Grayscale

Chapter Four

        His name was Jeffery, he was reading An American Intellectual Tradition for his history class, he saw the colors in eighth grade, and he was a junior at the rival high school who didn't have any friends who weren't already with their soulmates. The conversation that took place between us lasted all of five minutes before he was shooing me away, having deemed me an annoyance. Apparently the reading was pretty urgent. Maybe he has an assignment due soon or something, I thought. But he's still kind of an asshole.

        I joined the half of my group I had been with earlier. They were now up at the bar, placing their orders. "I'll have an extra-large caramel macchiato," I stated, after Sam placed his order for "the largest hot chocolate you could possibly give me. Like, if you could just fill a pitcher and let me drink from that, that would be cool. Also, mountains of whipped cream. Literal mountains. Annnnnnnd two straws." Several minutes later, the barista returned with an actual pitcher full of hot chocolate, and the look on Sam's face was golden. I couldn't stop laughing, and neither could the rest of the group.

        "You're a saint!" He exclaimed, before diving into his mountain of whipped cream.

        "Share!" Wes protested. "The whipped cream wasn't even supposed to be yours!"

        I rolled my eyes as the boys took a seat at a table near the fireplace that was situated in the middle of the wall closest to the door. It still had Christmas stockings hanging on it, and I couldn't help but chuckle. That was where most of my friends were hanging out at though, and once my coffee was ready, that's where I chose to take my seat. I loved the mismatched, cushy chairs in the back of the room, but I wasn't going to be anywhere near Jeffery. I could still feel his angry glare burning into the back of my skull, and I hadn't even done anything but interrupt his reading for less than five minutes to ask him a few questions, try to make a friend (or boyfriend, rather, but still.)

        "So," Robin began. "I saw you approach tall dark and handsome all curled up in that chair back there. Any news?"

        I shook my head as I stirred the whipped cream into my drink. "He was pretty short and shitty. Wanted to know exactly what I wanted and why I was interrupting him. He wasn't worth the time." 

        She shrugged her shoulder with a little sigh. "Sorry, girl. Give it time. This is only what, day one? Day two? Unless you waited forever to tell me, which I seriously doubt, but will kill you if actually is true."

        I wished I had waited forever, because if I had, that would mean I would have thought of this a long time ago, and my chances for finding someone soon would increase exponentially. By this point, I would have weeded out all of the people who had their Facebook statuses set to "perpetually sucking face" and I could maybe, hopefully find someone willing to give me the time of day. But I had only just started weeding. It would probably be a while.

        "Tell her what?" Sam asked, craning his neck to make eye contact with me from the next table over. "What's going on?"

        That was the point where I wanted to punch Robin right in the throat. None of my other friends knew what my plan was, and about half of the people here I wasn't really that close with. They were cool, but I didn't want to explain my situation to them. This was pretty personal to me. "Uh . . . text me later?" I gave Sam a look, pleading with my eyes to not press me any further. "Or we can meet up again later and talk. This isn't really the place." I directed that statement to Robin, raising one eyebrow in challenge.

        "Yes ma'am," she responded, holding up three fingers. "Scouts honor. Mouth sealed."

        The group spent about an hour in the coffee shop, telling stories and laughing before we finally decided it was time to split up and head home. I said goodbye Robin and Dane, while motioning for Sam and Wes to join me. "Walk back with me?" I asked. "I can explain what Robin mentioned earlier while we walk. And you live pretty close to me, don't you Wes?"