Only With You

Le Petit Café

        “Welcome to ‘Le Petit Café’!” Emma exclaimed as soon as I got into the cozy coffee shop. Her arms were open and she slowly turned around with a smile, as if she was allowing me to a look around.
 
        So I watched around me surprised by how nice this coffee shop was inside. It had a really elegant but country style, with every single surface made of wood. The whole place seamed really cozy, quiet and peaceful. It really was a nice place to take a girl on a date so you can peacefully talk and have some privacy. So grandma was right.
 
        I smiled back at Emma and walked towards the counter, taking a sit in front of it as she made her way around it so she could take my order from behind the counter. I crossed my arms to give myself some warmness. “This place is really nice, I never got inside before.”
 
        Emma leaned against the counter, with her elbows plopped on it. “Why didn’t you?”
 
        I shrugged. “My grandma told me once that I shouldn’t come here until I take someone on a date, but I still haven’t found the right girl I guess.”
 
        Emma eyed me for a few seconds and that gave me time to think about I just said. Fuck, I just admitted I’m a lesbian.I'm so stupid! I should really watch what I say around people, especially someone I just met. What if she tells someone or she is homophobe?
 
        I looked back at Emma waited for a respond and she smiled smugly at me before saying in a teasing tone, “Oh so you are a girl lover?”
         
        Oh God, she is making fun of me. She must be homophobe. I couldn’t think about what else to say to her. All I could do was open and close my mouth several times and play with my fingers while praying to God to give me an idea about what I should say to her. She could practically ruin my life if she tells everyone in my school. We even go to the same school for fuck’s sake!
 
        Suddenly Emma busted down laughing like a maniac for a few minutes while all I could do was stare at her in curiosity, feeling my heart thumping in my ears. After she calmed down she wiped the little tears around her eyes and placed one of her hands over both of my slightly shaking hands before saying, “Calm down Izzy, you look like you just saw a dead body, you are white as a ghost,” she gave my hands a little pat, “I guess you weren’t planning to tell me that cause people doesn’t know.”
 
        I left out a little sigh to try to calm down. Thank God she is not making fun of me or anything. I shook my head while replying to her, “It wasn’t my plan to tell you. Just three people know about it. I’m surprised you look okay with it, I thought you were homophobic or something. That would be awful. I mean, you seem pretty friendly and all but-”
 
        Emma cut off my little rambling by laughing again and squeezing one of my hands to get my attention. It was then when I looked down at our hands, noticing just now how her soft touch felt so natural. I was always a touchy person, but Emma definitely was even touchier than I, or she felt very comfortable with me. It wasn’t like I was complaining, her touch was so gentle and her hands were soft like April’s.
 
        Before I could continue with my thoughts, Emma talked again to prevent me from keeping saying any other thing, “I can’t be homophobic when I’m bisexual,” she gave me a friendly smile and patted my hands again before she continued talking, “So don’t worry, your secret is safe with me as long as you keep mine safe with you.”
 
        I smiled back at her and let out a deep breath, in attempt to calm down. I really thought I messed up. Emma seems like a nice girl, but you can never know if someone is homophobic or not, and if she was, she could have ruined my life if she was mean enough to tell people around school. I guess lucky was on my side because not only she wasn’t homophobe but she was also into girls, which means I can have a chance with her.
 
        What am I even thinking? I just met this girl ten minutes ago! I scolded myself mentally. But deep down I knew we were kinda flirting before and she seems like a really nice girl, not to mention she is gorgeous. Just like April is. I shook my head mentally to clear my thoughts and I looked at Emma who had her back towards me as she turned on the coffee machines.
 
        “Of course, your secret is safe with me too. Gay people have to take care of each other,” I joked.
 
        She laughed lightly. “I guess you are right,” she turned around to look at me, “So who knows about you being gay?”
 
        “Only three people,” I used my fingers to count them with my hand, “Elias, who is my gay best friend, April who is my other best friend, and Abby, who is a good friend of mine, but only knows about it because she caught me making out with some chic in the janitor’s closet.”
 
        Emma laughed louder this time. “The janitor’s closet? God, that’s so cliché.”
 
        I chuckled and said jokingly at her, “Oh, then tell me sensei… Where else am I supposed to make out with a girl without being caught in school or without being cliché?”
 
        She smirked slightly and leaned against the counter like she did before. “I can’t tell you about my secret place because we just met, but maybe someday I will show you.” She gave me a little wink before turning back towards the coffee machine once again. Is she flirting with me? It certainly looks like she is.
 
        Emma talked to me over her shoulder, “So what are you going to drink?” she turned back around and looked at me while saying, “Or better yet, let me guess,” she stopped for a few seconds to think about it before continuing, “You are the kind of girl that drinks some weird new drink in the menu.”
 
        I had to smile at her supposition. She wasn’t even close to guess. “I must say you are hurting my feelings here Emma, I’m not that kind of girl. In fact I’m the kind of girl that loves to go to a coffee shop and actually get a coffee.”
 
        Emma smiled and made a fake surprised face. “Wow, people like you are at risk of extinction or something. Girls our age always ask for the same weird drinks here, never a coffee.”
 
        “So I guess you are not one of those girls, right?” I asked Emma while she was making our drinks.
 
        “Nope, I get crazy for a cappuccino. I simply love them,” she said without turning around.
 
        “Well, I guess that’s better than some weird drink in your scale. I never had a cappuccino before. I just always got a coffee or maybe a latte.”
 
        This time Emma turned around with a real surprised face. “You never got a cappuccino before?” she nearly screamed, completely shocked. I just shook my head no.
 
        She raised her eyebrows in an impressive manner. “Wow, I really need to teach you how to live Izzy. First the thing about the janitor’s closet and now this… You need my help.”
 
        I laughed and shook my head, playfully this time. “What can a junior teach me?”
 
        Emma gave me a little smirk. “You would be surprised.”
~~~~~~~
               
        So that’s how we spent our forty five minutes together with Emma. Just talking, joking around and occasionally flirting. We even exchanged numbers. I must say it surprised me how comfortable I felt around her, considering I met her for like less than an hour. But she was kind of a laid back girl and she made easy for me to take my head off of things.
               
        After her shift was over, and Emma made me try her cappuccino, –which was really good, but not as much as my favorite coffee- we got ready to leave the coffee shop just as her co-worker got into the cozy building. Emma greeted her and told her a lot of things about work that I didn’t understand at all, before we were able to leave, leaving the coffee shop now in charge of the other girl working there.
               
        As soon as we stepped out of the coffee shop the cold wind hit me hard and I wrapped my own arms around myself in attempt to keep some of my body heat. But that certainly wasn’t enough and Emma was very sweet by giving me her jacket so I wouldn’t freeze. Going out for a run kept my warm but now that I wasn’t moving I needed the jacket and I was really thankful Emma was there to give it to me.
               
        I gave Emma indications to my house as she drove, with the radio playing softly in the background. We talked all the way there, sharing laughs and jokes, which make the ride a lot shorter. I really enjoyed my time with Emma, so when we reached my house and Emma parked her car I was kind of sad about it.
               
        I looked at Emma on the driver’s seat and smiled friendly at her. “I had a really good time. You seem to be a really nice girl Emma, thank you for everything,” I looked down at myself and realized I still had the jacket on, “Especially for the jacket.”
               
        As I started to take off the jacket, Emma placed her hand on my arm and smiled at me. “Keep it for now. I don’t think your parents will be happy if you go in there with just your sport bra,” she joked.
                               
        I smiled. “You are right. I should keep it for now. But I will give it back to you as soon as I see you in school.”
               
        Emma smiled back at me and said, “Great, now I have an excuse to talk to you.”
               
        I laughed softly and opened the door, slowly going out. “You don’t need an excuse to talk to me. How about if we sit together at lunch and I buy you those really good sandwiches the cafeteria have? The only good thing in the menu. That way I can thank you for everything.”
               
        “That sounds great, I will text you my locker number so you can go find me there before lunch,” she looked down at her watch and back at me as I closed the door once I was fully out of the car, “Well, I better get going so I have some time to take a shower and you do too.”
               
        I nodded. “Bye Emma, see you at lunch.”
               
        Emma started the car and flashed me a little smile. “Bye Izzy. And don’t forget to wear a shirt next time.” She started driving down the street and I waved at her, still standing in the same place I was when I got out of the car. A smile placed on my lips as I thought about how I had such a good time with her. She is going to be a great friend.
               
        But I was pulled back to reality when I heard a voice behind me. “I thought lunch was our time together,” April’s sad voice said.
               
        I turned around straddled by her sudden appearance. I didn’t even see her there; much less hear her walking towards me. But there she was, a couple of feet away from me with a sad face that made me want to hug her immediately. I was way too proud to do that though, cause then I would have to forgive her and that wasn’t something I planned to do so soon after only three days of being mad at her.
               
        I crossed my arms over my chest and replied to her, “And I thought you would never ditch me to go to a party with your boyfriend. But things change, right April?” I know I was being really mean but needed to do this, I needed to take my anger out on her cause this was her fault. I was upset because of her.
               
        “Izzy please let me explain, I didn’t pla-” April started saying but stopped immediately and she looked down at the open jacket that revealed I was only wearing a sport bra under it. April shifted on her feet and the look on her eyes became hard -like she was mad- before asking, “Why are you in your sport bra, not wearing a shirt?” She eyed the jacket again, “That jacket it’s not even yours. Did that girl gave you the jacket? Who is she?”
               
        Why is she acting like this? I don’t have to explain a thing to her. I frowned and snapped at her, “That’s not of your business April, so leave me alone.”
 
        I started to walk past her but she grabbed my arm stopping me. “Don’t do anything stupid because you are mad at me Izzy. Please. You are not that kind of girl.” Wow, so she thinks I’m fucking Emma? I was pissed at her by now. She only talked to me like for a minute and she managed to make things even worse for her.
 
        “You think I’m stupid?” I didn’t even dare to look at her as I pulled my arm away from her grip and continued walking towards the door again, “Her name is Emma and she is my friend. I’m not doing anything stupid April,” I opened the door and looked back at her over my shoulder, “Just because I’m a lesbian doesn’t mean I fuck every girl that borrows me her jacket.”
 
        April shook her head when she realized what she just said and her eyes changed into a pleading look as she opened her mouth to talk, but I wasn’t going to hear any more of her shit. So I got into my house and before closing the door I told her, “Find someone else to spend lunch with, like our group of friends. Cause I’m having lunch with Emma today,” I changed my tone of voice into a bitchy one, “Don’t worry, it will be just lunch.” With that I closed the door behind me, leaving April standing alone in the porch.