A Season of Firsts

Chapter 10

The night ended up lasting a lot longer than I expected yesterday, because Leo pulled through and brought Jenna with him, and let's just say that shots ended up getting involved. Henry and Millie couldn't make it because they were having a date night, but I'll forgive them just this once.

I'm currently making myself the greasiest breakfast possible, consisting of bacon, sausage, fried egg, beans and toast, in an effort to soak up all the leftover alcohol in my system that is making my head pound. I would usually be making food for Hallie as well, because I am the mother in our friendship dynamic, but she stayed over at Chase's last night.

As I cook, I'm passionately singing along to Love Story by Taylor Swift as it plays from Hallie's portable speaker, not caring if my neighbours hear, because they'd be lucky to hear my beautiful voice. If I was even slightly musically inclined, I would have the potential to give Taylor a run for her money. Unfortunately, my creative talents lie elsewhere.

My party for one is suddenly interrupted when my phone starts to ring, automatically pausing the song. I don't mind so much when I see 'Rory Miller' on the screen, and swipe to answer it, resting the phone on my shoulder while I flip the contents of the frying pan in front of me.

"Hey," I answer.

"Hey! I'm just going to get coffee, and I'm near you, so I could drop one off for you if you want?" he says, and I am at a loss for words because of how thoughtful that is.

"Um, yes, that would be amazing. I need it this morning."

He laughs through the phone, and says, "Yeah, I thought you would. What's your coffee order?"

"A mocha with soya milk please. Thank you so much," I say gratefully.

"Okay, I'll be about 15 minutes."

"Cool," I say, then remember that I am cooking breakfast and it would be rude for me not to offer him some as well. "Oh, and I'm making breakfast, do you want some?"

"What kind of breakfast?" he asks, his interest piqued.

"The English kind, what else?"

"Count me in," he says, laughing. "See you soon."

"Bye," I say, and end the call, then smile like an idiot when I go over the conversation in my head.

A boy just offered to buy me coffee. Because he was thinking about how hungover I would be. Shit, I'm in trouble.

All is well, though, because when Rory arrives at my flat, I find out that he takes his coffee black. That's when I know we aren't compatible, because my coffee has to be incredibly sweet and involve some form of chocolate, or I won't go near it. And he had the audacity to come and sit across from me at the counter, eat my food like he'd never had a good meal in his life, and drink that bean water right in front of me.

"But have you ever tried a mocha?" I ask him, trying to sway him from his poor beverage choices.

"No, and I don't think I want to."

"Why would you not want to? It's basically just a hot chocolate, but with all the benefits of coffee. What's not to like?"

"I like my coffee to actually be coffee. Not coffee in a disguise."

"We are very different people," I sigh.

"We'll just have to agree to disagree on our coffee preferences."

"Okay," I relent, "but please tell me you thought that breakfast was amazing?"

"Definitely. You've redeemed yourself."