I Love You a Latte

Chapter Five

           

Chapter Five

"Please open your books to chapter five!" announced Mr Clementine at the beginning of our nine o'clock lecture on Monday morning.

The flicking of pages filled the inhabited silence of the air-conditioned classroom. I was so excited that we had finally begun to read one of the first books on our syllabus, Jane Eyre. The only thing that I wasn't so thrilled about was the fact that we were each given parts to read in the novel. This time, I was appointed the role of Jane. Nevertheless, I did feel it a true privilege to be playing such a strong, female character from one of the most renowned novels of all time!

Once the next few chapters had been read and analysed, the bell rang to signify that it was Kiki, Lilly and I's favourite part of the day – lunch time. As we were exiting the building to head across to the other side of campus, I noticed that a bunch of people were handing out flyers.

"A Halloween party extravaganza!" exclaimed Lilly, as we each stood staring at the leaflets in our hands.

"Well, are you guys up for a boogie?" I enquired whilst gesturing towards the flyer and breaking in to one of my best Saturday Night Fever dance moves.

Kiki responded with the enthusiasm of an over-excited puppy. "Yasss girl – I'm totally up for a party! What about you, Lilly?"

"Um, any excuse to dress up and I'm in!" exclaimed Lilly, whose face became a picture of happiness whilst examining the flyer in more detail.

After lunch, we attended our scheduled classes as per usual. Within the Creative Writing course, we also had classes with Ms Strasbourg. Despite her small, thin structure and fair complexion, she was one of the loveliest people I had ever met.  Once Ms Strasbourg's lesson on the art of medieval writing had been accomplished and all student exercises were successfully completed, class was dismissed.

"Wow! It's only 3:10pm – we usually don't finish until four o'clock!" murmured Kiki, unlocking her phone to see what time it was.

Considering it was a beautiful, sunny day, we decided to take a walk and explore the local neighbourhood that surrounded our campus. As we strolled along the intricately paved footpaths of each avenue, Kiki, Lilly and I had already started to plan the costumes that we would wear to the party that was going to be happening on campus.

"Hmm, how about we do something as a group?" I suggested, whilst continuing to think about what we could all dress up as.

Both Kiki and Lilly seemed taken with the idea. Picking into the realms of my brain, I continued. "Perhaps we could dress as a famous trio?"

"Oooh, how about Rachel, Phoebe and Monica from Friends?" proposed Kiki. Lilly was very much taken on the idea, but I on the other hand was not.

"Okay, let me see..." said Lilly, giving herself time to think before forming the next part of her sentence. "How about Charlie's Angels?"

"Um... yeah, I suppose that could be good – we'll add it to our list of potentials!" I replied, still not sold on the whole Charlie's Angels thing.

After pondering upon a slope of endless possibilities, we finally came to a favourable agreement. Once our round of celebratory high-fives had eventually subsided, we wound up on one of my favourite streets – 'Avenue De Madeline'.

Suddenly, I gulped. Kiki was about to ask me if everything was okay, until she too had favoured this notion. Ahead of me was the sign that read 'Je t'aime Un Latte'.

"Oh, yeah! This is where you said the coffee shop was – I completely forgot!" blurted Kiki, turning her head towards me.

"Oh god Kiki, what if he's here?" I retorted, almost being blown away by the return of my old companion - anxiety.

Lilly looked at me with deep concern. "I know you don't want to, but if he is here then now's your chance to get to know him!" she uttered.

Before I knew it, I was being ushered into the coffee shop once we had reached the entrance where all of the decadent plant pots were hung. I stood at the counter, feeling as fragile as a tiny mouse. I knew there was a few people sitting down at the tables behind me, but I was too scared to look.

"Ahhh, madame!" exclaimed Pierre, who had come out from the back of his lovely little shop.

I gave him a brief smile, so brief that he probably thought I was being rude. But I couldn't help it. My mind was being clouded with the thought that Sebastian might be breathing the exact same air as me in that particular moment of time. Through a sideward glance, I noticed that Kiki and Lilly were still outside the coffee shop. I knew I had to turn around. Okay, here goes nothing...

"Holy crap! Uh, je suis vraiment mademoiselle!" pronounced a very deep and refined voice, yet one that I had already heard before. Why is it that every time I turn around, I feel like he's there?

My entire body froze as there, right in front of me, stood none other than Sebastian Le Bras. As I looked down, I noticed that his hands were leaning against the tops of both my shoulders.

Please don't recognise me, please don't recognise me, please don't recognise-

"Wait... Rosie?" he asked. Ahhh, shoot.

It was officially time to address the elephant in the room... I LIKE YOU SEBASTIAN LE BRAS. Of course, this was the conversation that I had played out in my head a million times already, but did I actually say those words to him? Not exactly...

"Oh... uh, Sebastian, right?" I blurted, pretending to sound like I was as cool as a cucumber.

I stood on the spot whilst fumbling with the charms on my bracelet. It was to my surprise that Sebastian picked up on this being a nervous trait of mine. Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel the presence of his heart-warming smile. 

"Those charms are really cool... I like this one." He reached out his hand to grab the tip of the charm that he was referring to. To say that my heart was pumping a hole through my chest would be an understatement. He studied the charm so intricately that we were stood in that position for what felt like an infinity.

This gave me time to study his countenance more closely. Aside from his chiselled features, the glasses and those little pieces of messy brown hair that refused to withstand the gravity of his hair gel, I noticed the gleam of his eyes and the way they creased up at the corners when he smiled even just a little. I had also made the discovery that his eyes were not just brown, but hazel. I was so caught up in the moment that I hadn't realised I had been staring into his eyes with him looking directly at me for a solid five if not ten seconds. I tore myself away from the burning of his gaze, my hands being scolded by the heat of my flustered cheeks.

"My maman has one just like it!" he uttered. I looked at him quizzically, in hopes that he would expand upon what he was talking about. "The charm on your bracelet?"

I paused for a moment, realising just how nervous and flustered I had become. Of course he meant the charm! What on earth is wrong with me?

"Oh yeah, right – the charm!" I replied, feeling stupid for how zoned out I'd become. This time it was him who was looking at me quizzically. He tipped his head to one side whilst giving me one of the cutest smirks I had ever seen.

Could he tell that I liked him? I'm pretty sure he could, but part of me still longed for the hope that he didn't know and that I didn't make it as obvious as what I thought I had done. But who am I kidding? He's probably known I've liked him since that cringe-worthy day in the canteen.

"I was just about to leave... um, but that was until I bumped in to you, of course!" blurted Sebastian, shutting his eyes as if he instantly regretted what he had just said. "Not that I'm, uh, annoyed at bumping in to you or anything!"

He gave me an apologetic glance and I couldn't help but giggle. "I know what you meant, don't worry!"

He looked at me once again, holding my stare until I felt the warmth of my cheeks rise like the burning of a freshly lit candle.

As he made his way towards the door, he stopped. My heart also halted as he came to a standstill. He turned around and grinned. "If you have any song requests for my next video, I'd love to hear them."