Count The Stars

ten

I decided I would take her to a cafe in the city. Much to a lot of people's surprise, I loved cities. Yes, I had claustrophobia, a fear of strangers, and I was always terrified I'd be picked up by some random guy on the street and taken to a warehouse where I'd spend the rest of my life, but other than that I loved it there. Nobody really paid attention to me as they hurried along to wherever they needed to be. Cities were the perfect place to blend in, which was just what I wanted.

My favourite part about going uptown was the tube to get there. I always saw unique people no matter where I was going. It was sort of fascinating to think about all the people squished into one train car leading different lives. I wondered if the lady in the suit was on her way to a very important meeting, or if that man was carrying flowers to the person he was going to propose to. I put myself in other people's shoes for the short amount of time we were underground, and I made up stories about how their life is and how their mind works.

A week or so after I'd talked to her about meeting up, Grace and I were sitting in the uncomfortable plush seats on the tube, holding onto the sticky handle bars as it started and stopped. We watched people go in and out without saying much. She would tell me something, and I'd give the shortest answer possible.

"I used to take the train to school."

"Nice."

"Yeah. Do you take it downtown a lot?"

"Not as much as I'd like to."

And then we'd go back to silently staring forward.

I haven't even gotten to the cafe and I'm already messing up. Just be normal, it's not that hard.

But for some reason, it was that hard. I'd spent hours preparing for this. I thought up a whole list of chat up lines and questions that would kick off the easy banter, but my brain was giving out on me.

"Do you want to play a game?" I finally asked after giving up hope on remembering what I studied.

"Okay. How do you play?"

I glanced around the cabin until my eyes landed on someone. A girl who didn't look much older than us was talking very obnoxiously into her mobile, obviously angry with the poor kid on the other end of the line.

I nodded in her direction, a small smile making its way onto my face. "What's that girls story?"

She paused. "Realistic?"

"Doesn't have to be."

"Alright then..." she thought for a minute, then smiled. "Her name is Becky, but that's just her cover up. She's actually a spy, and the guy she's talking to is her parter. He just fucked up the mission, and she's on her way to save London and clean up his mistakes," she explained after only a minute of thinking.

"Shit," I said, "you caught on fast."

"I'm very good at games," she said, giving me a toothy grin.

"You should write a movie."

"I don't think a movie would do my storytelling justice," she joked, flipping her braids over her shoulder confidently.

I chuckled. "You're right."

It was her turn to subtly peer around, studying everyone. Eventually, she let a giggle slip past her lips and she pointed to a normal looking man in a suit, sitting cross legged with a giant bag on his lap.

I raised an eyebrow. "Him?"

"No. The bag," she said, covering up another giggle with the sleeve of her jumper.

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but I cut myself off with a gasp just as the bag on the man's lap started to jiggle. Then, a small head popped out from the top and yipped.

"Holy shit!" I whispered to Grace, who was biting her lip to keep from laughing and drawing the attention from the other (somewhat) quiet passengers. "He's got a dog!"

"It's a sign," she told me after we were both confident enough that we could talk without bursting out in laughter.

"What?"

"We were blessed with the presence of a dog," she explained, gesturing to the little puppy who was looking around the tube in awe, "which means this date is gonna go well."

I couldn't help but grin, my cheeks heating up and most likely tomato red. I restarted our game before I could say anything stupid and ruin the perfection that was that moment.

We didn't have another awkward silence for the rest of the day. Yes, it was mostly Grace talking, but I gave myself credit for responded like I didn't have a crippling fear of saying the wrong thing. In fact, I didn't mention anxiety once. I told her about football, school, parents, and everything that you would talk about on a date, but I made sure to leave out the bits about my mental health, as it's probably not a good way to get girls. I left out Adam as well, other than when she asked who my mates were and I listed Blake, my team, and threw him in because we were proper friends now.

I learned that Grace was a dancer and had been since she was a baby. She moved from Chicago over summer holiday because her parents had always dreamed of living in England.

"Summer here is a lot different," she said, "in Chicago, it was like, 90° everyday."

My eyes widened at that. "That's fucking wild. How are you alive?"

"Fahrenheit, Eli."

That was the only time I felt stupid during the entire date. Time flew by quickly, and by the time I had driven her home (my dad was happy to loan me the car when I told him it was for a girl), it was almost 11:00.

"I had a lot of fun," she told me as she touched my arm softly.

"Y-yeah. Me too," I stammered out, because I'm an idiot.

"Let's do it again sometime?" She suggested before pressing a soft kiss onto my cheek and skipping up her driveway before I could even answer.

Even though she was inside, I still said: "For sure."

<><><>

Happy ten chapters!

This one is cute. I like it. What are your opinions on Eli and Grace?

So summers over and that sucks BUT I'm still gonna update every 5-7 days so that's cool.

Make sure to comment and vote and add to your library so you never miss an update. Thanks for reading!!

~Teddy