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He said, “You’re doing me a favor, silly,” and pulled me harder. I started to breathe faster and quickly pulled my hand away from his and started to back away from him. “No, I don’t want to. I won’t.”
Skyler turned back to me and scrunched up his eyebrows. He walked up to me slowly, like he was trying to calm down a scared dog. “I was just going to take you with me to get coffee.” My mouth dropped open. “Oh…” How wrong had I been?
“What did you think I—Oh! Oh my god, Calla! Did you think I was trying to—?” And then he laughed in my face. Not just a little laugh; this was a full-blown cackle that once again drew unwanted attention to me. He wiped the tears from his eyes when he was finally able to breathe.
“Oh my god, I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. Calla, I’m gay. Very, very gay and in a committed relationship with my boyfriend.” How could I not have known? I’m so ashamed! Am I really that full of myself to think he wanted to sleep with me? I’m promising myself that I won’t make any more assumptions about what guys want from me.
Skyler kept talking even though I was standing there like a speechless mess of a person. “My boyfriend was worried that I wouldn’t make any friends at school, and since he doesn’t go to college, he kept nagging me about letting him take me to classes. To get him to shut up, I told him that I already made a friend and that I would invite her to get coffee with me. He’s also bringing another friend of his.” I smiled at how cute they were together. His boyfriend must be really nice.
“Well, I’d be happy to be your fake friend,” I said, a little disappointed that he only wanted to take me to prove something to his boyfriend. “Bitch, you’re already my best friend here. You’re not getting rid of me now. What if I need a pen?” he said with a smirk, and I laughed.
When he told me we were meeting at Café, I perked up and told him I worked there and loved coffee. It seems he was just as obsessed as I was. On the way to the café, I told him about all the different drinks they had and some secret menu drinks that I loved. Just thinking about coffee made me feel better in the cold outside.
As we got closer to the café, my stomach started to hurt, and I started to breathe faster. My stomach didn’t feel right… It felt like I had butterflies flying around in there. I know that coffee won’t help with that feeling, but no one can talk me out of drinking more caffeine!
When we got to the café, the smell of coffee beans filled the air. I close my eyes without thinking about it to take in the smell. The smell of this place is heavenly. Skyler and I walk up to the counter, and while we wait for the employee, who is probably in the back of the store, he tells me that his boyfriend and friend are sitting on the other side of the coffee house.
I look in the direction Skyler is pointing and see the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He has this smooth black hair, or maybe it’s dark brown. And his eyes! These two beautiful blue Jaxon orbs are so pretty that I could look at them for hours. Is that strange? And don’t even get me started on his body. I can tell he’s built like a truck even though he’s sitting down. His arms are very strong and probably bigger than my thighs. He has all the “ceps”: biceps, triceps, and more.
And now this man, whose name I don’t even know, is looking at me with a look that I’ve never seen before. I feel embarrassed and look down at the ground, where my shoes suddenly become very interesting. Hey, look! There is some dirt on my right shoe. When I get home, I should probably clean that.
Skyler is tapping on my arm, which pulls me out of my thoughts. “Huh?” I say as I turn my head to see what he wants. He laughs and asks, “Are you going to order?” That’s when I saw that the worker came out from the back of the store. I turn around and see Nico, a guy I trained with a few months ago and went to high school with. “Calla! It’s great to see you again! How’s school going for you? I miss working with you,” Nico says with that pretty boy smirk that usually works on girls. But now I don’t want a boy, I want a man. Oh, my God! Where are these thoughts coming from?
“Hey, Nico! School’s fine. How are you?” I ask, not saying anything about missing me. “I’m doing great! I just had football tryouts, so I hope I make the team.” I remember that Nico played football in high school. I never went to any games because I was the girl who stayed home to study, or at least used studying as an excuse not to be social. I’m still a little shy, but I’m working on getting out of my comfort zone.
“Yeah, hope you do,” I say, not sure what to say. He starts talking to me even though I don’t know him very well. I think he’s just trying to be nice. “Can I get a vanilla latte for myself and caramel macchiato for him?” I nod in Skyler’s direction.  “Ooh! Do you also have blueberry scones?” I ask, biting my lip in excitement. Nico says, “Oh, we don’t have any made right now. I can start a batch right now.”
I turn around and see that a line is starting to form. “That’s fine. We’ll just take the drinks. How much?” I ask.
“On the house,” Nico says with a smile. I was just about to tell Nico that he shouldn’t do that at Café when a low growl ripped through the room. I jump and look in the direction of the noise. I don’t see a grizzly bear in the room; instead, I see a very broody-looking… I don’t even know his name, but I’m hoping that the really hot guy isn’t Skyler’s boyfriend. There is a guy with brown eyes and golden blonde hair across from Broody who is the same size and looks like him. When I first walked in, I didn’t even see him.
“What the heck was that?” I ask Skyler, who is scared by the noise. He says to me, “Um, it was just a motorcycle going by or something.” It didn’t sound like a motorcycle, but I guess that’s what it is. I don’t see any animals here. “Come on, Calla. Let’s sit down.”
Skyler picks up the coffee and takes me to the table where the other guys are already sitting. I laugh at what Skyler just said because Maisie always calls me that. They would probably get along very well. They both act like kids.
The closer we get to the table, the more anxious I feel. This is what happens when I don’t go out at all in high school and then have to deal with people. What if I can’t think of anything to say? What if they don’t like me or think I’m strange? Now I know that I have to sit next to one of the guys, not Skyler because they are sitting across from each other. This just makes me more nervous.
As we get closer, they both stand up to say hello, and oh my God, they are so tall! I’m only 5’2″, Blondie is probably 6’2″, and Broody is probably 6’4″. I have to tilt my head up to look into their eyes. Skyler hugs Blondie and kisses him in a very s****l way, I might add. I smile a little, thanking the heavens that Skyler is with Blondie and not with Broody.
Broody is smirking at me, as if he knows what I’m thinking. I widen my eyes and look down at my coffee to keep myself busy. I grab it and sit down next to Broody while the other two sit down across from us.
“So, this is Calla, my friend from Psych. “Calla, this is my boyfriend Ezra,” Skyler says, pointing to Blondie. “And that,” Skyler says, nodding to Broody, “is Jaxon.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Calla,” Jaxon says. His voice is deep and smooth, just like his looks. It makes my breath hitch, and when he reaches out his hand to me, I put my small hand in his big, calloused one. Sparks. That’s the only way I can describe how my hand felt in his. A series of tingles spread down my arm and throughout my body, landing somewhere I’m too embarrassed to say.
I swallow loudly, and to hide how awkward I feel, I clear my throat and say, “Same to you, Jaxon.” I really wanted to say his name to see how it rolled off my tongue. I love it. We keep staring at each other until Skyler basically yells, “So, it looks like you two are off to a great start.”
His comment brought me back to reality, and I quickly pulled my hand away from Jaxon’s grip, as if he had burned me. Jaxon glares at Skyler and mumbles something that sounds a lot like “I’m going to kill you.”
I really tried to hold back my laughter, but it came out anyway, and Jaxon looked at me in a way I couldn’t describe. Maybe he was surprised that I found his actions funny. I’m not sure; I’m not very good at reading people. It looked like Jaxon was about to ask me something when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Nico with a tray of blueberry scones. They smell amazing, and there’s steam coming from the top, so I guess he just made them.
“For you,” Nico says, looking right at me. His hand is still on my shoulder, which makes me feel a little uneasy, and I find myself leaning toward Jaxon. “Thanks,” I mumble to Nico. I don’t look him in the eye because I want him to leave, but he asks if there’s anything he can do for me, and I get the feeling he’s not just talking about being our server.
“I’d take your hand off Calla before I have to do it for you,” Jaxon threatens. Nico takes his hand off right away because he’s scared of Jaxon. I would be scared, too, if Jaxon were looking at me with his jaw and fingers clenched like he was ready to beat me up. Nico says something about seeing me later and then goes back to the counter.
I can tell that Jaxon is still looking at Nico with disgust and rage. I don’t get why he’s so mad. We just met, and Nico didn’t do anything to me. He might have made me a little uncomfortable, but his hand was only on my shoulder!
Jaxon seems to be breathing heavily, and it looks like he will break his jaw if he tightens it any more. I don’t know why, but I put my hand on his and smile at him shyly in the hopes that it will calm him down. Amazingly, that seems to work, and Jaxon looks at me with an intensity I’ve never seen before.
I pull my hand away when I see that Skyler and Ezra just saw the whole thing. Skyler is smirking at me, and Ezra has a soft smile on his face. I’m so embarrassed that I hide my face with my hair as I look down. Jaxon pulls my face back toward him with two fingers on my chin and pushes my hair behind my ear with his other hand. “Don’t hide from me, Calla.” “And you look so cute when you blush,” Jaxon says, making me blush even more. He laughs at how I can’t help but respond, then lets me go. I quickly grab my coffee and drink half of it to keep myself busy.
“Why do you all keep making me look bad?” I say, half joking and half serious.
“What do you mean?” Why did you do that?” Jaxon asks, clearly curious. I look at Skyler, who starts to laugh like he’s the bad guy in a movie. Jaxon glares at Skyler and leans forward. “What the f**k did you do to her?” he growls.
“Jaxon, calm down,” Ezra says. That’s when I realized that this was the first time I’d heard him speak. He must not talk much, which makes sense since he’s dating someone who is the opposite of him.