Café Red (Ziall)

Good Grief

Author's Note: Here is chapter two! I've decided I may be updating on a daily basis or every other day, for whatever reason I can't do it on a daily basis. I hope you all enjoy xo.                    

                   Niall found himself staring. It was a little unintentional, but complicated not to. It was the table furthest from the counter, the one with the outside view; the one that allowed the sun to illuminate beautifully onto the stranger's fair skin. Niall had been working there for three days and the man had been coming there everyday since; relaxed and entwined with whatever work-related obligations he had that day. Sometimes, Niall would try to rationalize an excuse in his head, trying to conjure up something good enough, so that he could go over and converse with the man, or perhaps be a little nosey. The lines between the two were kind of blurry, but he didn't want to overstep any boundaries. After all, even in a public place, the man was entitled to some sense of privacy. His physicality enticed Niall today the most, out of all three days. The stranger came in with sweats just a little past his ankles, some sandles, one of those v-neck shirts, and a beanie over his unkempt hair. Sure, a man in a suit would make anyone swoon, but Niall decided he liked the guy's lack of effort to be highly presentable. "Either you're staring or you're daydreaming." Niall's thoughts were interrupted by his meddlesome manager and the rose tint on his cheeks quickly faded. Mood killer. Fool. He turned towards Harry, a skittish expression written across his face. "Never seen him around before," Harry said, eyes fixated on the busy man across the way. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that your lunch break starts...," he began, looking at his watch for a silent moment, "now! Yeah, now . . . off you go."

                    The bell chimed the moment Niall walked into the bookstore. He had stumbled across the odd architectural aspects of it while walking down the strip. He had a fascination for things with abnormal, eye-catching qualities and he couldn't resist walking in. It was kind of cluttered, books stacked atop of another rather than placed neatly on the shelves; and it had a scent that reminded him of his antic back at his parents' home. He gave a small wave to the owner, and then headed down the first aisle on his right. There was a halt in his step as he caught sight of the raven-haired boy standing at the other end of the aisle, one hand in his pocket while the other traced the titles of the paperback novels. Niall was stunned and a little breathless; no inkling of how the stranger had managed to get there before him or when he even left the café; and if his beauty was too unrealistic before, Niall was now starting to think that he was a figment of his imagination. Sure, Harry had seen the man too, earlier at the café, but Harry is Harry; a little mental and too happy for his own good. Yeah, that all makes sense. Niall's initial thought was to make a run for it, dash out of the store as discreetly as possible, and then hide out in the storage room of the café; and as he was walking backwards, his shoelaces betrayed him, causing him to fall backwards onto his butt. That caught the man's attention. Niall groaned, cheeks crimson from embarrassment and shame and maybe some idiocy because, what grown man walks around with his shoes untied? "Are you okay?" Niall didn't have much time to process anything, the man already too close for comfort, hand extending towards him. He willingly accepted it, face a little scrunched up from the mild pain.

                    "Yeah, thanks," Niall exhaled. For the first time since standing back up, Niall fixated his attention on the raven-haired guy, suddenly feeling too nervous and too small; and still to embarrassed to conjure up anything to say. "Uh . . . I have to g-go - get back to work," he mumbled. So, he ran with whatever little sense of dignity he had left. Zayn chuckled and shook his head.