Over the past few weeks, Leo and I had been seeing a lot of each other. He and I weren't dating, but we talked often and saw each other in service, at group hangs, and so on. One could say we were 'talking', but without the negative connotation. It felt like such a natural way to get to know him. We obviously were both into each other, but didn't really know each other well. Leo had suggested that we try getting to know each other around our friends and best of all, out preaching. Every time I thought of him saying that I felt my heart smile.
None of our friends knew about us either, and that's how I wanted it. Of course I had told Destiny, but she knew that it would take time for us to fully develop our relationship. That didn't stop her from texting me inappropriate emojis whenever I told her I was hanging with him though. Thankfully, our whole friend group hung out often which meant he and I had tons of chances to be together casually without causing suspicion. I'd be lying if I said it was easy to not be obvious how much I liked him though. He seemed perfect. He was also so flirtatious that I sometimes had to give him side-eyes so he knew to pull back.
Today we had gone out in service together with a few other young ones from the branch. We met early at a coffee shop, preached for a while, then stopped at a cafe for food. I was tired but so happy. Why was I so tired? Well, I definitely had woken up extra early to make sure I looked "effortlessly" cute for service today. Leo had whispered that I looked nice when he hugged me this morning, and I casually brushed it off as if I hadn't tried.
the outfit
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^ the cafe ^
There were six of us at the cafe: me, Leo, Jenna, and three brothers and sisters I had never met before. They were sweet! They told us stories of where they were from and what they did at the branch. I couldn't focus. I smiled and nodded but my mind just kept going back to Leo. He sat across from me at the table and our knees occasionally brushed (not sure if intentional or not). He and I barely spoke but just looked over our food at each other, passing glances and quick smiles. While one of the sisters and Jenna seemingly rambled on and on about someone they knew, I glanced over at Leo to catch him staring at me. The tiniest smirk laid on his face. I quickly looked down and felt my cheeks warming. When I lifted my eyes, I noticed his gaze hadn't moved. Nor had his smirk gone away. In fact, it had grown. No one was paying attention to us but I couldn't believe how confident he was. He looked over at the rest of the table and excused himself to the bathroom. He stood up and walked past me, softly brushing his hand on my back. I thanked the heavens that I was wearing blush.
