Caffeine [July Nanowrimo]

two; lukewarm

I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted yet content. My mind flashed back to my early morning rendezvous and a giggle erupted inside me. Biting my lip, I cupped my cheeks feeling like a seventh grader with a crush.

Then again, I do have a crush.

I pushed my hair back and tied it up into a sloppy ponytail. Tilting my head in front of the mirror, I did a mini victory dance. I was hopelessly completely infatuated with that dark haired boy who stole my heart a long time ago.

God, I can't believe he was actually talking to me in the café.

As I slowly came down from my high, my insecurities and doubts seeped through, poisoning my thoughts. There was a possibility of him talking to me because of pity or the fact that he wanted to gain something from my father.

I tried to look at the brighter side of things most of the time, but it's hard to do so when so many people have taken advantage of you.

I then thought of his question. He did sound hopeful but all these doubts were making me feel cautious. I didn't want to fall into a trap. My parents had always told me to be careful with people no matter how close they are to you. I used to think they were overreacting but after an incident where a girl befriended in order to find dirt on me, I learnt my lesson.

We were 13 and apparently her reason being she was jealous. She was a very spiteful girl though, now that I think about it.

Would Derrick do that? As much as I wanted to deny it, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Or so I had thought.

My mind wandered to his question and my heart became heavy. I had thought about it last night, but then I decided to sleep it over. If it were according to my heart, I would have been at the café right now, waiting for him. Of course, realistically, that would be ridiculous.

But as I thought about and pondered over my suspicions doubts, I realized that never once he had gave me any reason to cautious of him. Besides, it was extremely unfair for me to judge him based on my past experience.

And at that moment, I knew I had made up mind.

I just didn't know that that one seemingly simple decision of mine irrevocably changed my life.

-

"Rayla, look alive. Why do have eyebags under your eyes? Why did you not use the concealer if you had a late night?" mother hissed out with a smile as we took a seat on the center table of the charity event.

I bit my lip and apologized quietly to her, not wanting to raise attention to her. She gave me a disapproving stare and I saw the warning in her eyes asking me to behave. This charity event is extremely important to her and she didn't want to ruin it. I gave her a smile reassuring her and just before she went up to her a group of friends she gave me a hug.

Feeling considerably happier after that, I went up to a few of my classmates and started mingling around. We all attended the private boarding school the next town over but we were all back for holidays.

"Ray! It's been so long oh my god!" I barely had time to turn before a rush of brunette came up to me, engulfing me in a hug. Hugging her back, a small smile made its way to my face before I released her.

"What are you doing here, Kat? I thought you were going back for Christmas?" Pulling her to my arms width, I asked with surprise coloring my tone. Katarina Black was probably one of the very few people I felt comfortable hanging out with. She has a brother, Aiden, but we're not that close. Kat, on the other hand, was probably the closest friend I had but I wouldn't go as far as to call us best friends.