mute » tomlinson ON HOLD

three; eating

"You know, I was supposed to be getting a gift for my friend," I chuckled softly while picking at the crust of my half-eaten ham sandwich. "But, you're a bit distracting."

Her cheeks flushed and her eyes dropped to her plate; the fork that was held firmly in her dainty hand hovering over the salad. The fingers of the fork stabbed at pieces of lettuce, but she would never bring any to her mouth to eat.

I hadn't made that comment to be flirtatious because she is distracting, not just by her looks. She's so damn intriguing that I could spend all day just watching her stack the books in that cardboard box. The fact that we've been in this restaurant for nearly twenty minutes and she still hasn't said a word to me confuses, yet excites me; like I'm excited to find out why, to understand this beautiful, mysterious girl.

"Maybe you could help me pick out a jacket," I smiled, then took a bite out of my sandwich. Making sure to finish chewing, I swallowed and said, "That's if you don't have to go back to the shop; if you even want to, I mean."

She nodded her head, then finally took a bite of her lunch. I couldn't help but watch as she lifted the fork into her mouth; how her jaw gracefully moved in a circular motion, how her lips only parted to slip her tongue out to wet them when she finished chewing, everything; it was mesmerizing.

Once she caught my gaze on her, she immediately swallowed and took a napkin to wipe her mouth, slightly covering her, now, reddened face; her eyes never meeting mine.

"So-," My attempt at conversation was unexpectedly interrupted when a loud voice came from beside us.

"Rainy! Is that you? Oh, look how much you've changed!"

The middle-aged woman had blond hair with brown highlights swimming through the yellow strands. Her eyes were dusty green color, bits of gray dotted within the green iris. Her full lips were stanned a deep red, making the white in her teeth shine brighter.

The girl – Rainy – smiled shyly at the random woman.

"Oh, god. Look at her, Calvin! And who's this? Little Rainy finally got a boyfriend?" The woman laughed and my eyebrows scrunched up.

Rainy's smile faded slightly, but she was quick to cover it up as she shook her head and smiled.

I looked at the man to the woman's right who must've been husband. He had broad shoulders and a muscular chest, intimidating in the least. He was nearly bald with only small patches of dark hair covering his head.

The hostess of the restaurant waited patiently as they continued chatting away to each other - well, if the woman talking and the girl nodding or smiling counts as chatting.

Finally, the woman winked and said, "Well, I'll let you get back to your date."

Rainy smiled and waved, but once the woman and her husband were pasted the table her smile dropped and she picked her fork up. She shoved chunks of lettuce into her mouth, chewing rather animal-like.

I watched her amusedly until I spotted our waitress, calling her over for the cheque.

"I'm Louis, by the way."

~*~

 We walked into the department store, Rainy following behind me.

"I was thinking a winter jacket because we're going skiing next weekend. And since I won't be seeing him on Christmas, we're exchanging that weekend as well. Do you think it's a good idea? I thought of it this morning, so." I turned around and slowed my pace so we were walking next to each other.

Her headed cocked to the side in thought, then turned to me. Immediately, I was taken aback by the exotic color of her eyes, once again. I decided, then, that that was my favorite feature of her's; the freckles coming in a close second.

When she nodded, I smiled and moved toward the jacket department.

When we finally chose a green jacket with orange accents on the sleeves and cuffs, I was ready to collapse, and from the way Rainy's blinks were getting slower and slower, I could tell she was too.

We had went through at least thirty jackets, me trying them on to get an idea of what they would look like on Trevor. At times, I would see Rainy's lips slightly turn up into a smile whenever I did a silly pose in one of the jackets, or when I caught her looking at me through the mirror, I would pull a strange face.

And even though my feet were killing me and my head was pounding from a headache, I could stay in this huge store, shopping for a jacket with Rainy for a couple more hours. Just to see a smile spread across her thin lips, if only for a second, was worth it.

And while we walked out of the store, I couldn't grasp why. Why was I getting attached so quickly?

this chapter is a bit shorter and unedited o