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Chapter 8- First Day Jitters

All these thoughts had plagued her mind when Bridget had asked about her family. She had zoned out and was lucky she didn't start to tear up. And she had answered her question with a simple, "I haven't talked to my family in years." Bridget, thankfully, sensing she didn't want to go there, instead asked if she had wanted another beer. And she gladly accepted.

She regretted it now as she ordered her coffee and tried to fight off the pounding headache she had. She had only had two beers but, unfortunately, she was a real lightweight. She was tipsy by the end of her first. Knowing nothing but truth spills out when you get to much of the liquid courage, she cut herself off. Luckily she wasn't hung over, like poor Bridget who had been slumped at the desk this morning being yelled at by angry tenants.

But she still had a nasty headache though.

She took her drink and egg and biscuit sandwich from the cashier with a smile and a "Thank you" then headed to her usual spot near the window. She had been coming here every morning since she discovered the place. Man did they have good coffee.

She sat silently staring out the window, munching on her biscuit and sipping her coffee, thinking about the day ahead of her. She was nearly done with her biscuit when a familiar voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"Mind if I join you?"

She paused mid-chew on her last bite of her biscuit and looked up at the handsome man staring down at her. His lips were pulled up into a smile and he had an amused glint in his eyes. Probably at the Chipmunk cheeks she had produced when she had stuffed the last piece of her food into her mouth.

With her hand covering her full mouth, she spoke through the food and her fingers and said, "Not at all. "She motioned to the seat in front of her. "Make yourself comfortable." Realising how un-lady-like what she was doing was, she swallowed her food and took a nervous sip from her still warm coffee to wash it down. And hide her red cheeks.

Brian chuckled before sitting in the seat across form her with his own coffee and cheese and ham croissant. "You're cute." He said unwrapping his food.

India placed her cup down and rested her elbows on the table top. She kept her head down as she felt his eyes on her. Man was he making her nervous.

After the day they had kissed, she had cursed herself for being so stupid. For many reasons. For telling him so much about herself therfore essentially opening herself up to get hurt. For flirting with him and allowing him to kiss her. For kissing him back. And worst of all, for thinking they could be anything shy of frineds. There was no way she could be in any type of intimate relationship. Not without her past coming to light. There would always be secrets and he'd always be suspicious and asking questions. Questions she wouldn't and couldn't answer. And then he'd have to find out on his own. And that would be worse. He'd find something he didn't want to. That she didn't want him too. And then anything they had would be long forgotten. And she'd be an outcast yet again.

And she didn't want that. She wanted to forget about her past. To start over. And that would be pretty hard to do if everyone knew who she really was. Yeah she knew you couldn't run from your past forever but she'd run for as long as she could. Even if that meant picking up and moving at the first sign that someone knew something. Even if that meant never settling down. Even if she had to run forever.

She had already made the mistake of getting too close to Bridget. She wouldn't get to close to Brian too. Because she knew leaving someone you had been with romantically was a lot harder than leaving a friend.

Brian began talking and pulled India from her thoughts. "So you ready for your first day?"

She looked up at him as she answered but stopped mid sentence as she saw him. She burst into laughter.