Chance Encounters

.08

I woke up as usual to the blaring sound of my alarm clock letting me know that a new day had started. Typically I would groggily throw my hand out, my fingers grazing over the buttons on the top as they pushed every one until the sound shut itself off for another eight minutes before it greeted me once again with its annoying ding ding ding, until I would eventually succumb to the annoying wake up call and get up to start my day. But today was different, Austin's question hanging heavily in my head oh what time do you get up in the morning? Being the kind of person I was, I thought about what he was possibly planning with that question, purposely setting my alarm to wake me up a little earlier just incase he had something up his sleeve.

I sat up on the edge of my bed, stretching my arms over my head letting out a yawn as I smiled goofily to myself. I pushed myself off the bed, sliding into my slippers as I walked myself to the decent sized attached master bath. I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth before gathering my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head. Giving myself a slight nod of the head in the mirror, I shut off the light and headed down the hall. As part of habit I slowly opened the door to Liam's room, checking to make sure that he was sleeping fine before stepping out of his room and heading down the stairs to start my morning.

I walked into the kitchen, flipping on the dim lighting that surrounded the top of my dark cherry cabinets filling the kitchen with a comfortable ambiance. I opened the corner cabinet, pulling out my favorite blue ceramic coffee mug putting it under the Keurig before inserting my favorite Colombian Blend coffee and hitting brew. I leaned up against the cabinet, pulling out my phone as I swiped through my Insta feed as pictures of my friends having a carefree night at home came scrolling through my phone. I let out a small smile as I commented on a few letting them all know how much I missed them when I came across a picture of Austin. He was sitting in what appeared to be a living room, a huge stuffed bear standing on its hind legs looming over a computer, and Austin on a chair, a guitar in his lap. A beer sat opened next to him and a cigarette was burning in the ashtray, his face was in deep concentration as he was watching what his hands were doing against the strings. He hadn't changed out of the clothes that he was wearing earlier that day, still sporting his black jeans and white crew except his feet were bare and no hat was on his head. I couldn't help but smile as I saw him in his element doing what he loved to do.

Typically I wouldn't hesitate to hit the small heart button before scrolling on, but now that I was with him-remember Candace we aren't putting labels on it yet- and saw him in a much different way than just a fan, liking the photo seemed awkward. I scrolled past it, making a mental note to bring it up the next time I saw him. I put my phone down on the counter so I could grab my steaming hot mug out of the Keurig. I inhaled deeply, the steam and scent from the coffee filling all of my senses as the aroma of the coffee alone was waking up each nerve in my body one by one. I grabbed the milk from the refrigerator, pouring in a generous amount before adding 2 spoonful's of sugar, giving it a decent stir, putting my spoon in the sink and heading down the hall to the living room.

I sank into the couch, grabbing the remote and flipping on the TV. Sometimes I don't even know why I bothered trying. There was never anything good on in the morning, not even the news was interesting enough to grab my attention and I hated those boring morning talk shows. Thinking more about it, I actually had the urge to settle in and watch a movie before I started my day with Liam, I opened Netflix and decided on the movie You Get Me. I had heard good things about it from my friends back home and thought I'd give it a try. I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, covering up my bare legs where my short shorts were not covering as I leaned into the corner. I held my mug tightly in my left hand, pressing play on the remote with my right. I was just settling in to watch the drama unfold when I heard what I thought to be a small knock on my door.