(love, charlie| chapter one)
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
SHE was perched quietly at the table, her slender fingers deftly moved across the keyboards of her laptop. Scattered pieces of notebook papers and an open textbook sprawled out across the table, her face furrowed in a concentrated frown as she numbly gnawed on the pencil that was clenched between her teeth. "How long are you gonna be gawking at her?" The tenor of his friend's inquisitive inquiry retracts Reggie from his reverie.
He ganders over at TJ, whose lips were arched in a roguish smirk. "We've been coming to this cafe for two weeks now and all you've done is sit over here, watching her like a stalker. If you like her then take your ass over there and talk to her." TJ adduces, attempting to prevail a semblance of encouragement but feebly failing. What TJ suggested was easier said than done, at least for Reggie; who spent a great duration of his adolescence shying away from the coquettish attention that he received from girls. Growing up, Reggie wasn't as confident or suave like his childhood best friend, TJ was.
He'd always turn into a blushing, stammering mess anytime a girl approached or talked to him. As he transitioned into adulthood, his timorousness slowly began to subside and he began to gain more confidence, that is until he saw her. Their first encounter was didn't exactly go as smoothly as he hoped it would. Reggie first spotted her one Friday afternoon, sitting in the library with her attention heeded in the printed words of the textbook she held in her hands. She was working on an assignment when he approached, asking if he could sit in the chair across from her.
She looked up at him with a bemused expression, her eyes seemingly lingered around the room where there were several other tables with empty chairs where he could sit at. But, nonetheless, she complied, waving her hand towards the seat and gestured for him to sit down. Reggie sat there completely in awe; mesmerized by her pulchritude. He didn't even realized that he was unabashedly staring at her until she narrowed an accusatory glare at him, huffing an irritated breath of air out.
He blushed in chagrin and stammered an apology before diverting his gaze away. Figuring that he needed to start on one of his assignments instead of staring at the beautiful girl ahead of him, Reggie reached into his book bag and scuffled out his textbook. What he didn't realize is that upon retrieving his books, he inadvertently knocked over the cup of coffee that sat in front of her. The liquid pooled out, spilling all over her papers and on her phone.
Reggie's eyes widened at the horrid revelation. "I am so sorry!" He says, using a clean sheet of notebook paper to clean up the mess. "Here, let me—" He leaned across the table, reaching for her phone in hopes that he could attempt to salvage the damages. But, she hastily retracted it from his grasp and quickly rose to her feet.
She shoved the remaining papers into her bag, stuffing her textbooks and grabbing her phone off of the table. Reggie winced as he watched her helplessly fiddle with her phone. "Is it still working? I-I really am sorry, my hand accidentally knocked it over." He apologized, inwardly chastising himself for his clumsy behavior. The girl sighed in defeat upon coming to the realization that her phone had succumbed to the liquid damages.
"I–" Reggie began, but was interjected by the girl dismissively waving him off.
"Don't worry about it." She said before sauntering off, leaving Reggie sitting there perplexed and dumbfounded. That incident occurred two weeks ago and every since then, he has been trying to think of a way to apologize to her again. He even thought of offering to buy her a new cellphone as a peace offering, considering he was the reason why her old one no longer worked.
"I can't. The minute she sees my face she's going to remember that I was the guy who was staring at her and spilled coffee all over her phone." Reggie deflects, immediately rejecting that idea. "Besides, she looks busy."
TJ scoffed, rolling his eyes in rebuttal. "Busy my ass! You know what, if you don't go over there and talk to her then I'll do it for you." He ripostes with a shrug. Reggie knew his best friend well enough to know when he was bluffing, by the impish look that currently marred his face he knew that TJ's threat upheld truth.
"What? No! I'm not—"
"Fine, I'll do it." TJ shrugged insouciantly as he pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. He began to gaiter off towards the girl's direction, that is until Reggie placed a hand on his forearm and pulled him back, halting his movements mid-stride. TJ turned around, his signature smirk curled upward on his lips. "That's what I thought. Now, go over there and talk to her."
"Alright, alright." Reggie exhales a nervous breath as he slowly rises to his feet. He smooths a hand over his shirt, cautiously creasing out the faint wrinkles. Timidly writhing his hands together, he nods his head in determination, fully intending on approaching her. Okay. I'm going. I'm going. It's fine, Reg. Just talk to her. He litanies encouraging words appraisals to himself as he walks towards her table. Don't say or do anything stupid and you'll be fine. He assures himself, albeit he could feel his timid nerves begin to conquer.
Reggie could feel himself resisting the urge of turning around, but before he knew it his feet continued to move forward and he was standing directly in front of her. It took a few seconds for her to acknowledge his presence, she glanced up from her laptop and blinked. Her eyebrows kinked amusedly as she folded her arms akimbo, waiting for him to speak. Reggie opened his mouth then hastily snapped it shut after a moment of hesitation. He harrumphed lowly, sheepishly rubbing a hand at the back of his neck as he shyly diverted his gaze downward.
"If you're here to apologize about my phone there's no need. I already bought a new one." She says, seemingly guessing the reason for his current presence. Reggie averted his eyes upward to see that she was staring at him; her soft, russet colored eyes held an unwavered gaze within his. She chuckled softly, shaking her head in amusement as she watched him abashedly fluster before her. "I really need to finish my work so if there's nothing else that you need.."
"Actually," He clears his dry throat again. "I was wondering if you would go out on a date with me?" He says, slowly enunciating each of his words. "It doesn't even really have to be a date, per say. We could go out for food or something? Or just go out for drinks—not that I want to get you drunk, uh, there's this Italian place downtown that we could, I know the owner, Elio—"
"I'm sorry, what's your name?"
"Reggie." He answers, feeling a nervous defeat beginning to ascend.
"Well, Reggie, I'm sorry, you seem like a nice guy but I'm not really interested in going out with anyone right now." The girl surmises and Reggie does his best to not let the upsetting look of disappointment show on his face. He only nods, giving her a feeble smile.
"Yeah, no, I completely understand. I'll just leave you back to your work then." He bids her goodbye with a curt wave before walking off with his shoulders sullenly slouched in defeat. He was fully aware of the outcome result was going to be prior to him even asking her, but it still hurt after receiving the rejection. He sighed deeply as he slid back into the chair. TJ looked at him, anxiously waiting to hear the details.
"Well, she said that I seem like a nice guy but she's not interested in going out with me."
"Ouch, she hit you with the nice guy line?"
Reggie nods, "Mhm."
TJ sighs and clasps a reassuring hand on Reggie's shoulder. "It's alright, man. We all get rejected. You just gotta move onto the next one."
