Chryce Beginnings

Chapter 5 - When You Notice

I woke up in the middle of the night. No, no nightmares. My eyes just opened.

Since I didn't have anything to do, I went to the bathroom. But my eyes were still wet over the crying. In the bathroom, I accidentally dropped a glass jar, and as I knelt down to pick them up, I felt a sharp pain in my palm. I had cut my hand on a piece, and the pain was awful.

I went to get a band-aid, and stuck it on the wounded area. I was going back to bed, when I decided to just have a look at my phone. I saw a message. From Chris.

Hello Bryce, it's Chris. It was nice meeting you, and I wished you and Mr. Howard could've stayed till the end. I just wanted to know if you're fine.

He had noticed.

I felt myself freeze. He was more of a gentleman than anyone thought he was. I smiled to myself, and replied back.

Chris, I am fine. I just didn't feel a little well, that's all. It was nice meeting you too.

I don't know what prompted me, but I added:

I would love it if we meet some other day as well.

I barely had time to process what my own fingers had typed when I saw bubbles on the screen. He was typing?! I felt excited, as if I were a school teenager talking to her crush.  

And then came his reply:

I have an idea. How about we go for coffee on Thursday morning?

OMG. Simply put, I didn't have an answer.

That would be great.

I put down my phone, thinking what had happened. 

He gave me the feeling of being a friend - when you notice that your friend's not well.

And in my case, I was far from okay.

--

At around 9, I woke up. I looked at my wound, which seemed to have improved already. 

Seth left, this time without any talk. It just felt miserable. Anyway, I had to see my friend Jessica Chastain at the restaurant at around 12 noon.

I reached the place at around 12, and saw Jess at the table. I greeted her with a hug.

Me and Jess have often being confused with each other, since we're like lookalikes. We had been good friends since ever we appeared in 2011's The Help.

"Hey Jess!" I greeted her, exclaiming with delight.

"Hi Bryce. So, everything's good?"

"Yeah, everything's good."

"Hey, I'm so sorry I forgot to congratulate you on getting the lead in Jurassic World. I can't wait to see it already!"

"Thanks Jess. Even I'm so excited. I can't wait as well."

"Yeah.." and then her eyes shifted to the band-aid on my hand.

"Hey, what happened there?" she asked, concerned.

"Oh, that.. I just got a cut from some glass at home. It's nothing really."

She was convinced. "Oh.. be careful. You can't cut your hand before JW."

We had a laugh over it. Soon, at around 2, we left. 

I was focused on just 2 things - being okay and get out of this misery, and the meeting I was gonna have with Chris, day after tomorrow.