“Aw, lovely, what did you study?” She asks. Daisy and Cat have gone off into the corner of the room, laughing at something on Cat’s phone.
“Creative Writing, I had this dream where I was going to become a writer but… it didn’t work out,” I tell her, which results in her scrunching up her face.
“You don’t need a degree to write books, just a passion. Same with most things. I’ve done all this without a degree,” she says as she scoops up strawberry boba into the cup. She places a paper straw inside and hands it to me with a smile. I begin to take a drink. It’s sweet and fruity and reminds me of home. I needed this.
“I do recognise you, though, would I know your Mum or Dad?” She asks, and I feel my heart drop. I nearly choke on a boba ball. Just a mention of her, and I hear the crack of her skull on the pavement.
“Both my parents have passed now. Dad passed away when I was a few months old, but did you know an Isabelle Wright?” I tell her with a straight face, trying not to give away how much pain I’m in just saying her name.
“Oh,” she says, the colour drains from her face. “I’m sorry for your loss.” I’ve never understood why people apologise for people’s deaths like this. It’s not like she killed her?
“Oh, it’s okay. Thank you, though.”
“It was just awful what happened. I can’t believe you had to see that at such a young age,” she says, shaking her head.
“Were you there that day?” I ask, for reasons I’m not sure.
“No, I was out of town, but I heard about it in the paper. Such an awful thing to happen in such a quaint little town,” She says as she fidgets with her wedding ring.
“People seem to think it was the Bronze family. Do you know anything about them?” I ask, pressing her further.
“Just that they’re a pain in the ass for small business’ like ours,” Daisy chimes in as she walks up beside Charlotte. She sighs, “I’m afraid they’re gonna target us next sometimes. But they haven’t done anything for a while now.”
“That’s good,” I say, attempting a small smile. “Well, thank you for the boba,” I say, ending the conversation there. I start to head for the bookstore.
I seethe sign for the ‘Rainbow Bookshop’, which sits at the beginning of the main strip of town. A bell chimes as I open the door, and I’m hit with the smell of Coffee and Paper. Coffee sounds great right now, honestly. I never used to drink coffee until I started going to university full-time. Kai hates it; he’s more of an energy drink person. I’m both a coffee lover and an energy drink lover, so my heart definitely hates me.
While I browse books that consist of lives I wish I could live, a tall boy with chocolate hair makes his way over to me. A mix of wood scented aftershave and Mocha Coffee fills my nose. He says something, but I’m too busy being in awe that I need him to repeat himself.
“What, sorry?”
“Do you need a hand with anything, sir?”
Sir? What am I, forty? I look at his face, then realise something.
It’s the boy from the train station.
I look at him again, andoh my god. He is gorgeous. I haven’t looked at another person that way for a long time after the... incident. I want him to keep talking so I can hear that calming voice of his. Wait shit, he asked me a question.
“Yes I need help.”
Nice.
My voice sounds like a mouse. I feel my cheeks heat up the more I stand here in front of him.
“Wait, are you the boy from the Train Station?” He asks, while my knees threaten to give in.
Oh my god, he remembers me!
“Yeah, that’s me. Thanks for checking on me, it’s not every day that people do that for strangers,” I say, while my heart threatens to explode.
“No problem, Noah,” he says, the way my name sounds coming from him is satisfying, like opening a fresh book for the first time. He starts fixing his hair and the corners of his mouth slowly move up. I now realise I’m just staring at the poor boy.
“What?” He laughs. The laugh reaches his eyes, they remind me of the ocean.
“Sorry, I just can’t believe we ran into each other! It must be fate or something,” I claim. My wide smile hurts my cheeks.
Things like this never happen to me! I get a second chance with this boy. I need to use it.
