By July

Chapter 4 - Coffee & Confessions

Song above to listen to while you read;)

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A bell on the cafe's door chimes as we walked in. It's cozy feel gave me chills of happiness as I scanned the interior.

Rustic-style tables were draped in creme silk cloths, which seemed to describe their bronze coffee.

Smooth and shiny deep coffee seemed to dance with milky soft tendrils as they fused together like gold; their contrast of light and dark meeting as one.

We sat down as I admired the building's vintage stonework, the burgundy bricks binding together and encasing this espresso utopia.

"Do you drink coffee?" He asked and examined the petals of an orchid flower in a turquoise vase sitting upon our glass table.

"Not particularly," I answered,"It kind of reminds me of the water in Africa. Murky, dirty, and distasteful."

His eyebrows shot up and he laughed, coughing on his own spit,"That is quite the opinion," he said with a sliver of humor in his periwinkle eyes.

I shrugged and smiled lightly,"It's the truth. But how about you? Are you a mocha maniac?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yes, considering it was the only thing that helped me survive boarding school," he said with a wry look.

"Boarding school...?" I said and he sighed.

"My parents shipped me off to Europe for my education, they were never fond of having kids. I spent my first three years in Prague starting at age seven, then four more years in France, in a small countryside area. I was educated in a Russian academy for half a year- not a very great situation- until my parents sent me me to Paris for a month while they decided what to do with me. And now I've been living here ever since," he finished.

He seemed full of secrets, journeys and events that he wanted to keep shut and in the past. It was as if his life was locked in a safe and pushed into a corner, with no key to open his story.

I snapped out of my thoughts,"Wow, impressive. But boarding school sounds harsh, didn't you want to stay home with your family?" I asked and pushed my hair out of my face. The weather was making it unruly as usual, making my patience for it get slimmer and slimmer by the second.

He looked past me with a distant look in his eyes, one of regret and disturbance. Muttering he said,"In my house it's a pleasure to leave. My parents are so consumed with themselves I'm barely ever noticed. Especially being the youngest one, and the black sheep of us."

The waiter came and took our orders,"What can I get you two today?" She asked and took out a small notebook with a fountain pen.

I looked at him and he nodded,"Two slices of cherry pie and two black coffees." He said and she jotted it down.

"Okay, it'll take only a few moments." She said smiling and walked back to the cafe's counter.

I waited until she was a couple paces away to turn to him and say,"Two coffees?"

He shrugged with a small smirk,"You can't knock it until you try it."

I shook my head smiling,"Well we will have to see about that,"

The waiter brought our order over and stood for a moment smiling at us," Can I just say that you two are the cutest couple I've ever seen," she gushed and he and I both looked at each other, our faces as red as a cherry pie filling present on our plates.

"Uh oh, no, we- no- we aren't - a couple," we both stuttered at the exact same time.

She smiled," Oh haha I'm sorry, it just seemed like it," she winked at us and walked away.

Well great now it was awkward, and as I looked at him, it seemed as if we were back to square one. He was a closed book once again.

I shoveled a piece of pie in my mouth and watched as he carefully held his fork, cutting into the flaky crust and scooping up the ruby red filling, putting it in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

He looked at me with a serious face,"I'm glad you fell off of your bike," he stated and I looked at him with disbelief.

"I beg your pardon?" I said and he smiled, laughing softly at me.

"I'm glad you fell off of your bike... Because if you hadn't I would never of tried this delicious pie," he remarked and smiled, his eyes crinkling with joy.

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5 comments for the next chapter! ;)

The illustration is a real rough sketch of the cafe in this chapter, "Cafe Fresa" means coffee mill in Spanish... A little info about my inspo ;)

Let me know what you think of my story!!! Xoxo ;)