Dragonborn (need a good title)

Chapter 4

i'm sorry that the chapters are coming up so slow, but i promise that i'll try my hardest to get them up as quickly as possible. as usual, please vote and comment. i cant tell u how much it means to me, and to other writers. thanks and enjoy!! oh yea. there's a pic of  Artemis over there.

I stepped into the small coffee shop, inhaling the delicious scent of coffee grounds, espresso, and sweetener. I love coffee. It’s like my own personal pacifier, or more like a safety blanket. I walked up to the counter and met the male barista’s smile. I grinned back and put in my order. A venti vanilla bean frappuccino with two shots of espresso, a scoop of the strawberry and crème powder, caramel drizzle and hazelnut creamer. I know it sounds like too much flavor in one cup, but it works together really well.

Orion stared at me like I had grown another head. I looked questioningly at him while he ordered the same thing, but with chocolate drizzle. His facial expression under control, he smiled at me. I sat while I waited for my order to be ready. I grabbed it from the window when it was, only to be stopped by the barista.

“Hey, Pleiades, would you be interested in getting dinner sometime?” he said.

I was shocked, “Do- do I know you?”

He laughed, “We go to school together. We’ve had the same honors classes for almost three years now. I’ve sat behind you all semester.” When I just stared, he said, “I’m Nicolai. You told me you liked my name the first time we met.”

I remembered all that, I was just shocked that he would talk to me. I usually try to keep a low profile at school. No relationships in the classroom. Pushing that aside, I was about to decline when an arm wrapped itself around my waist.

“You get everything ok Baby?” Orion. Orion had come to help me. I was struggling to keep my face from flushing at the endearment as I smiled up at him.

“Yea, thanks. Here’s yours, sweetie.” I said, handing him his drink that was so like mine. I looked back to Nicolai. “Sorry, Nicolai.” I smiled and turned away. We went to sit outside and I began to laugh, not caring if Nicolai saw or heard.

As my laughter subsided, I noticed that Orion had a half smile on, his mouth open like he was staring at something beautiful, like fireworks. I looked behind me to see if anyone had started 4th of July early, and when there was nothing close to exciting, I looked back. His face was composed when I looked at him. I shook my head.

“Thank you,” I said, “I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to say to let him down.” I looked down to his drink. “How did you know you’d like that?” I asked.

“I always get this.” My surprise was evident. “That’s why I was so shocked when you ordered it. I thought I was a freak for doing it. It’s a lot of flavors put together, but-“

“It works.” I finished.

He grinned at me, “Exactly.” Our gazes locked then, and the world stopped. I was sucked into the beautiful depths of his eyes where I felt like I could see forever. And the little fires were back, this time they were dancing instead of raging.

I heard him laughing and realized that I had said it out loud. My face must have grown the color of raspberry in the time span of two seconds. I hastily looked away; with great effort might I add. Looking for a topic to sputter out in my embarrassment, I looked at my phone and noticed the time. Oh shit.

“We need to go!” I said as I jumped up. I moved to the flower bed nearest us and dug out my thermos of water, of course it was all the way at the bottom of my duffle bag, and dumped it. Carefully I poured my coffee into the thermos, closed it and put it back. Turning, I saw Orion set his now empty container on the table and stand to stretch. My mouth dried when his shirt rode up over his abdomen to reveal his navel.