Be Alright

Two

Two: Benches

"Do you have a reason as to why you have been on this bench for thirty minutes now just staring at people?" A raspy voice, definitely belonging to a man, says beside me.

I'm in shock at his words. It wasn't a cheery tone. It was a harsh one. A tone like he was annoyed at me for even being around him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize the street benches had laws to them now," I snap, my voice loaded with sarcasm and annoyance as I turn to look at the stranger.

Holy shit.

His voice was attractive. I don't know how to describe it. It had a rasp to it. It wasn't smooth and it wasn't extremely deep either, yet not high pitched. I could listen to him talk forever if it meant hearing the sounds.

But his voice isn't what shocked me. What shocked me was how beautiful this boy is. His hair is a dark brown, almost black. It's styled similar to Jace's with short sides and a longer top. His hair is styled and swept to the side on top, reminding me of early Zayn Malik. His eyes were green, contrasting from the dark of his hair and the darkness of his outfit. The light stumble on his face was shaven and cut perfectly. This boy definitely worked to maintain his looks, but made it look as if he just rolled out of bed. Or maybe he just naturally looks this good. Either way; this boy is fine.

His eyes study me for a moment, a scowl present on his face. I have to remind myself to be nice, but that's so hard when someone is being irrational for no reason.

"What's your name?" He asks me, still keeping the scowl on his face.

"Octavia Bradley."

"Octavia Bradley," he repeats. My name sounds much better coming from his mouth and I find myself wanting to hear him say it over and over again.

"Yours?" I ask him.

"Tyler Watson," he whispers, the scowl finally coming off his face as he looks ahead.

I study his from the side. He's dressed in all black. Black sneakers, black jeans, black hoodie. If I knew any better I would say he was probably going to rob me, but I don't like to judge before getting to know someone.

"Why are you here?" I ask him.

"I had some business I had to take care of in there," he says, pointing back at the bar where all my friends currently were.

Business? What possible business could he be doing at Joeli's? Especially business at almost midnight. The owner of Joeli's was a sweet, old man who's been running Joeli's for years and I have never seen any business men in there for actual business; only there to drink and cheat.

"What is your excuse for being here?" He asks me after the break in our conversation.

I let out a loud and deep sigh.

What was my reason? I told Jace I would be back in a few minutes, but it's been longer than a few and I still can not bring myself to step back in there and face Jace just yet.

Once again, this is Haley's fault.

"I just needed some space from someone," I say, not giving away the full details.

"You have a boyfriend?" He follows up, green eyes burning a hole in my head as he stares me down.

"No, I wish" I laugh. "He and I are coworkers."