Nightmares ➳ Connor McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic { edited }

Eight

Gwen's POV

There I was on a Thursday morning. In Starbucks with none other than Connor Patrick McDonough.

He just showed up at my front door this morning and offered to walk me to work, but there we were. In our little heaven on earth.

"This is nice," I suddenly blurted out as I swirled my straw around my nearly empty cup.

"What is?"

"This. We're actually trying to be nice to each other," I replied and he laughed.

"Who said anything about trying? My sudden kindness towards you had just come naturally."

For some reason I blushed at what he said.

I checked my watch and was surprised at the time.

"Connor, we better get going. We're going to be late for work."

I grabbed my backpack and we walked out of Starbucks as he had to jog to keep up with my pace.

Our jobs were only about two blocks away from Starbucks, so it didn't take us that long to get there.

I was a bit confused when Connor completely walked past his shop and entered mine.

"Your job is back that way," I informed him.

"I know. I'm pretty sure Thomas won't mind. Besides, I heard that one of my favorite bands has recently released a new single," he said, smirking.

I didn't really care who his favorite band was, so I didn't bother to ask.

"Hey Gwen," Braiden said once he finally saw me.

Then he gave me a lingering kiss on the cheek and by now I was used to this on-off relationship but not actually a relationship kind of thing. I know. It's pretty confusing.

"Hey Connor," he said cheerfully as he wrapped an arm around my waist and I automatically leaned into him with my head lightly resting on his shoulder.

I noticed Connor's eyes darken once again and he immediately turned around and started walking away.

"I thought you were going to look for that album," I half-yelled as he was already halfway to the exit, but he just ignored me and left.

Braiden and I just stood there in bewilderment.

"I don't think he likes me very much," Braiden said as I looked into his bluish-grey eyes. They weren't nearly as blue as Connor's, but they were nice.

"I don't think he likes anyone."

~

It was my lunch break and I decided to pay Connor a visit and ask him about what had gotten over him this morning. It's not like I was actually hungry anyway.

I walked into the store and it was filled with instruments, just like it should be.

"Gwen?" Thomas said from behind the counter.

"Hi. Do you know where Connor is?" I asked and he pointed to the back room.

"He's probably putting price tags on guitars or something."

I pushed open the large grey door and walked into the small space.

It was full of boxes, and musical instruments, and paper, and there were a few candy wrappers scattered on the floor

"Hi Connor," I said as soon as I spotted him sitting in the corner with a guitar in his left hand and a price tag in the other, but he ignored me.

I sat next to him and started doing the same thing he was.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Helping you."

"I don't need any help. Just do me a favor and go away," he snapped, but I didn't move. I just continued putting the price tags onto the guitars.

"Didn't you hear me? I said go away," he repeated.

"No."

"And why not?" he asked.

I smirked and gave him the same reply I had given him a few days ago. "I don't want to," and I think he was trying his best to fight back a smile.

"What's up with you?" I asked and he looked at me with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you just storm out like that a while ago?"

"Well, I didn't want to interrupt you and your boyfriend," he spat and I burst out laughing at what he had just said until tears streamed down my face.

"Braiden is not my boyfriend and never will be ever again," I said as I tried to steady my breathing.

"Well it sure looks like it," he replied, rolling his eyes, but then his faze shifted back to me. "Wait. So you did date him before?"

"Yeah, but we broke up. It wasn't even a proper relationship. It was more of a summer fling, but as you can tell we still act like a couple."

He nodded his head slowly trying to soak up all the information I had just told him.

"Do you know how to play?" he suddenly asked, after a very long silence.

"I'm not musically talented."

"Nonsense," he said as he got a blue guitar from beside him and started strumming.

He handed me the guitar, but I just pushed it away. I didn't know how to play guitar and I wasn't willing to humiliate myself in front of Connor.

"I told you, I don't know how to play," I repeated.

"You never know until you try," he said as he tried to hand me the guitar again, but I stopped him.

"Fine, but someday I'm gonna teach you."

"Okay," I replied, with a wide smile.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" I asked.

"Do I have to be honest?"

"You have to be honest."

"It was a pretty rough night. I had to go on another jog. How about you?" he said.

"I slept like a baby."

"Are you trying to mock me?" he said, acting offended.

"Maybe."

Suddenly, my phone started to alarm and I knew that my lunch break was over and I had to get back to work.

I guess Connor realized that too, because I could just make out a small pout on his lips. It wasn't that obvious, but it was there.

"I have to go," I said, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and leaving.

"You were in there for a pretty long time. What did you guys do?" Thomas asked as soon as I emerged from the back room. I simply rolled my eyes at him and exited the store.

I saw Braiden, still behind the counter, reading a book with his headphones on.

When he finally noticed me, he smiled, which I returned, and then I started going to the back of the store.

There were tons of boxes piled up on top of each other.

There were some new arrivals and other older ones that were only there just in case we needed to restock.

I knew deep down that the album Connor was looking for a while ago was somewhere here. So I started digging.