Chapter 2

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You rubbed your tired eyes and rolled over. You had unpacked and stayed up too long frantically telling your best friend back in Missouri about your interaction with Mark. You only got 4 hours of sleep, and now you had to be up. After almost falling out of bed, you decided you needed coffee, it was the only way to "wake up" if that was even possible now. After leisurely dressing, you grabbed your laptop and took off, but stopped short in the hall.

"Hey! Morning Y/N." Mark stood in his apartment, wearing a black jacket, looking adorable.

"Oh h-hey! Good morning to you to. Um, do you know of the nearest coffee shop?"

"Yeah, it's the Crumb Cafe. I'll take you there, happens to be where I'm heading."

"T-thanks."

Stunned, you followed Mark down the stairs. He was so kind, helpful, sweet. The wonderful adjectives describing him just kept on growing. You fell in step behind him as he guided you through the crowded city. When you got to street level, it seemed as if hundreds of people roamed the sidewalks all at once. Everyone seemed to be swaying and jeering through the sidewalks, glaring at you. Cars covered the street with loud sounds and obnoxious noise. It felt like the city was caving in on you, it was so much different than what you thought. You had imagined palm trees and highways, not street lights and advertisements. This place felt like hell, too many people, too little space. Maybe that was what LA was gonna be like. Maybe you had to get over it.

You and Mark slipped past the crowds and into the coffee shop, which was surprisingly small. However, it was cozy, that you couldn't deny.

"Thank you so much! I would die of anxiety out there by myself. It's oddly... packed." You exclaimed.

"Yeah, of course! Happy to help. Where are you from? The streets there are probably a lot calmer." Mark smiled at you and ordered a cup of coffee.

"I'm from a small suburb in Missouri. This place for me is like a stadium of people all at once. What about you?" You said, ordering as well.

"Huh, never been. I'm from Ohio. Here, sit with me." Mark gestured at a booth.

Blushing furiously, you sat down in the booth. "I went there on a work venture once since I'm a journalist. It's a nice place. Where in Ohio?"

Mark brought the coffees to your table, and sat across from you. "Oh, in Cincinnati," he paused and took a sip of his coffee "You're a journalist? What newspaper?"

"Back in Missouri, I worked for the Columbia Missourian. I'm currently looking for a job."

"Well, we do have the LA Times, of course."

"I'll have to investigate. What about you? What do you do for a living?"

"Oh... I, ah," He hesitated,  "I work in the entertainment field."

Certainly got the looks for it, you thought. "Nice," suddenly realizing that he probably came here to work, you began getting up. "Oh, I'm sorry if I'm holding you back from doing work. I can leave, I should probably start looking up jobs soon anyway..."

Mark refused. "No no no, not at all, you can stay, I don't have much to do, and in any case, I might be able to help you find a job."

"Oh okay. Thank you." You eased down into your seat and placed your laptop on the table, criticizing yourself for being so awkward. Mark was so wonderful, and it was a miracle he actually wanted to talk to you.

Opening your laptop, you began searching for the LA times, seeing as you knew little about the city. Skimming a couple pages, you found the LA times' site. You sat back surprised as you read about the newspaper. It was, as the website stated "...the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 1.4 million and 2.5 million on Sunday, more than 22 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly and a combined print and online local weekly audience of 4.1 million."

"Oh." You muttered, sitting back. Well that wasn't an option.

"Huh?" Mark said as he looked up from his laptop. He must have heard you.

"The LA times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country. There is no way I can get a job with them." You sighed as you exited the website and searched up other journalism jobs.

"Don't be discouraged! I'm sure you're talented enough to get a job with the LA times! Believe in yourself." Mark smiled as he spoke, which made you blush.

"Thank you." You uttered looking again at your laptop screen. You couldn't let Mark see you blush, it was too embarrassing.

Mark resumed his work, but you couldn't stop but drift back to Mark's kind words, his sweet voice. Peeking up, you looked over at Mark. He was absolutely spectacular person, in every aspect you could be. It had only been 2 days, and yet you were crushing on him majorly. He believed in you. And that meant the world to you.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

You have been requesting an update, and I am so sorry I haven't. I lost faith in the story for a while. Here's the second chapter, I know it's terrible, but if you could leave feedback (i don't mind if it's harsh, i need to improve my work) that would be amazing of you. I plan on a lot more frequent updates. Okay, thanks!

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