Coffee

Sunshine, Moonlight

Zahra's POV
I wake up the next morning,light shining on my face through the window. I scrunch up my face,squint my eyes,and sit up. I can already feel that my hair is a mess. I forgot to put a scarf on. I tiredly make my bed,take a shower,and get dressed.

Just as soon as I finish curling my hair,I hear a quiet knock on my window. I slowly creep to it, curling iron in hand, to see Danny standing on my fire escape. I open the window. "What are you doing here?! You'll get caught!"I whisper shout,referring to my mother. "I know, I just needed to talk to you. I wanted to make sure that you're okay. Are you okay?"he answers. I feel my heart warm. My stern expression softens. "Aw. Yes Danny, I am fine." I look around. "Look, I'll come out with you in five minutes okay?" I continue. "Yeah, can I come in?"he asks. I get nervous. "Yes! Well, no. Um, just wait by the fire escape!"I stutter. I shut the window and get ready a bit in the bathroom.

I finally come out and sneak out onto the escape, shutting the window behind me."Ready?"he asks, letting out a breath. It smells like mint. I smile and nod. We both start to climb down the rusty ladder. I hope one of my neighbors see me...

I walk next to Zahra, hand stuffed in my pockets. Maybe I really do love her. Just being around her makes me feel so much better. I look out the corner of my eye to see bandages on her left arm. It's probably from the other day.. "So where are we going?"she asks. I stop. I don't even know. "I don't know, to be honest. I just thought we'd find somewhere quiet while walking."I shrug. She stares at me with her universe dark eyes. "Okay."she smiles and turns to continue walking. I stay behind her a bit and watch her. She's just so amazing. So serious,so carefree,so kind,so...amazing. I love this girl, inside and out. She twirls and skips as we walk, listening to a song through headphones.

Later on we arrive downtown."I'm hungry." Zahra finally says."Well what do you want to eat?"I ask. "There's a diner about a block from here. I love their milkshakes."she replies."Okay, let's go."I say and we both walk to the diner.

I sit on the chair excited, wanting Danny to try the milkshakes I have loved for as long as I can remember. He comes in and sits next to me, just as a male waiter with a lot of acne arrives to us."What can I, get you?" He snorts. "Um.." "I'll have two vanilla milkshakes, add whipped cream on both."I interrupt Danny. He looks at me. "Trust me." I smile. He shrugs and closes the menu. "Okay I'll go get your smoothies." Waiter says, snorts, and walks off. I turn my chair to Danny. "Wanna move to a booth?" I ask. "Sure."he agrees and we both move. I sit directly opposite of him. I take a small moment to take him in. His dark brown hair is curly as it always is, and his blue eyes are shining in the sunlight through the window with long eyelashes on top. His pink lips are moved into a small smile and his eye brows look the same as usual."Is there something on my face?"he asks. I snap out of my reverie."Oh, no. I was just thinking." I answer.

The waiter arrives with our milkshakes before the conversation can get awkward."Yay, try it!"I exclaim. He laughs and takes a small sip. His lips let go of the straw and he's quiet for a moment. Suddenly, he starts to gulp down his milkshake like a wild man. I laugh."Calm down!"I exclaim and pull the drink away from him. He laughs. "Seriously, it's good."he says. I smile and stare into his eyes."How about we get out of here?"I suggest, evil smile on my face. "Okay." He agrees and we both head out."Oh wait! Let me go pay for this!" He runs back inside and I stare at him through the window. I sigh. "Back!"he smiles and starts to walk with me.

I walk Danny until he stops me and grabs my hand. "Hey, I remember that there's a beautiful park ahead. It's perfect to go there right now because the sun is about to set. Want to go?" I nod my head in agreement and he leads me down three blocks until we reach a large park.

The grass is a rich green with many flowers and bushes, the benches are a pretty gold color, there's a pond, and the sun in pink, about to start setting. "Let's go sit."Danny says. I run to the gold bench nearest to the sunset,and sit. Danny follows suit.

I'm dizzy with nervousness. Today is the day I tell Zahra I love her. I know many people would say not to rush it, but it just feels so right tonight. I have to do it. I watch her text on her phone for a minute, the orange and pink sunlight glowing on her skin. She almost looks golden."Hey, you okay?"she looks up and asks softly."Yeah." I stutter."But really, I should be asking if you're alright. Are you? I mean about the incident." I ask. She looks at me,a bit shocked."Oh, well, I guess I'm fine. Thanks to you. I was meaning to thank you. I'm really grateful for you being there for me." She says, twisting her hair and looking away. Why is she so shy now? I make a bold move. I move some hair away from her face and say "Hey there, pretty girl. You still there?" She giggles. "You think I'm pretty? That's a first. Well, coming from a boy." "What do you mean?"I ask. "Well guys usually just call me hot and things of the sort, never pretty or beautiful. I'm kind of glad actually. To me, the words pretty and beautiful include on the inside too. I feel that if you love somebody, they're beautiful. There's a big difference between liking and loving someone." I stare at her in awe. "Well anyway, the sun is starting to set, isn't it beautiful?!"she exclaims.

She pulls out her phone and snaps a few pictures."Look, Zahra..." I start,palms sweating."Hm?"she asks,looking into my eyes. She's so perfect,and does everything right."We've known each other a long time, even if it included us not being friends, we still knew each other. I've never been one to say things without meaning it,and I don't intend to now. I'm going to admit it. I love you Zahra. With all my heart. All those years we didn't speak, I still loved you. I guess that's just who I am. I love people who don't love me back. That day you spilled coffee on me, has made me so happy. It has changed my life. I thought we'd never be friends,before that day. I always felt that I wasn't enough for you,but now I have more confidence in myself." I put my hand under her chin and lift her head up slightly to look into my eyes. Her dark brown orbs turn into the universe."I've never been as sure about anything as I'm sure that I love you."

Her eyes tear up. "Danny, you've always been enough. Don't ever think that about yourself, it hurts me. Even when it seemed that I didn't pay you any mind all those years, I did. I watched you from across the courtyard, hallways, even classrooms at times. I've never approached you because I was worried about what my friends would think. But now I don't care what they think because I'm not afraid to say that I love you too Danny. I love you so much..."she says, so much emotion in her eyes. The sun is glowing bright. I lean in and kiss her. I've waited so long to do this. We finally pull away,panting for air, still looking into each other's eyes. Soon it starts to get dark. "Let's go before we get into trouble out here." I say. She laughs. "Okay."

We take our time getting home. We stop for sodas, take funny pictures in the dark, cause a bit of mischief, just ordinary teenage things at night. "My mom is going to kill me." She laughs while we're on the bus. "It's way past when the streetlights turned on" I laugh along with her. We both look out the window to see the large lit city turn into a smaller town.

We finally arrive at our stop and sneak onto her fire escape. Zahra then stops."Hey you wanna hear something ironic?" She asks."What?"I reply."When we first met, back when we were young, we met in a coffee shop the day before school started." My mouth drops open."You're right..."I mumble. A big grin covers her face. "I know. I guess you could say that coffee is our thing." "Well I do like coffee."I smile. I sneak her into her house and we both wave like we did the last time. Except this time, she blows me a kiss. I smile to myself and think over the day as I walk home. I finally make it and lay in my bed. My last thought is Zahra, the love of my life.

Author's notes: (Edit 7/4/16 - Omgg this chapter was so cheesy! Ugh, the cringe is real! It's so funny looking back at my old stories and I am truly surprised by how many people liked it.)

Okay so I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. I'm guessing that I probably only have a few chapters left until the end of this story. I'm thankful for all you readers! So follow, vote, comment and keep on reading! ~Brooklyndiva02