Yours Truly

7. Small Talk

The next day, Sera felt nervous for the entirety of her morning class. The girl couldn't sit still for more than one minute before remembering who she's meeting after and butterflies erupt in her stomach on cue. She wore a yellow sundress that contrasted nicely with her skin tone, did a half up/half down with her curly hair in order to tame it down, and finally listened to Wes by putting on the blush that made her glow.

She fidgeted with the pen in her hand and counted the minutes until her class ended. Once the professor announced that they were dismissed, Sera couldn't have packed her things faster.

As she calmed down her breathing and forced herself to slow down, she felt her phone vibrate in her hand.

Wessy: are you hungry?

She wanted to curse her best friend for giving her a heart attack like that, she thought it was forest man texting her.

She was midway through replying to Wes when her phone vibrated again, she looked up the screen at the new text message.

Unknown number: I'm here.

Sera felt like the smile was about to rip her face apart, she held back a squeal as she hurried outside.

Forest man was leaning on the side of his car so she could know that it was him since she didn't know what car he had, he had his hands crossed and sunglasses adorned his handsome face as he looked to the side. The dark grey dress pants fit him so well and they matched perfectly with the color of his dress shirt, which was a mix of grey and light blue.

Sera immediately lit up upon seeing him and jogged towards him excitedly, not able to hold herself back anymore.

Rowan sensed her and looked at her just as she made it to where he was standing, almost tripping in the process.

"Careful." He warned just as his hand reached out to catch her, but Sera was able to save herself on her own before he even touched her.

"Hi." She greeted sheepishly, still out of breath.

"Hi." Rowan greeted back, "Are you okay?" He asked right after, his face still void of any emotion.

"Yeah, sorry." She smiled at him.

Rowan opened the passenger side door for her and she thanked him as she got in. His car was definitely fancy, the interior extremely clean and nice, it suited him somehow. He got in after her and put on his seat belt, reminding Sera to also do the same.

The ride was silent at first, and Sera didn't know how to break it without being so obvious.

At last, she settled on, "Thank you for picking me up, were you near or did you have to go out of your way?" She angled herself toward him in her seat.

His side profile was sharp, looking extremely handsome with one hand on the steering wheel and the other casually laid on his thigh.

Dreamy sigh

"I was near, don't worry about it." He said casually.

"I have a habit of rating my days in my head every time something new happens throughout it," She blurted randomly, Rowan didn't stop her so she went on. "Today was 7 out of 10 in the morning cause I was woken up by yelling in the hallway, turns out it was just my neighbors fighting like usual so I didn't allow it to ruin my day, I had pancakes for breakfast with Marvin and they were so good!" Sera was going full on, trying to create a safe atmosphere so he could then share about his day as well. She hoped she wasn't annoying him.

She was about to go on when, "Who's Marvin?"

"Huh?" Sera didn't hear him well.

"Who's Marvin?" Forest man repeated louder this time, his gaze still on the road.

"Oh, my friend." She answered simply, confusion written on her face.

But that at least shows he was listening, so bonus points.

"But anyway, the pancakes added another two points so my day has been a 9 out of 10 so far." She giggled.

And I saw you so that adds another point.

She wasn't brave enough to say that yet. Besides, she didn't want to freak him out, they've known each other for less than a week.

"What about your day?" She finally got to what she's been wanting to get to.

"Six." He said nonchalantly.

He didn't seem like he was about to elaborate and Sera felt too shy to ask him why, maybe he didn't want to share personal details about his day.

She went silent for another minute, trying to think about what to say next.

"What's your favorite color?" She had a habit of asking every single person she meets about their favorite color, it was a good question to kick off the friendship.

Forest man was silent for a while before answering, "Green."

"I love green!" Sera gasped, "Mine is pink but I also love yellow." She said.

"I like blue as well." She added after a minute of thinking.

"And purple." She was lost in thought about her favorite colors when she heard his voice again.

"It's not a favorite if you like all of them." His voice was raspy and deep, reminding her of his imaginary ASMR channel that she made him create in her mind. His voice and size which ate up the space of the car didn't match the conversation they were having at all.

"That's true, but it keeps changing all the time, I just can't settle on one." She laughed.

"What's your favorite now?" He asked, surprising her that he cared.

"Yellow." She answered, then she blurted the next thing that came to her mind without thinking.

"You should create an ASMR channel."

Forest man gave her a quick glance for the first time since they got in the car, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking since his eyes were still covered by the sunglasses.

"ASMR?" He asked.

"You know, the videos that help you fall asleep faster?" She explained, astonished that he doesn't know what ASMR is, "There's whispering, soft speaking, and like a million other triggers. It's supposed to help you relax."

He hummed back in response as he parked the car near the Stay Driven building. Sera's eyes were glued to him while he moved the steering wheel in his hands expertly and with ease.

"I'll check it out tonight then." He told her.