First post of the year! Hope you enjoy it!
It had been a 5 in the morning day, again. Sure becoming an engineer had sounded pretty cool, when I was in middle school. Now that I was in my third year of college at one of the worlds most renown university for turning out amazing engineers, becoming one lost its appeal. I might have gotten in on a giant scholarship, but really, the only motivation that kept me going and not dropping out or taking a new major was simply, I was in too deep to back out now. No, I didn’t have friends that kept me in college. No, I didn’t go to parties every weekend. No, I, for the most part, drifted out of any social life I might have had before when I launched myself into my dream of being a world class engineer.
The only human interaction for me was talking to my professors and ordering coffee from the barista as Starbucks. A Vanilla Bean latte along with a large chocolate chip cookie, my usual.
I had gone to Starbucks, expecting it to be a normal weekend, study, eat, sleep, repeat.
A three day weekend to relax, or in my case, work until my fingers were numb and my brain went dead. I ordered my usual and just sat down at the window table, within a few minutes I had my laptop set up and my papers in a neat stack to my left, not like they’d stay that way for long.
I guess I was so into drafting my blueprint for the miniature model homes we were suppose to be building I didn’t notice when a group of at least seven young adults not much older than myself walked in, ordered, and sat just a couple table in front of me.
I must’ve looked like crap because one of them, a young man, kept looking back at me from his spot. I wouldn’t really have cared much about what any of them thought of me, except the guy was really adorable, I know, shallow, but when you haven’t socialized with the majority of the human race you get a bit flustered when one of them gives you attention of some type. I thought that they would leave soon so I could get back to focusing on my work and not have to glance up every minute or so to see if he was staring at me, he was, and they didn’t budge. By now the group had already ordered a ton of drinks, it seemed as if their plan was to try each one, they had to have been here for hours but still they showed no sign of leaving and the young man kept peering over his shoulder at me. As the time ticked on and the clock struck twelve, midday, and the group still hadn’t left. I could have sworn they had been here for two and a half hours now.
About half an hour later I finally peeked up from my work and ever growing pile of paper to see then huddled over the table whispering to each other, every once in a while the one who had glanced back would playfully hit one of the others with the back of his hand. I didn’t realize I was staring at them until the boy sitting across from the cutie pie nudged him and nodded his head in my general direction causing him to turn around towards me.
Blushing, I ducked under my laptop to try to get back on track, I was almost successful too but the light scratching sound of a chair being pulled out on the other side of my table made me popped back up from behind my laptop to see the cutie pie kinda sitting awkwardly across from me. With a small squeak I nearly dumped my coffee all over the blueprints I was working on. Luckily he reached out and righted the cup before any real harm could be done.
“So…” He began awkwardly, I noticed his British accent right away and it was simply adorable.
I could feel my cheeks starting to turn red and burn up. No, not now. I thought to myself.
“Yeah?” I asked, hoping it didn’t come off too bluntly.
With a small smile he continued. “I saw you sitting over here all alone and thought you might need someone to keep you company.”
Returning the smile, I let myself take in his features a bit more. “Company might be something I need, it’s been awhile since I’ve had any.”
“Oh really? You do seem charming.”
As we spoke I learnt that his name was Thomas and that he was an actor, the people he had come in with where some of his peers for a movie they were filming. I soon shot a glance over at the table behind us where the others had been only to find it empty.
“I think your mates abandoned you.” I chuckled.
Turning around, Thomas looked over at the table before chuckling himself. “Ah, they happen to have a habit of doing that.” Facing me he spoke again. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could get a ride back to The Plaza do you?”
Thinking for a moment I furrowed my eyebrows before answering. “Well, you could take a taxi.” I suggested before seeing a slight change in his expression. “Or, I could drive you there myself.”
“Really? You’d do that for me?”
“Sure. Why not? If you turn out to be a mass murderer it’s not like college isn’t doing that to me anyways.”
“I’m sure you’ll find your way through it.” He grinned, standing up.
“My cars around back, I think they made me a special little parking spot.”
Bending over to pick up my laptop I piled the papers together and shoved them into my messenger bag.
“Do you need a little help?” Thomas asked with obvious concern.
“I think I’m okay. I do this almost daily.”
“Just let me help with something, I don’t wan to feel like a free loader.”
Biting my lip I spoke, “Well my bag does get a little cumbersome when trying to get my keys out.”
Handing the bag to him, I laughed a bit when he groaned at the weight of it.
“How do you carry this thing around all day?” He asked, slinging the strap over his shoulder.
“I don’t know, practice?”
Exiting Starbucks you turned to the back parking lot I wrestled your keys out of my back pocket and hit the unlock button. Thomas let out a low whistle when he saw which car beeped.
“Are you sure you’re just a college student?” He asked eyeing the silver Lamborghini I shoved my stuff into.
Standing back I admired the car a bit, “Pretty sure.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows in disbelief, “Are you sure.”
I finally realized what Thomas meant. “Oh! The car? My parents have this whole thing about, ‘No, you don’t need a job, we’ll pay for everything you need, just focus on your studies.’ It’s actually pretty cool.” I smirked, “Now are you just going to stand here and goggle at my car or are you going to get in?”
“And I thought my stuff was nice.” I heard him muttered as he stepped into the car, feeling the leather interior.
Shooting a glance at him I broke the silence, “So, Plaza?”
“My apartments actually really close to there, just a block or so down.”
“Really? Maybe we could go there instead.” Thomas suggested.
Cocking my head towards him I gave him a questioning look. “Won’t your friends wonder where you are?”
“Eh, they already dumped me here.”
“Then my apartment it is.”
Rolling over I squinted at the clock by my bedside, 12:47, pm. That couldn’t be right. I swear I set it to go off at 5:30. I had classes to attend today!
The smell of bacon wafted around my apartment. Oh my god, I thought, did I leave the stove on last night. Groaning again I shifted over to get up when I noticed the other side of the bed was neatly made as if someone had made an effort to tuck in all of the bed sheets. Throwing the sheets off myself I suddenly felt the cold air hit me and wondered why I was so cold, casting a glance down I noticed I was wearing a sports bra and shorts, weird.
Grunting again I pulled myself to my feet, slipped into a bathrobe, stumbled out of the bedroom into the lounge and finally made it to the kitchen. There I saw Thomas wearing my frilly, pink, kiss the cook apron while humming a little tune to himself as he cracked an egg over one of the many pans he had set up on the stove.
“Morning sleepyhead.” He grinned looking up at me. “I was starting to wonder if you would ever get up.”
“Did you turn off my alarms?” I glared at him with my most accusatory face.
“Obviously.” He chuckled. “And I called your professor to call in sick for you, according to her you’re three or so days caught up in your work.”
My eyes widened. “You called in sick for me!”
“Relax, from what I heard, you need this break. Now,” Thomas pulled back a chair for me, “Eat up, I need to know what you think of my cooking.”
Grumbling I sat down at the table and watched as he piled the food on my plate. Sitting across from me, Thomas looked like an eager puppy, just waiting for me to try his cooking. Taking the first bite I tried to keep my expression neutral but that failed as soon as my mouth closed around the first fork full I couldn’t stop from digging into the rest.
“Wow.” I finally manage to say after I finished. “You are a really good cook.”
“Really?” Thomas couldn’t keep himself from smiling. “I took a look in some of the cookbooks you have and after deciding I probably couldn’t make Fritatas with extra tasty chicken on kale leaves I just went with what I’ve been able to do my whole life, cook amazing bacon and scrambled eggs.”
“I think I might keep you if you continue cooking like this.” I joked, beginning to pick up the plates to place in the dishwasher.
As I moved into the kitchen, Thomas followed me. “You know, you talk in your sleep, it’s kinda cute.”
Freezing I slowly faced Thomas, “How do you know I talk in my sleep?”
Alarm was one way to describe Thomas’s expression when I asked him.
“I, heard you all the way from the couch.” He blurted out.
Scrutinizing his expression I reluctantly accepted his answer. But just as he relaxed I remembered something.
“Wait, then how come half of my bed was made when I woke up this morning?” This time Thomas was stuck on how to reply. “Oh my-” My hand shot up to my mouth, “Did we, did we sleep together?”
Red crept up from Thomas’s neck to his face. “Um, maybe, kinda?”
“No, no, no, not like that,” Thomas spoke so quickly you almost didn’t catch his words, “I mean we slept together, but not together, that doesn’t make sense does it?”
Slowly I shook my head, the words 'slept together’ still embedded in my mind.
“Okay, we slept in the same bed, and we, um, how do I put this into words without it sounding weird? We, cuddled?” Thomas’s face was growing redder by the second.
“Cuddled?” I asked, confusion was evident in my voice.
“Yeah,” Thomas scrunched his face up, “Like all night, you’re a very restless sleeper you know, you kicked me at least three times last night.”
“Am I suppose to just act like it’s not weird I slept, or cuddled, or whatever with some random guy I met at a coffee shop?”
Thomas was silent for awhile before any sound escapes him, “It is a bit strange I suppose,” pausing he bit his lip as if thinking, “I can, um, leave now, if you want.”
Closing my eyes for a few seconds I collapsed onto the couch,
“Well, you’re here, and I have to admit, you are kinda cute, and you canceled my classes for the rest of the day, so why not, go ahead and stay, maybe we can get to know each other a little better.” I finally sighed.
“If you want.” Thomas grinned, plopping himself down onto the couch with me.
