It was a really cold night, the sky was clear with no clouds in sight, but also no stars to be seen. I checked the time which led me to collapse in frustration on my bed. I couldn’t sleep and it was nearly 3:00 in the morning. I tried to think of boring things like math to help me sleep but I couldn’t help it, waiting kept me up until now and I thought to myself all of it would have been for nothing if I slept through the moment my phone received the message… it was from her after all. Checking the time again and realizing I might as well be productive waiting for the stupid reply rather than just wallowing on my bed so I stood up, turned on the desk lamp beside my bed then walked lazily towards the light switch of my room. Just as I was about to reach the switch, my phone rang and I suddenly felt a jolt of excitement within me, I was awake before but at that exact moment, the monotonous tune of my phone seemed to give me more energy than any cup of coffee could give me. Hastily I jump to my bed and immediately open my phone if it was the message I have been waiting since 4:00 in the afternoon for. My eyes scrolled through the countless other messages and notifications on my screen and then it hit me, feeling like my heart skipped a beat, I saw the message I have so anxiously been waiting for. My eyes were glued to the screen carefully reading the words on the message head, as I reached the end, it felt like my heart was going to burst… from anxiousness that is. The message shown was cut because it was longer than 15 words. At that point I didn’t know what to expect really, the only way of knowing whether or not I should be jumping from joy or moping in the corner in so early in the morning was through a simple tap of my thumb. The message head read “Hi! I’m so sorry for the late reply, I’ve been giving it some thought and…” and before I decided to open and read the entirety of the message, I thought about everything that happened the past events that happened today and whether or not they would remain as happy and warm memories or just moments of me merely being young and dumb.
Early Morning the Previous Day
It was 7:00 in the morning and my phone rang my alarm tune which was the most monotonous sound I have ever heard in my life. Nevertheless, I woke up because the tune seemed so routine and normal to me. This was because it was a company phone given out to all the interns for their first week waiting approval of whether or not they would get the job or not. We were required to answer all the calls made to the phone during working hours and so as not to disturb the other workers in the firm, the phone were programmed to only play one dull tune for every alarm or notification. It was the last day of my internship and we were required to be at the office by 9:00 for the announcement of those who made the cut. I quickly made my way to the kitchen, poured a bowl of cereal and milk, took a spoon from the counter drawer and sat down on the couch located in the living room just adjacent from the small dining area. I turned on the television then changed the channel to the news, there was nothing exciting enough to keep watching so I turned the TV off and quickly finished my breakfast, rushed to the bathroom to do the rest of my morning routine there. After everything was finished and I was neatly dressed in business casual attire, I went out of the room then walked down the hallway. The apartment building I was staying in had five floors, and my room was located on the fifth floor, ever since two weeks ago the elevator broke down and I had to walk down the stairs no matter how bad of an inconvenience it was. So I got down, to the lobby, opened the spinning doors and stepped outside to wait for a taxi. After 5 or so minutes of waiting, a yellow spotted car finally stopped by and gave me a ride. “Where to?” the driver said and replying with an uneasy voice I say “Just a few blocks pass the train station please”, it was after all the day I get to know if I landed the job, saying I was nervous would be an understatement. The next events would seem like a very cruel twist of fate, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way because they all led up to me meeting her. Anyway, after 12 minutes since my car ride started, the engine broke down abruptly and immediately cars behind us started sounding loud horns to get us moving. The driver tried turning on the ignition again and again, but the car just won’t start. This was when I got really jumpy and asked the driver if he has the situation under control “I’m doing my best kid” was what he replied with although clearly he wasn’t. In a bold and desperate action I took 5 dollars, dropped it onto the cushioned seat, opened the door and just walked my way through the ongoing traffic. As I finally reach the pavement I kid you not my phone starts ringing and as I checked to see, it was a call from the firm I was currently and intern in. I answered the call politely saying “Hello? This is Ryan, how may I help you?” the person who answered was the secretary and her reply was about the most frustrating thing I experienced that day, the taxi cab breaking down was nowhere near what I felt about what she said next. “Hi Ryan, we’re so sorry to inform you but unfortunately due to budget cuts in our firm, we can’t hire any new employees as of now, we hope you understand. If it’s any consolation, we are allowing you to keep the company phone as a reimbursement for all you spent in the internship training. Thank you and have a good day!” There were many reasons for me to feel frustrated and angry at the call because for one, I spent 6 days in that firm being an unpaid assistant doing errands for the workers who didn’t even bother to look at me in the eye when they were ordering me to do their dirty work. Another reason was that I had already spent about 200 dollars buying them coffees and snacks all of which remains unpaid because they told me they’d repay me when I finally join them when I land the job. The useless company phone was so old and obsolete that I wager it isn’t even worth more than 30 dollars. This was the moment that I wanted to scream and shout to the heavens to let out all of my steam, but that moment, I knew doing such a thing would be awkward and a little bit stupid considering I was in the middle of the walkway people walking by me not even having a care in the world for what I was doing standing still in the middle of the path. After this, I clenched my fists then resolved to just calm myself through a cup of coffee and maybe a jelly topped bagel at the pastry shop across the street. I waited by the street light post for the light to turn green so that I could walk safely towards the pastry shop. Feeling gloomy and irritated, I start to look around to pass the time and this was the moment I saw her. She had beautiful fiery hair that ran to her shoulders and freckles around her cute little nose, she was so pretty. And the most awkward thing about this incident was that she was standing next to me, in quilted jacket looking at her phone with the most magnificent smile I had ever seen right on her pale face. This immediately took my mind of off what had just happened to me and my internship. I admired her for some time and it was so long I think she noticed because I saw her flinch a little. Immediately I looked the other direction to poorly cover up the fact that I was looking at her for about a minute. After some time I looked ahead to see if the lights went green and they hadn’t, that time when the lights were still red were the longest minutes of my life because even though I admired and practically already had a crush on the girl standing next to me, I wanted to get away from the awkwardness, for me at least, and uneasiness because I don’t do well with girls, especially pretty ones, keeping what I just said in mind, the next thing to happen nearly gave me a heart attack. Still looking at the lights, she suddenly raised her head, also looked forward to check the lights and said the following words without looking at me “If you’re gonna stare at me all day at least do it after you buy me a cup of joe and maybe a bite over there at that pastry shop”. It took me sometime to realize what had just happened, I didn’t even think of the big coincidence that we both had our eyes set upon the small family owned pastry shop down the road. I panicked a little bit inside and slowly turned my eyes, without moving my head so it doesn’t seem obvious, to the left then to the right to check if anyone else was there to see if she was actually talking to me. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” I looked at her in with wide panicked stricken eyes, a sweaty nose and softly asked “A-a-are y-y-you t-talking t-to me?” I swear it was the most embarrassing moment of my life, so far that is, and after some silence she chuckled softly “Dummy, do you see anyone else here with us? Much less anyone who’s staring at me in what could be the most obvious way to look at someone?” I didn’t know what to say so I simply smiled in the worst way possible, it was a half-smile with the right side of my mouth curled up, and the left side only opening a small bit. She laughed in what I can only say is the sweetest laugh imaginable and finally looked at me in the eyes “The light’s green prince charming, now are you gonna buy me a drink or not?” silence followed, my palms became sweaty and in what seemed like a surge of courage inside me I managed to say “Sure” in a voice that wasn’t sheepish at all. She smiled once more the nodded her head left to signal me that we should probably walk now, because we might end up waiting at another red light. After that conundrum, I thought to myself, what is the worst that could happen?
I swear, that time, crossing the road was like walking on the tiniest tight rope if it was attached between the tips of two large mountains. My heart was pumping so fast that it probably could have won a tap dancing competition. In short, I was really nervous because one wrong move in that pastry shop and I could end all of my chances with the beautiful girl next to me, if there was any chance to begin with. Speaking of which, I tried ever so slightly to look at her in a non-creepy way to see how she was reacting to everything. Strange enough she was clam and composed, like she had done this thousands of times before. Maybe she just has really good people skills, maybe she just scams people into buying her free stuff because she’s pretty, maybe she’s secretly an assassin that was sent to kill me and the pastry shop was the perfect crime scene. All these ideas were bursting in my head and at that points I didn’t actually know what to do. I was so distraught with everything and my mind felt like it was elsewhere. Suddenly, I bumped hard against the glass pane of the pastry shop and it didn’t occur to me that we finally crossed the road and got to the shop, well I got to the shop at least. She was laughing behind me in the same intoxicating laugh as before. As reality got back to me, my face blushed bright red with embarrassment as I finally grasped the situation. I looked back and she was still laughing, so much so that it seemed like she was about to cry. I quickly looked down and shrugged my shoulders up then slowly entered the shop. As I went in, my face blushed even more as I look around and everybody was just staring at me, they saw what had just happened. I walked to the counter and she finally stopped laughing and went in the shop. I ordered an ice mocha latte and a bagel with jam on top, she put her hands on my shoulders and told me she wanted a Macha infused Cappuccino and a large blueberry muffin. I ordered that too and we sat down on the nearest table. I haven’t actually hung out with a girl before, I was the type of person to just sit in my room curled up on my couch eating ice cream watching cartoons for God knows how long every day, this was a totally new experience for me. “So… what’s your name?” she suddenly asked “G-graves, Ryan Graves” I replied quickly and softly only later finding out that I messed up saying my name right “Oh, so we’re introducing ourselves James Bond style eh? Well I’m…” then suddenly the waitress placed our orders on the table and she gave a quick smirk before meeting me with a big smile. “Well I guess that’s a topic for another time, anyway thank you so much!” She said “Normally, people don’t respond to me asking them to buy me a drink on the account that I caught them staring at me. So far you’ve been the only one to humor me with my request”. Thinking of a reply I took a bite of off my bagel then mumbled a few sounds making as if I was replying she asked “I’m sorry what?” while chuckling. I took this as a chance to chew my food slowly and thought of a reply. Finally swallowing the bite of bagel I answered “Well, I guess I’m just a nice person”. She smiled once more before proceeding to take a big bite of her muffin. After that moment, awkwardness seemed to kick in and at that moment I knew it was so strong that even she felt awkward. In a desperate attempt at ending the awkward silence I ironically said “I’m sorry. But I’m not really good with conversation… and social convention… and pretty much everything that has to do with other people” before proceeding to take a sip of my latte “I know, the moment I noticed you staring at me, I knew you’d be an awkward one” she said. This line almost lead me to spit out my coffee on my freshly laundered clothes. “Woah, cool down dude, it wasn’t in anyway an insult”. Thinking of a reply again I once more took a bite of my bagel, but this time she spoke up, “So why are you dressed like that? I mean it’s not like local pastry shops have a dress code or something…” with a sigh I told her “I was working as an unpaid intern at James and Barnes’ law firm five blocks down town just past the train station” “And what happened?” she said with a concerned look on her face somehow noticing I was distressed when I answered her question. “Well, actually, before we sort of “met” by the street light post, the taxi I was riding broke down and then I received a message from the firm secretary telling me they weren’t accepting new employees anymore”. With a sort of sadness on her face which I couldn’t distinguish neither true nor fake she replied “Oh my God! I’m so sorry”. I gave a small nod then looked down to my food before finally finishing my bagel. “Well, it’s probably about time I get going, thanks for the snack hot shot!” as she proceeded to do a small salute goodbye over her right eyebrow. I don’t know how I managed to do the following things I was about to do but I did and I’m proud of myself for doing them. Before she reached the door handle of the shop, I grabbed her wrist, she looked at me confused not knowing what was happening and then I asked her “Can I have your number?” It took some time for her to process what had just happened and she once again smiled, this time was the prettiest one though. She red hair glimmered in from the light shone through the glass panel of the store front. The light also shone on her face, exposing her cute little freckles on her nose and cheeks which looked like scattered stars in the night sky. It was also just this moment when I noticed she had heterochromia. In the magnificent lighting, her left eye was deep blue and her right eye was a brilliant emerald green. I couldn’t believe at what I was looking at, she was more than just pretty, she was gorgeous. She then took my hand, which was holding her wrist, took out the ball pen neatly hooked on my breast pocket then wrote something down on my arm all while saying “Never thought you’d ask”. After all of this she did the same small salute then finally walked out the door. Unsurprisingly I was looking at her up until the moment she walked out of sight outside. I then looked over to my arm and felt so much joy inside me I felt like I could shout inside the pastry shop with all the people inside. And I did, for a while, everybody looked at me wondering what on earth could possibly be the reason for me screaming, well she did write her number and I was so happy that it made me appreciate the fact that the company left the cell phone to me as a sorry gift for wasting my time. It didn’t matter though, what mattered was that I had her number and I had a phone to contact her. I coughed after shouting and quickly finished my food, tipped the waiter a full 5 dollars then walked happily to my apartment, even though it was 12 blocks away. . It was about noon when I got home to my apartment, given the time I spent walking from the pastry shop. Once I finally got to my room, strangely not tired I decided to lie on the couch and watch some TV, exactly what I would do on a regular day after work. I stood up, changed to my home clothes and ordered Pizza, which thankfully arrived 3 minutes late making the whole box free. I thought to myself, “This day couldn’t possibly get any better”. After eating Pizza in front of the TV for about three hours. I decided that I would take a nap. Then suddenly remembered everything that happened with her earlier. I smiled then remembered she gave me her number. Quickly, I look to my right arm to see if it was still there, because stupidly I forgot to save it. Unfortunately it was smudged, but I did my best to recognize the digits whilst creating a contact on my phone, of which there were only two contacts, the frim desk landline and her. I thought of something to text her but nothing would just come to my head. And there I spent hours pondering on what to message her when I finally resolved that I should tell her this “Hello, I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name earlier. This is Ryan Graves from the pastry shop. I was wondering if you’d like to meet up tomorrow at the same pastry shop maybe around the same time? I really like hanging out with you and maybe we could be friends?” I sent the message at about 4:00 pm then decided that I had nothing better to do at that time so I went to my bedroom then waited for the reply. A few hours have passed and still no reply, different ideas once again surged through my mind, what if I noted down the wrong number? What if she thinks I’m a creep? What if she was an assassin and is just patiently waiting to take me out with a sniper rifle? These ideas sort of lowered my hopes of me ever getting a chance with her, or at least being friends with her, but I hadn’t given up yet. I was determined to wait until the message arrives.
Finally, after hours upon hours of waiting, I finally got the message and the number wasn’t wrong, it really was from her. It was about 3:00 in the morning and the stupid phone wouldn’t show the full length of messages, only until 15 words so all I got to see were these words on the message head; “Hi! I’m so sorry for the late reply, I’ve been giving it some thought and…” I stopped for a bit and hesitated to even open the message because I was afraid that she rejected me and thought that I was weird. I thought that she might have just given me her number to get away from me as soon as possible and that all of it was just a con to get free food. I finally got the courage to open the message and I was shocked at was I read.
“Hi! I’m so sorry for the late reply, I’ve been giving it some thought and sure why not? You seemed like a great and fun person to hang out with. My only condition though is that you buy me food again. Hahaha Jk, but if you want to then be my guest. Besides you’re cute.Well… see you there ;)
P.S The name is Smith, Jacquelyn Smith, but you can call me Jackie for short”
I looked up from my screen, smiled then finally went and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. After all I have a big day tomorrow.
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from Short Stories
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