Just Hold On

Chapter Two♡

It was a Thursday morning, meaning it was one of the four days a week I was not volunteering. Though I enjoyed my days at the shelter, my hours would end when August would come.
I had just woken up and was getting dressed into a pair of white denim shorts and a yellow ruffle tank. It was to be a nice and warm summer day spent with my friends Kate and Ashley. I was meeting them at our local café, "Beignents, rires et café".

My hair was chocolate brown and naturally wavy so I decided to throw it up into a loose ponytail, leaving a few stray hairs out to frame my face. While doing so, I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror. Looking straight into my own eyes felt weird but somehow needed. I wasn't staring at myself because I was vain or anything but since a few days before when the guy at the shelter, "Kian" had been staring at me, I guess I just felt kind of weird. I was never someone who flaunted always thinking they were gorgeous but I wasn't terribly insecure either. I was just, well, me. I wasn't sure I was quite "staring" material.

I grabbed my wallet and sunglasses off of the hooked shelf near my doorway and threw on my old blue sneakers on my way out the door. Leaving a crack of the door open, I called upstairs to my mom telling her that I was leaving. Then off I went.

The café was around 10 minutes away from my house. I passed many old buildings that were now turned into things like art galleries and bed and breakfasts. Sunlight beamed onto the back of my shoulders probably leaving unreasonable tan lines. It was fairly breezy out but with my hair back and out of my face, I could only feel the ponytail bounce from side to side.

Approaching the door of the café, I saw a familiar face exit with a coffee in his hand. It was Kian. He saw me strolling towards the door and started making conversation.
"You," he said, "Mallory! From the animal shelter. My mom loves her dog by the way."
"That's good," I said, "So how's it goin?"
This conversation was pretty awkward but I didn't care much. He was talking to me. A really cute guy was willingly talking to me and that I cared about.
"Oh it was good," he replied, kind of confusing me.
" Was?" I asked.
" Well now it's even better," he added, " Now seeing you it's so much better!"
I blushed. Or at least I think I was blushing. Who knows? Maybe my whole entire face was red and I was just making a fool of myself... again.
" Would you mind if I used an astonishingly cheezy pickup line on you?" He asked, laughing through his words.

" Well, if that's your thing, go for it," I said, also partially laughing. His face had gone red while he tried to say it. It was adorable; really.
"I-I lost my number, can I have yours?" Kian said laughing hysterically. By the end if it we had both outraged in laughter. Not because his pickup line was extremely funny, though it was cute. We were laughing because of the just overall awkwardness and weirdness of the situation. Or at least I was.

" Sure!" I said. He then handed me his phone and I entered it in. There was a moment of silence where we stood staring into each other's eyes, smiling. His hair was up into a red bandana and was wearing a black t-shirt.
"I'll call you," he finally said.
After we said our good-byes, I walked on into the rustic café. My friends were waiting by the counter.
"Who is THAT?" Ashley asked, smirking.
" He's so cute!" Kate added.
"That," I said," That's Kian."