesterday for about an hour or two. It wasn't as awkward as i thought it would be, hah. I actually talked to her w/o stuttering, mate!" And about five minutes after the text was sent, Levi came barging into Thomas's flat.

"Details, pal. What'd you two talk about?" Levi asks, plopping onto the couch before putting his feet up on the coffee table.

Thomas kicks Levi's feet off before telling the story. The conversation started off with Cara stating, "Levi told me you were too shy to talk to me. Don't be! I don't bite." and ending it with a little wink. Then she added before Thomas could even react to that, "Levi has told me a lot about you, actually!" which made Thomas flush and blush like mad. He worried about what sort of embarrassing tales Levi had shared, but he needed not to any longer when Cara began talking about Thomas being a Fine Arts graduate and a freelancer in painting. He wasn't sure when to speak and what to say anymore after Cara had pretty much told him his life story, thanks to Levi, but talking to her turned out to be a lot easier than he had thought.

Their conversation flowed so smoothly and they shared the things they like—Cara shared about her passion in writing while Thomas shared about his passion in drawing.

At some point, Cara—who seemed to have been carried away by their long conversation—blurted out, "I keep all the cups you've drawn on."

Her cheeks had turned a bright shade and her eyes widened, caught off guard by her own statement. Thomas simply felt overjoyed by that information, and he felt his heartbeat quicken a little. Then he smiled, lopsided, and said, "You're the first customer I had saved all my special cups for."

It was a mix of friendly conversation and a bit of flirting, if Thomas were being completely honest with himself. The flirtatious looks and unmistakable flirtatious tones with which they talked was pretty evident to anyone who may have passed by their table and picked up a few of their shared words.

When it was time to say goodbye, Thomas hesitated out of shyness to ask for her number. He stood up, followed by Cara, then they walked to the main doors with their conversation not yet quite ending. Cara had talked more about her cats Ginger and Sugar on their way out and Thomas, after finally saying goodbye, said he would love to meet her cats one day. Cara agreed to it and so numbers were exchanged, and they both took their separate ways to head home with toothy grins that made them look a little bit like fools. They didn't care if they did.

"So, it's a date, then?" Levi asks after hearing the last of the story. Thomas stares at him in confusion, eyebrows pursed together. "You going to meet her cats? You're going to her flat, then? Is it a date?"

"Don't you think it's a bit too early for a date?" Thomas says, shaking his head.

"Ye spent the whole week daydreaming aboot the lassie an ye've talked fae well over an hour yesterday—your shift ended at four an ya got home at six, from what I recall from yer story, an that's aboot two hours—I dinnae think it's 'too early' or some mince!" Levi explains, though Thomas has a hard time understanding his accent. "A date is jus' another name fae spending time with someone ye like, that way ye two can get tae know each other better. Or—right, fine, you dinnae have to call it a date so you can form a friendship before anything else, but if she's fine with it, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Thomas subtly nods in agreement. He is quite right, if Thomas were being completely honest. Going out with Cara and calling it a 'date' doesn't seem necessary, but there's really no harm in asking her first. Of course, a 'no' is a 'no' and if ever that is the answer Thomas receives, he will give it time and he will definitely not force Cara into a date she wouldn't want to go to.

"Alright..." Thomas begins, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "You have any suggestions for a date?"

Levi stands up from the couch, "Hold on," he says, "ah'm gonnae look fae a bottle ae jeg in yer fridge- have ye goat any?" He's in the kitchen halfway through his sentence, so he pretty much screams out the last part (which is totally unnecessary, but Levi is Levi).

"Not sure-"

"Awright!" Levi walks back into the living room with four of cans of Irn Bru, two in each, before Thomas could even finish his reply. "First of all, ye'v tae text her."

"Hold on, can you speak a little more clearly? Your accent is-"

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Levi waves him off. He seems to be hyped about the topic about to be discussed. "Right, anyway, you should text her soon aboot any normal topic so later on you can finally ask to meet up again. Now, I'm not gonnae force you to call it a date but, just think aboot it, right?"

Thomas feels like laughing at how quick Levi is talking and how passionate he seems about getting Thomas and Cara together. For a single man who has never had a girlfriend before, he seems to be such an expert with this stuff.

"Since I've talked to her quite a lot, I remember she likes books an sunsets an rooftops, so go take her tae a romantic date oan a rooftop during sunset with a picnic basket an a checkered table cloth. She said it was a cliche date, but she didnae care aboot cliches. Doesn't matter to her. She thinks they're cute an all. I guarantee ye, pal, after the coming week you'll be agreeing with me an you'll take her to a date.

"Best tae do it oan a Wednesday, she doesn't 'av Uni then." Levi takes a large sip of his Irn Bru before placing it on the coffee table. "Ah'm so great with advices, don't ye think?"

Thomas laughs at that, sarcastically replying with, "Yeah, you can be a dating guru."

Levi pauses to think. "Yeah, definitely. Ah'm your dating guru." This makes Thomas laugh harder. "Come oan, say it then: 'Levi is my guru', come on!"

Eyes squeezed shut, Thomas bends over laughing so hard. "Levi is my guru!" He chants, raising a fist up. Levi joins in the laughter before picking up his can of Irn Bru. Once Thomas's laughter has died down a bit, he takes a can for himself and uncaps it, tapping Levi's can with his before taking a sip. 

=

the title and the 'levi is my guru' part of the conversation was inspired by a scene in an episode of the third season of skam, a norwegian tv series about the daily life of teenagers from hartvig nissen school (hmu if you're interested to know more and if you're interested to watch it, i've got links to english subtitled episodes!)