It All Started with a Beanie

(16)

Awe, he cares about you.

Oh, shut it.

"Yeah. I figured the worst that could happen is me crying over spilled milk again." A chuckle at the end of my sentence, trying to lighten the mood but Parsons doesn't seem to be amused.

"Just be careful, please." He lowers his voice when he says this, making his words for my ears only. His words flow in one ear and through the other.

I love the sound of his voice.

Is that all you love about him?

"I will." I offer him a small smile, sincerity in my voice. He nods and returns the smile. "Is there a reason you came over here in the first place?"

"I had a question but I can ask it later. You should probably get going. Lexie will probably think you ditched her." He smiles at the end of his statement and I nod. I get in my car and Parsons closes the door from me. He steps away from the vehicle as I put it into drive. As I'm about to pull out of the parking lot, I look in my rearview mirror and notice Parsons standing in the same spot. His eyes were glued to my car and I smile, even though he can't see it.

Since I'm still fairly new to this town, I use GPS to find out where Romero's is. It's actually not too far from my house, maybe a ten minute drive.

When I find a parking space, which I should mention was incredibly hard, I have to walk a good ways until I get to the little café. I immediately know that Lexie is already here, due to the cardinal red color of the Mustang and the name 'Lexie' being printed on the side of the car. To be fair, the car does look amazing.

I walk inside and find that the place is almost completely full. There's maybe one or two open tables and that sends a bit of shock through me. I scan the room and quickly find Lexie, who's waving her hand at me and smiling.

Maybe she's not so bad after all.

"Thank you so much for coming." She says this as she stands up and pulls me in for a hug. I'm stunned at first but awkwardly wrap my arms around her. She gestures that I sit down and I do.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I say as we're both situated in our seats. She chuckles at my question and shakes her head a tiny bit, her curled locks shaking and bouncing to the gesture.

"Right to the point, are we?" She waves over a waitress and they immediately come over.

"Yes?" The waiter asks, giving his full attention to Lexie.

"I'd like a chocolate croissant with a caramel mocha latte in a to-go cup." He nods and quickly writes down her order. "What do you want?" Lexie averts her eyes from the waiter and onto me.

"A blueberry muffin with a Mountain Dew." He nods and quickly goes off to get our food and drinks.

"Interesting choice." She comments under her breath. She raises her eyebrows, as if in disguist. I wave off the comment and try to think positively.

"So why did you want to meet up with me? We're not exactly the best of friends."

Understatement of the year.

"Did you know my cousin owns this place? He's always wanted to open his own restaurant and he just finished culinary school. My uncle happens to be a contractor and my aunt is a realtor so they worked together to-"

"Lexie." I cut her off mid-sentence, annoyed at her ignorance of my question. "I didn't come here to talk about culinary school and your family."

"Right. Sorry." She says this with a bit of an attitude and I swear I saw her roll her eyes. But she quickly gets rid of her slightly sour expressions and sits up straight, plastering a smile on her face. "I wanted to clear the air between us. You seem like a nice person and I feel as if we got off on the wrong foot.