Isaac, Lexi, and their friends arrived at The Bean's Knees the following afternoon. They got their respective orders before looking for a place to sit. They lucked out and managed to snag a large round table that sat deep within the coffee shop. Everyone took their seat while carrying on with their small talk.
"It's so good to be back in NYC again," Felipe remarked as he sat down in his chair.
"I agree," DeShawn said. "Moving in was brutal, though, due to the humidity."
"It was that brutal for Lexi and me yesterday," Nikita confessed.
"Yeah, it's hot as hell out still," Isaac chuckled.
Felipe and his parents had gotten into town just after seven AM that morning, having made the drive to New York City yesterday and crashing in a cheap motel that night. DeShawn showed up at their apartment with his parents in tow before 10 AM. Isaac helped both his best friends move in, but the task had proven more painful than expected. Yesterday's humidity seemed to be just as brutal as today, leaving them all sweaty messes once both men were all moved in.
Fortunately for them, The Bean's Knees had working air conditioning that kept the humid air outside at bay. The college students stay cool as they sipped their drinks and ate their lunches.
"Just walking over here was so hot," Nikita whined.
Lexi nodded. "I agree."
Felipe flashed a confused look. "Aren't you used to this kind of shit?"
"I've never liked humidity," Lexi admitted. "Heat's okay, but humidity is a bitch."
DeShawn suddenly grabbed his phone and then typed a quick reply.
"Is Mariana here?" Felipe asked.
"Yeah, she just arrived," DeShawn replied.
Right on cue, Mariana Bruno strolled to their table with a small smile on her face. Her long red hair was fixed into a long braid. She smiled as she waved her left arm, causing a pink peony tattoo to be exposed on her forearm in the process.
DeShawn got up to hug her, and the two shared a brief kiss on the lips.
"Get a room," Felipe declared, his booming voice cutting through the coffee shop's chill atmosphere.
Nikita smacked his arm while shooting daggers in his direction. Lexi could only snicker at what was unfolding before her very eyes.
"Shut up, dude," Isaac remarked with a sharp tone of voice
Mariana blushed, her light green eyes casting down to the ground. Her extremely fair complexion made her blushing more than a little obvious.
"Oh, I'm kidding!" Felipe exclaimed while stretching his tan arms over his head. "I don't care."
"I know you are," DeShawn said. "You're the last person to comment on someone using PDA."
Felipe became flustered and muttered a curse word under his breath.
The rest of the friends laughed, with Mariana being the loudest. She'd already bought herself a black coffee and a garden salad, which she placed on the table in front of her seat. She ended up sitting between Lexi and DeShawn.
"It's nice to see you guys again," she said as she sat down.
"It's nice to see you too," Isaac replied.
Ever since the big conversation that DeShawn had facilitated last year, Isaac had grown much closer to Mariana. Neither had come out and asked about it, but it was safe to say that they were friends once again. The texts they had exchanged during summer break only consisted of them discussing their respective jobs and relationships. But Mariana also went out of her way to ask how Lexi was doing— something Felipe and DeShawn didn't even do.
By now, Isaac had grown to trust Mariana more than he'd expected. Still, neither brought up Cassie whatsoever during their chats. Even though his ex-girlfriend hadn't tried to contact him this past summer, he didn't want to talk about her— especially to her best friend of all people.
"Is Cassie in town?" DeShawn asked out of the blue.
Of course, he'd ask that, Isaac thought while fighting off a scowl. Then again, he couldn't find it in himself to get mad at his high school friend. DeShawn always played the role of peacemaker in the friend group. But he also could've just been curious about Cassie's current whereabouts.
"She's not here yet, but she will be tomorrow morning," Mariana revealed. "Her dad wasn't able to book a lot of time off to help her out, so it was either tomorrow or nothing. They're gonna drive up tonight, stay in a hotel, and then she'll move in come morning."
"That's kinda what I did today," Felipe said.
Isaac nodded but kept his mouth shut. He glanced at Lexi, who had glanced down at the table. He placed a hand on her thigh, which jolted her out of her thoughts. She flashed an apologetic smile, but no one else seemed to notice that she had briefly zoned out.
Felipe abruptly cleared his throat before staring directly at DeShawn. "Okay, let's get this out of the way 'cause I think all of us are wondering; What the fuck's going on between you two?"
"Felipe, it's none of our business," Nikita argued as she smacked his arm.
"What's the big deal?" Felipe said, shrugging. "Everyone already knows about us being a couple. Wait." He paused to look over at Lexi. "You didn't know, right?"
Lexi smirked softly. "A little bird already told me about it. Congrats, by the way."
Nikita returned a smirk of her own. "Thanks."
DeShawn and Mariana laughed off the exchange between their friends.
"Well? Don't keep us waiting!" Felipe begged.
Nikita went to smack his arm for a second time, but Mariana protested. "It's fine, Nikita. DeShawn and I are a couple, yes."
"It only became 'official', if you will, a month ago," DeShawn added while scratching his head of short black hair.
"That's great to hear," Isaac said. He high-fived his best friend, who also high-fived Felipe.
The women exchanged eye rolls, which led to the table erupting with laughter. Isaac felt any lingering tension or worry melt away in an instant. It felt great to hang out in New York City with his friends and girlfriend. It felt as though things were normal.
"Can you believe that we're gonna be starting our last year at NYU in a few days?" Mariana commented once the laughter finally died down.
Lexi shuddered. "God, I hate thinking about that."
"Do you hate thinking about starting school again, or do you hate that it's our final year of college?" Nikita asked.
"Both, but mostly the second one," Lexi admitted.
"Yeah, I feel the same way," Mariana said with a nervous giggle.
"I'm so ready to graduate," Felipe remarked with a heavy sigh."
"Can we just get through the school year first? I'm not ready to start the real world," Nikita whined.
"You guys will be done school forever this year, but I sure as hell won't be," DeShawn revealed.
"Oh, yeah, you wanna go to med school," Isaac said. "Good for you, man. I couldn't do that."
"Thanks, dude," DeShawn replied.
"I agree with Nikita, though— I wanna get through our final year at school in one piece," Lexi chimed in. "This is our most important year, and I know I wanna make it count."
"Yeah, so do I," Mariana said.
"Well, I would like to make a toast. Here's to all of us having a successful final year at NYU, no matter what," Isaac proclaimed.
"I'll say cheers to that!" Felipe exclaimed.
Everyone lifted their coffees to toast, eager for how this year would play out for all of them.
***
A couple of hours later, lunch finally came to an end. Everyone went their separate ways slowly but surely. Mariana and DeShawn left first for the on-campus bookstore to grab some last-minute school supplies. Nikita and Felipe then decided to take a walk to some hang-out located just off campus for some alone time.
As for Isaac, he and Lexi were walking to her apartment. She had asked him to walk her home, and he had happily accepted her offer. They weren't holding hands due to the humid weather, but they still walked down the sidewalk side by side. They made a little small talk about their summer breaks as the bright sun beamed on them without mercy. A few white clouds milled about in the light blue sky. A couple of people were also out and about today, though not nearly as many as there would be on a regular day in New York City.
Isaac suddenly found himself short of breath as he and Lexi carried on with their trek. Sure, this walk to her place allowed them to spend even more time together. But now that they were alone and away from their friends, Isaac could bring up the one thing he hadn't brought up since the awkward phone call they'd had back in April. He hesitated for a minute, but ultimately decided to take the plunge anyway.
"Lexi...I want to talk to you about something important."
Lexi froze in place and craned her head towards him. "What is it?"
"It's about...you know...that phone call. The one we had right after I left NYC last semester."
"Oh... That one."
Isaac chuckled nervously. "Look, I—"
"I'm still surprised you even suggested it in the first place," Lexi interrupted. "It truly caught me off guard."
"Lexi..." Isaac paused to sigh, running his hands over his face. "I'm sorry for rushing things in our relationship. I've been meaning to tell you that for months now. I made a big mistake. I just didn't want to bring it up over the phone again and cause a fight or something."
"You already apologized to me about this, remember? You said sorry in our phone call," Lexi pointed out.
"I know, but I still wanted to apologize to you in person."
"Well, I accept your second apology," Lexi said, giggling before kissing his cheek softly.
Despite the current weather conditions, Isaac grabbed her hand and rested it on his cheek. It felt warm, heating up his fair skin. He dropped it a second later and cleared his throat.
"Isaac, I don't want you to think that I'll never wanna move in with you," Lexi piped up. "That's not the case at all."
Isaac's dark brown eyes brightened up. "Yeah?"
Lexi nodded. "I'm personally not ready to take such a step in our relationship...yet. But I know we'll get there eventually."
Isaac grinned and nodded. "I...I agree. I respect your wishes, babe."
"I know you do, and I appreciate it."
"And I'm sorry for blindsiding you like that."
"Let's move past it, okay? I'm fine, baby— I promise."
Isaac could feel all the tension and nerves leave his body. He planted a kiss on her lips, making sure to savour how sweet she tasted.
But from out of nowhere, a loud crack of thunder made the couple jump. The once blue sky had turned into a light shade of grey and was peppered with several dark grey clouds.
"I did hear there was a possibility of a thunderstorm this morning," Lexi said.
Isaac laughed bitterly. "I must've missed that. Come on, we better get going."
The couple began speed walking in a desperate attempt to outrun the thunderstorm that brewed in the sky above. A few more cracks of thunder and a bright jolt of lightning added to their newfound sense of urgency. They were about a block from Lexi's apartment complex when large raindrops began to pour down violently.
Lexi and Isaac ran for cover, but not before being hit by several quarter-sized rain droplets. Lexi's blue tank top and Isaac's white T-shirt were each fairly wet from the sudden storm by the time they finally made it to her apartment unit.
"Why don't you stay here until the storm's over?" Lexi offered. "I'd hate to have you walking home out there while it's raining out so hard."
"I definitely won't say no to that offer. Thank you, babe," Isaac replied.
Once inside her apartment, Isaac scanned its interior. The living room was plain, but it was still furnished well. A large, ugly forest green couch had a white fuzzy throw blanket on it to add a cozy feel despite it being well into summer. A couple of black rugs were spread out across the white tile floor, and a brown wooden coffee table sat square in the living room.
"This is the same place you and Nikita lived in last year, right?"
Lexi nodded. "We love it here."
Isaac's grin quickly turned sly. "Nikita isn't here right now...is she?"
"No, I don't believe so," Lexi said. She paused to inspect Nikita's bedroom since the door was wide open. "Nope, she's not home."
"Do you wanna take advantage of us being alone?" Isaac asked with a newfound grin on his face.
Lexi immediately picked up on what he was suggesting. She locked the front door and nodded. "I'd love to do that."
She then led him to her bedroom and shut the door behind them. The fact that they hadn't seen each other in person for a few months only intensified the already passionate sex. Thunder continued to rumble on outside, and rain poured down onto Lexi's apartment fast and loud. Neither she nor Isaac paid any mind to Mother Nature's fury. They only focused on each other; every gasp, every moan, and every touch didn't go unnoticed by Isaac.
"God, I love you so fucking much," he mumbled into her neck once they'd recovered from their climaxes. Their lovemaking had ceased only moments before.
"I love you too," Lexi replied with a breathy voice. "Let's make this the best year yet."
"Let's do that," Isaac said before planting a tender kiss on her forehead.