𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ☾ 𝐥. 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

3 | A Little Too Early

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The air was crisp and there was finally no construction going on outside. I think today is going to be an amazing day.

The time was 9am and I decided to go to the small bookstore around the corner of my house. It wasn't far, so I was able to walk there in probably under five minutes.

I brought a tan "Treat People With Kindness" tote bag, my keys, phone, wallet, and (just in case) pepper spray. I began my short trek to the bookstore and passed cute bakeries, kissing couples, and clueless tourists.

I finally made it to the store and as I walked in I smelled the familiar scent of used books and black coffee. I walked straight to the Young Adult section, waving to the employee that I see every week. I ran my hands through the spine of every book until I saw a title that intrigued me. In this case it was, "Tell Me Three Things" by Julie Buxbaum.

I read the first page and decided on getting the book. I should probably get a second book since I read these pretty fast. I kept walking down the aisle and encountered another book that seemed enjoyable, "The Start Of Me And You" by Emery Lord. I walked over to the counter and paid for the two books. I placed them into my tote bag and walked outside.

On my way back to my home I stopped by the bakery I saw on the way to the bookstore. It smelled of freshly baked bread and sweet sugary desserts. I bought a baguette and a few macarons.

I finally made it back home, resting my tote bag on my desk chair and sitting in my bay window. My view is the best in the world. You can perfectly see the Eiffel Tower and it's even more dazzling at night.

Suddenly my phone dinged and I looked at the notification. It was a text from Issie, "wanna hang out at 3? we can rewatch the timmy tim snl episode!" I responded with a, "sounds gr8! see u later :)"

It was only 10:30am, so I had time to kill. I cleaned my room, read a little bit, watched some TikToks, and ate a warm blueberry muffin.

The time was 2:30pm and I was so bored out of my mind. Thirty minutes early. What harm can that do? So, I stepped into my car and drove over to the Partridge home. When I pulled up to the front of the house, I didn't see Issie's car in the driveway. Maybe it was in the garage?

I parked and got out of the car, walking up to their front door. I knocked and after a few seconds, the door was wide open. "Hey! Um is Issie here?" Louis looked down at me with a hand on the side of the door.

"Issie's still at Starbucks." I nodded and stared down at my feet.

"Oh ok. I'll come back later then. Just text me when she gets here." I turned around and started to walk back to my car, when I heard him say something.

"Actually, um can you help me with the french homework?" I turned to him and nodded in agreement. He lead me inside and we sat side by side on the couch. We were so close, our knees were almost touching. I looked down at our close bodies and cleared my throat.

"So, um what did you need help on?" I turned my head to see him looking at me.

"Right, homework. Uh, just number 6 and 13." He opened his notebook and lead me to the problem he needed help on. "What is the difference between a masculine and a feminine word?"

After 25 minutes of explaining over and over the difference between 'une' and 'un', the white wooden door behind us opened. I turned around to see Issie standing in the doorway.

"Oh hey!" Issie came over to the living room and sat down on the tan ottoman by the couch.

"Hey! I came early and Louis needed help on homework, so I decided to just wait for you" She nodded and I looked down at something. Louis's hand was on my leg. I didn't even notice. I grabbed his hand and placed it on his own before Issie could see.