appetence

our lips don't lock, for now they simply talk

the first time i read this prompt i immediately thought of noah young's coffee shop.

[REQUESTED]

golden is her hair after lisa and i decided to kill time in a coffee shop downtown. i feel march by the way the sun scorches our skin thus playfully blame each other for omitting the umbrella by the shoe rack in her condo unit. in the end, we used her flannel as shade and ran to the shop. we arrived there breathless whilst some people eyed us up and down; we shrugged it off and ordered our faves.

lisa puts her flannel back on as soon as we picked our seats beside the double casement window, welcomed the warm soon-to-set soleil and cozied ourselves. we set a new challenge: 100 pages.

it's a race, i presume, because the last time we did this (80 pages) she dared me to do a freestyle rap for a minute in the coffee shop five blocks away from here when i lost. absolutely embarrassing! i persuaded (begged) her not to visit there ever again. my face is hot just by thinking of it.

i hear a bubbling chuckle so i look up to see her looking at me. i blinked my eyes and her smile widens, lisa flicks on her cheek sideways to tell me silently she can see me blush. i blush harder and bury my nose in the spine of my book.

although we race over reading, we still savor and dally in the fantasy world we picked at the same time spend this afternoon moment together.

the coffee shop is loud, it's one of the bestselling café's in town — with its own bookshelves to keep customers entertained, the soothing music playing over the speakers, just enough to blend in with the chatters and to deliver comfort to the listeners, and the seasonal design that surely made everyone in the room feel as if they were drinking caffeine outdoors with the seaside view.

its clamors fade out as soon as my eyes lands on hers, or whenever i get a whiff of her baby johnson's scent — my palpitations heightened when she touches my hand – going 130...140...150 –

"oh," she says and delicately removes her hand from mine... going 140...130...120...

"s-sorry...i thought – cup –" she stutters and avoids eye contact whilst she takes a sip of her coffee cup, i press the bridge of my gentle monster (in the mood 02) glasses and fix my hair to shake off the heat coursing through my chest.

"it-it's okay..lisa-ya."

i give her a comforting smile and so does she. i catch her hand making its way to mine – to hold me, perhaps – i pout when i see her retreat. i flip onto the next page. i sip on my coffee cup.

and here she is again flirting with me through her eyes. how am i supposed to play it cool? my cheeks are dusted cherry red and i bury my face more into the thick pages of my chosen book, but to my bewilderment i let lisa pull it away from me – my back is slouched and my neck outstretched for her to see and how embarrassing it is for me.

"lisa!" i whisper-yell, offering my hand for her to give back the book while i stomp my foot from humiliation. i look around and see a lot of guys glancing towards us – towards lisa. i squint my eyes and glared at each and everyone of them, obviously wanting a taste from her. i wish my glares had lasers so i could burn them down to ashes.

"l-lisa..." i furrow my brows, acting angry but my pout betrays me. she tilts her head sideways and gives me a sweet smile. before i know, she pecks my cheek.

ha! look at us, boys! i am hers!

"i'm done, jen." she giggles when my mouth drops, i'm mannequin as i watch lisa cover her face with my book, finding my unmoving figure hilarious for some reason. "are you serious?" i take the navy blue-colored book from her side of table with my jaw still unhinged, dropping lower and lower as i check where the tissue, compressed from the pages she've left off as her bookmark: 202.

"it's 100! when -"

"read the tissue." she instructs and fixes her glasses with a nervous smile. my eyes followed suit.

let's kill more time at dinner?

p. s. i dare you to dare me dance right here, right now.

p. s. s. you're so adorable. :-)

i must be red as a tomato right now. scratch that, i am a human tomato.

i look up and caught her staring once again. this time, she doesn't flinch nor look away. my gaze wonders over the outline of her face, the shape of her cheekbones and the bigness of her lips, her magnificent brown doe-eyes, and the baby hairs sticking onto her smooth forehead. i'd love it if this goddess say 'yes' to me already.

"d-dance...in here this room." i fulfill her command.

she's both a laughing fit and the cause of astonished clamors when she started dancing in the middle of the café. at first i glare at the boys who had their jaws slacked but then dismissed it since i don't want to miss my soon-to-be girlfriend's dancing just because of my possessiveness. soon, i am like one of those boys: jaws slacked and eyes shaped like saucers, the only difference is she'll be mine and mine alone.

all my body heat rushes its way to my face and i bury it in the pages of my book when lisa makes eye contact with me. i know what'll happen next and doing this is futile because

"hey to that pretty woman i'm with!" she shouts and my ears turn bright red. i slowly raise my head from the book and roam my eyes around the room, all eyes on me...i fix my glasses and smiles shyly when my feline eyes meets her doe ones. "dance with me!" i couldn't say no, i know she won't let me say no. so i timidly nodded my head and i congratulate myself for making the right decision when she grins. here's one thing i love about lalisa manoban: she pushes me out of my comfort zone. she's the right person to force me around things i should be doing, discovering, however scared and uncomfortable i am. besides, there's nothing wrong about showing your hidden talent to an astounded audience.

so i loosen myself up after she captures a photo of me: her on top of the chair while i remained seated, looking up into the lens. i dance around with her, let her twirl me and carry me around. then, some bold enough grooved with us, and then some more.

here's another thing i love about lalisa manoban: she doesn't care about what other people thinks.