Chapter 3
A frown settled on my face while I waited for the welcomed comforting words of my sister.
And I waited.
Finally I looked up and saw her lost in her own world of thoughts.
"Annie," I raised my hand to throw another cushion just as she broke out of her haze.
"Yeah right, uh, sorry.
I just, yeah.
What were you saying?" she stammered through her sentence.
I frowned, "My friends, Annie, and my life!
Didn't I have any in those four years?
I mean," I threw my hands up in the air to show my frustration, "four years, Annie!
Four!
That's a long time."
Annie shifted closer and opened her arms for me.
I gladly obeyed and cuddled into her small frame as she lovingly stroked my hair, "Josie, I don't know what happened to you during those four years.
Neither did our parents.
You were..." she searched for the correct word and then spoke again, "You were a bit distant in that time.
You had that just-in-her-twenties-gonna-take-up-on-the-world phase, ya know.
You kept your distance to discover yourself and we obliged to your wishes."
I looked up from my protective cocoon to gaze at my sister and sighed.
"So I guess I'll never really know what happened to me, will I?"
Annie smiled sadly and stared down at me, "Maybe in the future you might, who knows."
I sniffled, but then sat back up straight, seeing no point in continuing to mop around.
"Anyways, you wouldn't guess what.
The weirdest thing happened to me a few days ago!
I saw this absolutely beautiful man in the cafe and he was..."
I continued on with my story and Annie listened, but that smile never left her face.
*-----------*
Entering the cafe, I inhaled the smell of chocolate.
However, this time around, it didn't manage to make me instantly smile.
The pouring and dreary weather outside had done a stellar job to ruin my morning.
Grumbling as I was soaked to the bone, I stepped towards the counter; towards the one thing that held the power to turn my day around – hot chocolate.
"Hey, there," smiled Demi.
She sneaked a glance behind me and, outside the glass window.
"The weather got you?"
I sighed and made a sad face in response.
She patted my hand and reached over the till to give me a quick hug.
"Ugh, Josie, you're wet!
Get away from me!"
I pouted and she laughed.
"Oh I was just trying to lighten the mood, hon. I'll just give you your cocoa then."
Smiling gratefully, I reached into my back pocket to search for my purse, but came up short.
Worry overcame me as I feared I might have been pick-pocketed, but then remembered that I had left the stupid thing on the kitchen counter.
Oh, blast my stars!
Of all the lovely days I could've forgotten my purse, it had to be today!
Noticing my distressed face, Demi stopped working and stared at me worriedly.
"What's wrong?"
"I have seemed to forgotten my purse at home and now I have no money to pay for my drink," I announced grimly.
"Uh oh," Demi murmured while frowning and glancing back at the manager's room.
"I'm sorry, hon, but I would've given it to you on the house.
Sadly though, the beastly boss has got me on a leash nowadays.
I'm sure he'll fire me this time around.
But even I think that I've gone round and have had my way more times than I probably should've."
I breathed in deeply, sighed loudly, and then finally smiled sadly.
No cocoa for me today then.
Ah, such a wonderful start to such a gloomy day.
Just as I was about to turn around and head back home, a hand slammed down on the counter and startled both me and Demi.
"I'll pay for the lady's drink," said a melodious voice from beside me.
I looked up to catch the same pair of blue eyes that I had stared into some days ago.
My breath caught in my throat.
Gosh, they are even more tantalising upclose!
The blue-eyed guy cleared his throat and made me realise that I had been staring at him shamelessly.
I looked away at once, crimson with embarrassment.
Finally after what seemed like a decade, my senses came back to me.
"No, no it's alright, please don't pay.
I don't want the drink that badly."
"But you do need it that badly," he retorted with the addition of a shy smirk - like he was smirking due to first-hand nature but wasn't sure whether he should or shouldn't.
I smiled thankfully but, refused to let go of my manners, "No, really, you don't have to."
"I know," his eyes captured mine once again, "but I want to."
This time it was Demi who coughed and broke our trance.
"So..." she tapped her pen on the notepad to emphasize that she was waiting for the order.
"Right, I'll take a black tea and..." he looked at me once again and smiled shyly.
"One cup of hot chocolate with frosted cream and cinnamon for the lady, please."
The smile fell from my face and got replaced with a shocked look.
"H...how do you know how I take my cocoa?" I asked, completely baffled.
He looked a little taken aback before he quickly regained his composure and offered, "Isn't that how all the cool people take it nowadays?"
"I don't know, ask the cool people." I retorted, causing him to laugh a bit.
"But seriously though," I inquired again, "I've been told qutie regularly that my choice in cocoa is very unusual.
So, how did you guess?"
He scratched the back of his neck before his gaze met mine once more.
"A very special and beautiful girl I used to know liked her hot chocolate this way.
So, I thought you'd like it too."
Red instantly crept up my neck and tainted my cheeks, effectively burning up my whole face.
Considering the fact the gorgeous blue-eyed guy had just indirectly called me beautiful, I decided to drop the topic.
It didn't matter how this stranger knew my exact choice in drink.
All that mattered was that he was buying it for me while I had no money of my own to do so myself.
Right?
Smirking at my flushed face, he took out his wallet and paid for our drinks before handing me mine.
A quick nod of acknowledgment later, he hurried out the door.
It took me about two seconds to break out of the sudden haze which he had infused in the air around me and a further four to notice the black wallet lying on the floor – his wallet to be exact.
I picked it up and ran out the cafe door, hot on his trail.
Outside the cafe, I frantically looked around until my eyes spotted a mop of brown hair walking down the road a few feet ahead of me.
"Hey!" I called out loudly as I tried to catch up with him.
"Hey, you!
Listen!"
He turned around and caught my eye before his gaze travelled downwards to the wallet.
I continued, "Hey!
You dropped your wallet in..." My words died in my mouth as I glanced down upon a picture tucked in the wallet.
A picture of me and the blue-eyed stranger to be exact – one in which he's kissing my cheek as I lovingly gaze at the camera.
Shocked to my core, and frankly terrified as well, I looked up and found him staring intently at me.
"Josie," he breathed cautiously, "I can explain."___________________________________________
Lyrics of song"Somewhere only we know"byKeane
I walked across an empty landI knew the pathway like the back of my handI felt the earth beneath my feetSat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely onSo tell me when you're gonna let me inI'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
I came across a fallen treeI felt the branches of it looking at meIs this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely onSo tell me when you're gonna let me inI'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we goTalk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everythingSo why don't we goSomewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely onSo tell me when you're gonna let me inI'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we goTalk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everythingSo why don't we go?
So why don't we go?
Ah-ah-ahAh-ah-ah
This could be the end of everythingSo why don't we goSomewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?