you're beautiful here

t h r e e

Chapter 3

Felix found himself very invested in Alice's daily visits. He was spending extra time getting ready in the morning. He had only a few inches of light brown wavy hair on top of his head and very little on the sides, yet he was spending his mornings making sure it laid in the perfect spot and looked just messy enough to act like he didn't care. He was setting out his clothes at night so that his jeans wouldn't have wrinkles in them. He was brushing his teeth for double as long as he normally would. He even invested in some floss.

When he would go downstairs to Mugz, he would make sure to put on the cleanest Mugz sweater he had. He started sweeping more. Especially around the time she would be in, if only to be out in the lobby with her instead of having to talk over the counter.

Alice was the same as always. She was very good at not showing an effect that his words had on her if she didn't want to. Any time she would say something suggestive or bold, Felix would find himself blushing or stuttering, but on the rare occasion that Felix would try to be as bold, she would just grin and laugh. It took him a while to ensure that she was laughing with him and not at his lousy attempts at banter.

Not every conversation they shared was lighthearted, though. Both Felix and Alice had a whole life behind them. Something they wanted to keep as well as something they wanted to be rid of forever.

One night in an empty Mugz, Alice told Felix of her past. She grew up in New York in a sheltered home, forced to be a musical prodigy. She used to live instruments and music, but her parents pushed her too far and kept her on a strict schedule to obey. Her only solace from their iron grip was her love of art, as well as her grandmother. Her grandmother believed in her when no one else did.

Alice eventually got into Julliard thanks to her parents, but it wasn't what she wanted. When her grandmother grew ill in the midst of her sophomore year, she immediately left to be with her. She spent two weeks in the hospital with her until she died. In her will, though, she'd left Alice a hefty chunk of change to move and "make your art walk where you cannot." Alice shortly left and came to Seattle and has worked at Sea of Ink for the past year.

Felix felt bad that night for not telling her about his background, but he just couldn't. He wasn't quite ready to be met with this past that had been burning him for the past five years. He had far too much to handle for a 21-year-old, and he didn't want Alice to see him as as broken as he was.

"So, when am I going to be able to read more of your stuff?" She asked this a few weeks after the first day she had come in. It was her daily morning visit before she went in to work. "I'm just dying for it."

Felix wasn't sure of what to do. Alice had shown him multiple pieces from her sketchbook. She had drawn a beautiful Mugz logo, as well as her perspective of Mugz from the window of her shop. He wanted to say it was because she was thinking of him, but his mind would only allow him to think that she had just run out of things to draw on the slow days.

She took his thoughtfulness as hesitation. "Oh, come on, I'm not going to judge it. I've shown you so many pieces." She was right. "I won't even make you cry if it's bad," she added with a laugh. He could listen to her laugh all day.

He breathed heavily through his nose. He nodded hesitantly, getting up.

"Yes!" He would give her everything he's ever written if only to see her smile.

He made his way to the back room behind the counter. The only employee today was his sister and business hadn't been doing well, so she was lounging near the door he walked through.