Mine To Kiss (Southern Wedding 0.50)

The three walls are all exposed brick, and I smile when I think that it looks like home for a second. Small tables are scattered around the place, pushed together as students work in groups, and the long white counter is located all the way in the back to make room for more tables. My head turns to the other side when I feel the girls walk away from me. My feet follow them as they walk to the side of the room, where they sit on a long bench against the wall. I see three guys get up, and suddenly feeling eyes on me, I turn toward the back counter and see him. My heart speeds up when our eyes finally meet, and I try to hide my smile by looking down, but I look up right away.

He just watches me, and I can see him laugh as he grabs his white cup of coffee and walks toward me. His black pants are loose on his legs but go tight on his ankles with a white T-shirt, his tanned arms on display. "Well, well, well, is someone stalking someone?" he says, and I can’t help but laugh. I’m not going to lie and pretend that I didn’t think of him during the last week and even last night when I was out. I secretly looked to see if maybe he was there, but I didn’t see him.

"I don’t know what you call stalking." I smirk at him, trying to make the smile on my face go away. Instead, I find myself smiling even bigger. "But I’m here for a study session." I point over at the tables that the guys are putting together.

My mouth flies open when I see an empty place at the end of the bench, and I see one of the guys from last night point toward us. "Isn’t this a twist of fate?" he says to me and then walks over to the back bench sitting at the end, next to one of the guys. The girls have all sat down in the chairs facing the guys, leaving the chair beside him open for me.

I walk to the empty seat, trying to calm my nerves, but instead, they just pick up even faster. "Hi," I say to the rest of the guys at the table, trying to ignore the need to look over at him again. I met Jake, Chris, and Frankie last night, so they look at me and smile.

"I’m Travis," I hear him say from beside me as he introduces himself to the girls.

"You weren’t there last night?" I hear Lydia ask. This burning starts in my stomach, and I’m not sure why. I try to ignore the conversation as I open my bag and take out my things.

"No, I got back today," he replies and doesn’t give anything else. I look over at him as he puts down the white cup. I move my chair just a touch to give us more room on the table and also to get away from him just a bit. My head is spinning, wanting to ask him where he was. Maybe he went to visit a girlfriend.

I open my laptop and put in my earbuds to block out the noise and focus on what I’m doing. I look down at the cursor, not sure, and then grab my book to read. Reaching into my bag for my pencil case to grab my highlighter, I see out of the corner of my eye that Travis sits with his back to the bench reading the same book as me. He looks up and smiles when he sees me looking. My leg starts to move up and down nervously. I finish reading a paragraph, and then my eyes glance over to him on their own to catch him looking at me, and I smile at him and then look back down again.

For over an hour, the two of us exchange little glances and smiles, and when I feel him move beside me, I think that he’s leaving. Instead, he leaves his things and walks to the counter. I look over at the rest of the group, seeing four of them studying together while Lydia and Jake work in front of each other.

I take out my earbuds and lean down into my backpack to grab my wallet, turning when he sits down beside me again. "I hope you like coffee," he says, handing me a white cup, and I can’t help the smile that fills my face. "It’s a latte." My hand grabs the cup, and our fingers graze each other.

"You’re a godsend," I say, smelling the coffee before taking a sip of it. "So good." He laughs. "Thank you."

"You are very welcome," he states, leaning back on the bench and running his hand through his hair. "So tell me, Harlow." I raise my eyebrow. "Why do you want to be a vet?"