There have been a lot of strange things happening lately here in Rosewood Falls, and some residents have slowly come to realize that maybe they aren't so unrelated. The slow arrivals of newcomers to town over the last few months have raised a few ey...
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"Could I get a caramel macchiato to go, please?" Aria said, smiling at the barista, proceeding to hand over her credit card.
As she was in the process of paying, she heard a familiar voice. Turning over her shoulder, she saw him: it was Stefan, giving her that same sincere smile and staring at her with his piercing, brown eyes.
"Aria? Right?" He said, bowing his head down a little bit in acknowledgement.
"Yeah," Aria replied, shyly, "Stefan right?"
Stefan laughed, "Right. Sorry for saying that too many times," he gestured for them to sit at a nearby table.
As they sat in silence a moment, Aria brushed one strand of her raven-black hair across her face, "So how do you like Rosewood Falls?," she asked.
Stefan gave a coy smile, "I like it. I've met some interesting people here." His stare narrowed on Aria's doe-like, hazel eyes.
Aria looked at him with a flirtatious smile, "Yeah?"
Stefan, "At the risk of sounding repetitive, but, yes," He smiled back.
Even though The Rear Window Cafe was crowded with its usual mid-morning traffic, to an average passerby, Aria and Stefan looked at each other as if they were the only two people in the room. Their attraction was magnetic, electric, and any other words you would use to describe their intense connection.
Stefan cleared his throat, "So you write?" he said, gesturing to her notebook on the table.
Aria looked startled. No one had ever asked about her writing before. I mean, aside from the snarky Sylvia Plath-type jokes she got from Damon, "Yeah. I've been writing for my whole life, It's just something that I have to do, you know, writing down observations, thoughts I have during the day. I'm always worried I'll forget something unless I write it down."
Stefan smiled, "Me too," he replied. Aria then glanced at the same brown leather notebook in Stefan's backpack that he'd been writing in on that first day of school.
Suddenly, Hanna barged into The Rear Window, looking frantically for Aria, praying Damon hadn't let their little encounter slip to his sister.
"Aria!," Hanna yelled. She rushed over to the table and then stopped, "Oh, I didn't know you were with someone," she said, as she extended her hand out towards Stefan, in a slightly awkward motion, not knowing what to do, "I'm Hanna."
Stefan smiled at Aria and then turned to face Hanna, "Stefan."
Hanna gestured to Aria, "So should we head out then? I have something I want to talk to you about," said Hanna, as she nodded in approval at Aria's "choice."
Aria looked pleadingly at Hanna but then gave in to her friend's urgings, "Okay, Han," she replied. As she got up and gathered her stuff, she looked once more at Stefan, "You should come to the Grill with us tonight. It's where all of us kind of hang out after school. So, you should come." She giggled nervously.
