the girl on the bench

Chapter 9

I decide to drive to the bench this morning, it's Friday and I've got the night off so I thought I should treat myself and lay off my damaged knee. I hear footsteps and turn to see G rugged up in a lilac hoodie with its hood up and matching tracksuit pants. She's holding two takeaway cups. "I got you this... I think you might need it" she says handing me one of the coffees cups and looking at me then at my knee which still sports the Bandaid she gave me yesterday. "Thank you" I say smiling at her as I take it from her fingerless gloved hands. I notice the cup I have has 'G Flip' written on the sleeve with a heart drawn next to it. She sees me noticing the cup and laughs awkwardly. "I went to 'Chain of Hearts' café and the barista knew who I was. She started gushing about how she loves my music" she says shrugging. "That's Callie" I say nodding. G looks at me seeming like she's wondering how I know the barista's name. "She's nice but, ah, she can be flirty". "Huh" she says understanding. I take a sip of the drink she handed me. Delicious.

After a beat, I confess to her "I stalked you". "Oh yeah?" She says. She raises her eyebrows and smiles into her cup. "Only on Spotify" I say hoping that she didn't think I stalked her on all social media platforms. The thought did cross my mind but I don't know if I should even go there yet. I continue, "you helped me clean my room" I continue. "Was I a good help?" She asks smiling at me. "Oh without a doubt!" I say sarcastically. We sit in silence for a beat "You're incredible" I say and she raises her eyebrows "You're music, it's incredible and you're voice..." I trail off. She laughs and says "Thank you". "I feel like you have the right to brag though" I say knowing I'm talking too much now but I can't stop myself. "And the lyrics..." I trail off noticing that she seems less interested. "Sorry, I'm talking too much" I say admitting defeat. She doesn't say anything in response and I feel like I've overstepped the mark. I can't help myself saying "When you were at my bar, you said something about not being able to handle a drink anymore. Was that because of 'Drink Too Much'?" I ask her. She smiles awkwardly and nods. "Yeah, I used to get black out drunk back in the day. The club 'Revolver' saw a lot of me and my ex just couldn't handle being with me like that" she says looking out at the ocean. "And Steph Claire Smith... Have you still got a crush?" I ask referring to the first lyrics of the song 'I got a crush on Steph Claire Smith, oh, but she's never like no fool like me'. She laughs. "She's actually a cool chick and I slid into her DM's when I was shooting the music video" she says.

After a beat she looks at me, "Are you working tonight?" She asks changing the subject. "Nope, I've got the night off" I say throwing my free hand in the air in an excited fashion. She smiles. "Can I... Can I, uh... Do you want to go see a movie?... With me? Or something" she asks nervously not making eye contact with me. I giggle at her nerves. I used to be the one nervous around her so this is a weird turn. "Yeah!" I say smiling, "What do you have in mind?" I ask turning my head towards her. She's red in the face but she relaxes at my agreeing words which makes me blush. She's so awkward with me and still I find her so incredibly hard to read. I'm slowly coming to the realisation that it might just be me overthinking the situation because I don't want to mess whatever this is up. I do really want to get to know her better and I do like her. "Well I kind of wanted to check out the outdoor cinema at St Kilda beach. They're showing Jaws tonight" she looks at me searching for a response. I smile. "I'd love to" I say reassuring her. She smiles back widely. "I'll pick you up?" I ask her. She looks at me shocked. "Excuse me, miss! I'm taking you on the date so I'm picking you up!" She says incredulously. I smile. "Unlock your phone and pass it to me" I say to her holding my hand out towards her. "Now who's being bossy!" she says. "Do you want me to give you my number or not?" I ask her. She raises her eyebrows but does as instructed. I put my number and address in her phone and text myself a heart emoji so I can get her number too. When I look up from her phone, I notice her eyes are drawn to my lips. I smile and she immediately smiles back.