Invisible String

Chapter Three - Ain't It Just So Pretty To Think

By the time she had acknowledged she was being completely ridiculous, she was already in the car, driving to God only knew where.

The sudden onslaught of rain made it hard to see and while under typical circumstances, she loved a good thunderstorm, driving it one was an entirely different story altogether. She clutched the wheel, white knuckled and prayed to make it to the intended destination in one piece.

That particular Starbucks was her favorite. It was tucked on the far outer reaches of town and the baristas were the absolute best, aiding her with privacy whenever she happened to show up. The little table in the corner was "hers" and when she raced out of the truck and hit the ground running, it was no big surprise that no one was occupying it. Or any table, for that matter. It was a ghost town.

Which was absolutely perfect. Once she ordered her usual and chatted a little with the very sweet barista, the whole place was hers to sip her drink, throw in her Airpods and try like hell to break out of the funk she'd gotten herself into.

She hadn't looked up when the door opened. She wasn't visible from the entry way and no one was brave enough to come out in that kind of weather was going to give a shit about what she was doing; they were just going to get their order and get out.

Still, in a reflexive protective measure, she tugged the hood of her sweatshirt over her head tightly, kept her sunglasses on. Later, she realized how badly it was drawing extra attention when she was attempting to detract from it, but it didn't end up mattering.

The commotion when the coffee fell to the floor had her immediately up and out of her seat. She supposed that was a reflex, too... worried he'd gotten burned in the chaos.

What she hadn't expected, what she'd never banked on was to kneel down with a stockpile of napkins and glance up into the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen on anyone. For a good minute, she was unable to speak, unable to move.

The way he had looked at her, like he knew her was difficult to explain, even to herself. It wasn't recognition, per say, like how it would happen when someone did a double take, having that inner debate if she was indeed who they thought.

It was the familiarity, how his eyes crinkled when he smiled, like they had somehow always knew the other.

If she has had any sort of sense, she would've kept him talking...asked him to sit down. Gotten to the bottom of why it was that there was such a sense of warmth surrounding him, like he was someone she'd grown up with, coexisted alongside of.

It wasn't until later that she had come to the conclusion that it felt like that because she did know him, in a sense, even if it was only through the world of his films.

Pushing the entirety of the days events to the back of her mind had served her just fine until now.

It would do her well, she reasoned, after showering and changing into comfortable sweats, to not think about the why of the matter so much. She had hightailed it out of there so quickly, the poor guy hadn't gotten a chance to get a word in and immediately dismissed the encounter because she was highly skilled in avoidance.

It's weird, what the heart and mind choose to ignore and what they don't.

Part of her wants to call Bobby, see what he knows about him, have him do a little digging about what he's like as a person. She's only ever heard good things around, but she's curious.

At least that's what she's going to tell herself.

She catches sight of her ring again and that stirs up a kind of remote guilt over her line of thinking. Bobby, bless his heart, would do just about anything for her, but not without wanting the reason behind it. It would definitely arouse suspicions and goddamn, she obviously can't come up with anything solid because she has no fucking clue why her brain is imploding like this.