Every Story Matters

06

♚ Austin ♚

Letting the Freak choose where we can go was a mistake. She made me drive the both of us to this small Café filled with the indigent people of the town. She however, seems to absolutely love this place which I find quite drab and boring. If people really wanted coffee or tea, they could just go to Starbucks that's on the other side of town, which isn't that far considering how small the town is. Next time though, I'm picking the place where she can interview me.

"Tell me why you chose this place?" I ask her with distaste.

Rolling her eyes at me, she sets her belongings on one of the tables and takes a seat. I do the same sitting across from her. "I always come here," she says looking around, "every morning, everyday after school...basically for work, but I also come here on my free time" she finishes explaining.

"Hey Scarlett, who's this?" A waitress asks walking up to us.

I look to the girl sitting in front of me with a curious gaze, a small smile edging the corner of my mouth. Scarlett? Her name's Scarlett? The small smile slightly widens at the thought of her name. There's something about it that immediately drew me in. Don't ask me what it was, but I know I like it.

My thoughts immediately come to a halt as it suddenly dawns on me that I'm not thinking straight and I shouldn't be thinking this about her. Especially her. I wipe the stupid smile that's dancing at the corner of my face and snapped out of it.

"Sheri this Austin, Austin, Sheri" she introduces. Sheri holds out her hand, but I don't shake it. I just give her a head nod, to which she just retracts her hand and heads to another table. Scarlett sends me a disapproving stare to which I shrug my shoulders in return not caring what she's thinking at the moment. A few moments of silence passes between us without one of us saying a word.

"So you didn't tell me your name was Scarlett," I say deciding to break the silence.

"It's not like you gave me a chance to," she says with a slight glare in her eyes. She looks back down at her books on the table and continues to write.

A slight pang of guilt hits my chest as I look at her angry, yet sullen eyes. "Sorry," I mumble in a hush tone. Her hand stops writing mid sentence and her head slowly looks up at me. Her bewilderment turns into a small smile which I return and watched her go back to writing.

As she continues to write, I couldn't help but notice how pretty she actually is. Her dark brown curly hair falls perfectly around her shoulders and her eyes...a combination of blue and green with tint of gray. Beautiful; I thought to myself, not really understanding why I haven't noticed it before now.

"So how is this whole interview thing supposed to work?" I question her.

She stops writing and looks back up at me. "I call it an interview, but it's really just getting to know you by...talking? I guess" she explains. I nod my head in understanding, figuring that would be better than just answering a bunch of questions at once.

Sheri comes back with a greenish drink and hands it to Scarlett who seems really happy to receive it. She mumbles a thank you to Sheri who laughs and heads back to the kitchen. I watch her, amused as she eagerly takes a sip out of her drink and places it on the table.

A small chuckle escapes my lips while I shake my head. "I'm assuming that's your favorite drink?" I ask her.

She gives me a small smile and nods her head. "Mhm. Ice blended Matcha green tea" she says.

"I know this whole thing is supposed to be about you getting to know me, but I'm pretty sure I'm learning more about you" I let out with a laugh.

She laughs too and rests her head in her hands. "Well do you have any favorite drinks?" She asks.

I lean back in my chair pondering on that question, not really knowing the answer. I'd basically drink anything and I haven't considered which one is my favorite. I'm not really a coffee person but I'd still drink it. And I'm pretty sure I'm more a soda than a juice person if anything. "I guess I'd go with Sprite," I answer her.

Her eyebrows go up in interest. "Never pegged you to be a Sprite person," she comments, honestly.

A smirk forms on my lips. "What did you peg me as?"

She squints her eyes at me as if she's trying to get a better look. "I was getting more of a Coke or Pepsi kind of vibe," she answers.

I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head at her answer. "Don't really like them to be honest"

She nods her head until her eyes avert to the clock on the wall. She starts to pack up her things into her bag and slings her camera around her neck. "I'm so sorry but I have to get going home. It's getting pretty late," she says standing up. "I'll continue this later?"

"It's fine, I should get going too. And yeah, I guess," I say getting up to leave myself. As she was about to leave out the door, I say, "I'll see you around?"

She stops mid step and smiles, "Sure", and turns back around and exits.

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