The Cafe Across the Street

Part 3

last night (before Day One happened)

Earlier that morning James sat in the back of the coffee shop, stocking up on inventory. For the being the new kid in town, he'd expected that meeting people would take a while, but it seemed he had an attractive aura to him. he'd already befriended the employees of the coffee shop and earned the trust and respect of his boss in a week. It was really strange to him but he assumed this was a very friendly neighborhood. He and his mother had moved about two weeks ago. Terrified to start over in a new school, not to mention during the 2nd semester, he'd decided to stay home and get settled before he set off on his journey to anxiety. Only yesterday, during the evening, was he ready to start school once again he had driven to the store to pick up some extra school supplies and drop them off at his locker from the email the school had sent him.

He remembered the girl he had run into that night. He was horrible with names, so he forgot what it was after she introduced herself, but he remembered how beautiful her face was. Her sharp grey eyes and though her hair was a rose gold, her eyelashes were a light shade of blonde. She reminded him of pink lemonade. He liked pink lemonade. She seemed lost and in a daze. James had never seen a person who was high, but she was definitely stoned. She was so pretty why would she do that to herself was all he could think. She had run into him, she was running away from something someone. She'd knocked off his glasses. She stopped, and picked them up seems to forget she was running.

"Thank you," he said gratefully as she'd handed him his glasses,"are you okay? Do you need a ride home?" He wasn't letting her drive on her own, he thought about the poor families that could lose a family member with her on the road, his own father was hit by a drunk driver. She nodded. She'd pointed him in which direction to go.

"So you're new?" she asked lazily.

" Yeah, I'm from New York."

"I see," completely changing the subject, she slurs "I like you, you seem nice, wanna get a coffee or something?"

His freckled face heated up instantly, turning the same shade of bright red as his floppy hair. He'd never been asked out before, and this girl was so pretty and so out of his league. He wasn't sure to answer taking I consideration she was high.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," she drawled. He'd pulled up at her little blue house. Before she got off she leaned into him from the passenger seat and gave him a messy kiss. He'd had to walk her into her house to keep her from toppling over on the driveway.

"Thanks," and with that, she passed out. He drove back home.

James Beckett was no longer a lip virgin.