Like Catching Lightning

Chapter 4

"hi."

my head snapped up from my phone at the sound of the voice. i was still sitting in the starbucks, scrolling through instagram fan accounts and occasionally finding video edits of people shipping me and ej, to which i simply pressed those three little dots and said 'not interested'. ugh that man. my eyes were met with the eyes of a very shy looking ricky bowen. it may have been years since i have seen him, but i still know every single one of his nervous habits.

"hi." i greeted him with a timid smile as ricky took a seat across from me. my felt my heart accelerate as he gave me a grin, placing his hand in front of him.

"i don't believe we have formally met." he smirked. "my name is richard bowen, but you can call me ricky."

i let out a laugh. i knew that ya dummy. "nice to meet you richard." i joked, making him cringe slightly. i always enjoyed using his full name to annoy him, thank goodness i can do it again. "and i'm hazel. hazel anderson." i placed my small hand in his large one, shaking it.

i couldn't help the small lump that grew in my throat by touching his hand again. it may sound weird, but it had some sort of intimacy to just feeling his skin again, feeling his warmth and it's familiarity to it. it was hard to imagine this was the boy i used to call my best friend. the boy i could hug without fear and held hands with no matter where i went. the boy that would always protect me when i was scared, and the boy that i would patch up after he came back from the skate park, kissing each of his band aids. the boy i left.

"it's an honor to meet you hazel anderson." he chuckled as his hand with-drawled from mine. i couldn't help but miss his touch. "sorry i made you wait here for me, you really didn't have to. especially if you had other stuff going on today, and i kept you from that stuff. that would be terrible if i did that to you, i-"

"it's all good, ricky." i said with a laugh. gosh it felt good saying his name again. i was fully aware ricky liked to ramble when he was nervous, but dang. he was nervous on a different level. i wonder why.  "i didn't have anything going on today. besides, i wanted to wait."

he gave me a hopeful smile, subconsciously scooting closer to me. "oh, and by the way, that dude over there is big red. he is my co-worker/best friend." he pointed towards the redheaded barista, who was watching us. big red gave me a toothy grin and waved enthusiastically. so he must have been ricky's best friend replacement for me. i already liked the man.

"so his real name is big red?" i asked curiously.

ricky hesitated for a second, eyeing the little ginger man with his head titled to the side. "uhhhhh, i don't know actually." i laughed loudly, making a large grin go across ricky's face. he leaned his elbow against the arm of the the chair, leaning his cheek against his hand. "so i don't think i've ever seen you around before. are you from here?"

"no, actually." i replied. okay, it's make up a backstory on the spot time! "i'm from california, but my parents are leaving for, like, a mission trip, so they sent me down here to live with my aunts. i actually just flew in today, and came to this starbucks."  not gonna lie, i'd watch that movie.

ricky nodded, his full attention on me, which was something rare for a boy to do. focus full attention on one thing. kind admirable.

"gotcha," he said, his eyes gleaming with interest. "how are you liking salt lake so far?"

i bit my lip as i smiled. "i'm liking it very much." hehe smooth nina. "how about you? how long have you lived around here?" obviously, i knew the answer to this question. 13 years tomorrow.

"13 years tomorrow." ricky remarked with a whistle at the end. "it's hard to believe i've been here for so long, but also not that hard. this place will always be my home."