sunshine | cole sprouse

☼ un

Alana trudged into a coffee shop a few streets from her new apartment that she had just moved into. She made her way to a table next to a window, covered in mist and snow and smiled, looking out of the window and watching everyone go on with their everyday lives, not even noticing that the young girl was watching. There were couples, sharing cliché moments with each other, mucking around in the snow and giving each other eskimo kisses. Alana smiled in admiration, hoping that one day, that would be her and her lover. There were also young children and their mothers, also playing in the snow and shrieking in delight as snow fell softly from the grey sky. There were people simply walking along the pavement, looking down at phones with disposable coffee cups in hand.

Alana was fascinated. Everyone had their own story that she did not know of. She didn't know what they had been through or what was on their mind, but she liked to make up stories about these people based off their facial expressions and what she was able to see.

She was interrupted by a girl who looked the same age as her, and Alana presumed was the barista seeing that she was wearing an apron and had a name-tag. "Hi, welcome to the Espresso Café, what can I get you?" 'Siena', Alana read from the name-tag, said.

"I'll just get a macchiato. Regular. And I'll also get a blueberry muffin, Thanks." Alana smiled at the barista who simply nodded and walked off. Alana looked back towards the window and started to trace patterns and pictures onto it. When Siena came back with her order, Alana had drawn a Christmas tree, a selection of lines and spots and an obnoxious smiley face to top it all off.

As she sipped on her macchiato, Alana noticed a flash of blonde hair out of the window. The figure made its way into the cafe and Alana got a closer look of it. Well him. He was handsome. Light green eyes, a slim face and roughly 5'9 feet in height. Alana didn't think much of the boy and looked back out the window as a quiet Michael Bublé Christmas tune tinkled in the background.

Alana soon heard a chair scraping against the wooden floors and she whipped her head around to see the handsome boy from earlier giving her a crooked grin as he quickly asked, "do you mind if I sit here? There are no other seats left." she nodded her head and he gave her another smile that made her insides twist.

Alana examined the boy closely. He looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen him before. As if reading her mind the boy spoke up, "you look confused.", he stated.

"It's nothing," Alana shook her head and sipped her macchiato, "I just feel like I've seen you before."

"Ah, I get that a lot," the boy sighed, hoping with all his heart that the girl he had just met wouldn't freak out, "I was on a Disney show; The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, with my twin."

As soon as he said that, switches flipped on in Alana's head. She remembered this kid, her sister used to be obsessed with him and his brother. "Ohhhh, I know you!" she said, and Cole's eyes glanced up at her as he raised an eyebrow, "my sister was obsessed with Suite Life! Me? Not so much.", she teased. Cole let out a hearty chuckle and was relieved that the girl, who's name he didn't even know yet, didn't have a fangirl freakout. 

Alana smiled in response and took a small bite out of her muffin. Alarms went off in her head as she realised she hadn't even introduced herself to Cole yet. "I'm so sorry," she apologised, "how rude of me! My name is Alana. Alana Miller." 

Cole laughed once again at how flustered Alana seemed to get over the smallest of things. "Well Alana, I shall introduce myself too. Name's Cole. Cole Sprouse," Alana sent him a smile as he noticed something. "Also, you're not from around here are you? Wait, let me guess! England? No? Um, I know the name of it just wait!" Alana was sent into a fit of laughter, who knew Cody the nerd was so funny?

"No, I moved here from Australia a few months ago. Just needed to get away from everything." she said whilst taking another bite out of her muffin. Cole smiled again, once again, making Alana's stomach twist into knots as she admired the beautiful boy in front of her.

"I know the feeling," Cole said in response, taking a sip from his own coffee mug. "so, Alana the Australian, tell me about yourself?"

Alana looked down and fiddled with her thumbs as she tried to think of something. This reminded her an awful lot of middle school, when you had to say a fun fact about yourself in front of the class at the beginning of the school year. "Erm, I'm 20, go to Juilliard for music, and I like scones."

Cole was impressed. "Juilliard, huh? What instrument?".

"Violin, been playing since I was a wee 5-year-old." Alana replied, surprised that someone actually took interest in what she did. Her parents never really cared and thought it was a stupid dream to pursue. 

"Well, Alana the Australian violinist, I am also 20, go to New York University and study architecture. I live with my twin brother and we're really close with our family. You've got siblings?" 

Alana gulped and didn't know why she trusted this boy that she had not even known for more than fifteen minutes but she opened up to him anyway. "My sister commit suicide when I was 14. And after that my dad left. I haven't seen him since. So it's just my mum and me." Alana spit the word 'mum' out. Her mother was hardly a mother to her anymore. She had turn to drugs and alcohol, going out to get drunk nearly every day and bringing home a new guy every week. Alana was just happy that she managed to escape that hell of a household and start a new life in New York. 

Cole looked sympathetically at the girl and put his hand on top of hers and said, "I am so sorry Alana, I feel so bad, I shouldn't have asked." he frowned as he saw the beautiful girl in front him twist her face up in a pain for a split second before she smiled softly at the boy's kind actions.

"I'm fine, really. It's been six years. I'm over it i guess." Alana sighed, and looked at their hands, smiling sadly, knowing full well she was definitely not over it.

"You sure?" Cole asked even though he knew that the girl was still hurt.

"Yep," Alana smiled back. "well, I best be off." she said, finishing the last of her muffin, knowing that she definitely did not want to go, but she had to practice and do homework or her teacher and professors were sure to kill her.

"How about i walk you home?" Cole offered, smiling and hoping the girl would say yes.

"Sure, I don't see why not!" Alana replied, making Cole smile even wider if possible, and Alana thought to herself that it was absolutely adorable.

The two stood up and Cole stuck out his hand, offering it to Alana, which she gladly took and they intertwined their fingers as they walked out of the coffee shop, disposing of their coffee cups on the way out. Even though the two had barely met over an hour ago, they both felt something towards the other. Definitely not love, but a very strong feeling of affection.

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