When I Met Him In The Summer

Twenty

I'm miserable all morning at work, because the hours have never crawled by so slowly. As if that's not enough, it's a slow day at the cafe, so I cannot keep myself occupied and my mind off things, and it seems like every time I turn on my phone and look at the time, just a minute has gone by.

By my lunch break, I've broken a dog bowl, snapped at a customer and messed up three orders.

"Danny, are you okay? Look, if you need to go home, I can manage things here until you're in the right state of mind to work again," Kyra says as we sit down at one of the tables and she unwraps her burrito, and I smile and shake my head.

I've noticed her all morning, hovering patiently over me, and not once raising her voice or screaming when I make a mistake, but waiting to see if I want to talk about it. Even now, she's not trying to force it out of me.

My heart warms at how concerned she is, but I'm sure she won't be for too long when she finds out the real reason I'm screwing us over.

"It's nothing Ky,"

"Don't call me that unless you have a death wish," she snaps, cutting me off, and I see the mean, black lipstick girl for a second as she pushes her dessert in my direction.

"Sorry. It's just, I have a date later today, and I'm super excited, and also nervous," I whine between mouthfuls of blueberry muffin.

She bites back a laugh, and blinks her eyes at me. "Yeah, real first world stuff. I totally understand why you've been so...thrown off."

I stick my tongue out at her, throw my head back over the edge of the seat and let out a long, frustrated groan.

"And you're stressed about it why, exactly?" she asks, and I tip my chair back.

"I'm not stressed. I'm excited. Too exited I'm not thinking straight, but the damn clock is being mercilessly slow today."

I say, and the timer for our thirty minute break finally goes off. Kyra stands up and walks to the door, pausing to look at me with her hand on the sign. There's quite a number of customers outside, and I know her question before she asks me.

"No seriously. If you can't work today, I can cover for you," she says again, and I wave my hand at her. I finish my slushy and shoot her a thumbs up. She flips the sign and opens the door as I fasten my apron and ready myself with my pen and notepad.

It's still at the back of my mind, but not once in the four hours after lunch do I think of my date, and finally the clock stops crawling. At exactly ten minutes to four, a car pulls up in front of the cafe, and then I get a text from Sora saying he's outside.

I text him back Be right there, and hug my phone to my chest.

"That's my ride," I say to Kyra as I pull my apron over my head and then go to the bathroom to freshen up a bit.

"Don't let him fuck you after the first date!" Kyra screams as I walk out the door, and I glare at her over my shoulder as Sora gets out of the car, walks over to where I'm standing, hugs me for a long minute, and then opens my door for me.

I have to count to three in my mind to stop myself from screaming right there. Who have I become? Who the hell have I become?

"Where are we going?" I ask, as I strap the seatbelt across my chest.

"It's a surprise," he replies as he gets in and closes the door, and my eyes widen.

Oh god. I hope he doesn't try to impress me and take me somewhere fancy...I'm way too underdressed for that.

He doesn't take me to a fancy restaurant. He takes me to this beach lined with a bunch of food trucks, and I can barely contain myself. If this is a test to see whether I'm one of those pretty eaters, he's in for a surprise. I have not had a real meal since mum left, and I'm an absolute foodie. Thank the Fates for my metabolism, because I don't have an inch of fat on my body.

We walk past a few as we try to decide what to get, and my stomach rumbles softly at the aromas wafting through the open windows. We settle on this barbeque wings and burger truck, and he orders everything with a side of fries as I get the drinks. He tells me about life in New York as we eat, and then takes me to this one truck where you make your own donuts.

We play in the water after dessert until it starts to get dark, and just when I think this day cannot get any better, he gives me a piggyback ride back to his car, for the last activity of the night. I have work tomorrow, but I could not care less.

I know my eyes are wide when he pulls up to this outdoor cinema that is supposed to be highly exclusive and when I ask him, he kisses me on the forehead and tells me he knows a guy, and I cannot argue with that.

We get out of the car, a bag of snacks in his one hand, while he holds my hand with the other. We find a spot and I spread the blanket over the grass, spread the snacks between us and sit down.

"Oh come on. I'm not going to kidnap you, stranger. Come over here," he says, and taps the space between his legs.

He does not have to ask twice before I'm already getting comfortable between his thighs, and since he's taller than me, my head rests on his chest. I can feel his heartbeat, and I close my eyes as he rests his chin on my hair and wraps his arms around me.

If you ask me what movie we watched, I would not be able to tell you. I'm too busy smiling the entire time, and he makes it worse when he starts tracing little hearts with his fingers over my chest.

He's watching the movie, and I'm watching his arms, and his legs, and enjoying how safe and protected I feel with him around me.

"I had the best day today," I tell him when the movie ends, as we pack everything up.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I almost don't want to take you home," he says, pinning me between the car and his body, and I stand on the tips of my toes and lower his head to meet mine.

He just brushes his lips against mine, and then pulls away.

"I think we should wait, okay? When it's the right time, it will happen," he tells me, and instead of rejection, I feel reassured. He does not want to rush things. I nod, and smile at him.

"Thank you. Now, let's get you home before I get my ass arrested," he says, and plants another kiss on my cheek.