The next day of work was, well, eventful.
Delilah and I opened the shop up in the morning, casually lounging around like we always did. She wouldn't stop thanking me for yesterday, saying that she and Nate had such a nice time together. I wanted to thank her for leaving, or else I never would've met Mason.
It was pathetic, but as soon as I got to my apartment last night, I was thinking about what I would wear to work, how I would do my hair, makeup, everything. I imagined what would happen when Mason came in, and it kind of made me crazy. I kept trying to tell myself that we were just beginning to be friends. I mean, we met yesterday after all.
"What's on your mind?" Delilah asked. I had been a little spaced out all morning.
"Nothing, I'm just a little distracted." I assured her truthfully.
A few customers came in and browsed around, but didn't end up buying anything. Then a set of teenagers came in and tore the sale section up again, but at least they bought a few each. This was the usual everyday thing. It was a pretty easy job. There was never too much to do, never too many customers.
I kept looking at the door, waiting for Mason to walk in, but he never showed. Delilah kept asking me if I was okay, and I gave her the same answer each time.
"Yeah, just distracted like I said before."
"Iris, I see you staring at the door. Are you expecting someone or something?" She pressed.
"No." I answered a little too quickly.
"That's a yes." She sing-songed.
I sighed. I guess it wasn't a huge deal, so why not tell her, right? "Okay fine."
"Is it a long story?"
"Kind of." I shrugged.
"Good, because we have hours until we get out of here. Go." She prompted.
"Yesterday while you and Nate went out, this guy came in and bought a record. He was really cute."
"Oooh!" Delilah clapped her hands together.
"Right. So I was just kind of taking in his features, but then he basically called me out for checking him out, and then gave me a twenty, and left without waiting for the change."
Delilah motioned for me to go on.
"After work, I went to that Chinese restaurant I told you about. And guess who walked in."
"No way." She laughed in disbelief.
"He accused me of following him but guess he was just joking, and didn't think I was weird because he ended up sitting with me and we started talking. It turns out he's a really nice guy. We talked for a while and then he bought my dinner. He said I could make it up to him, and then asked me when my shift is, so he's supposed to be coming in today." I smiled as I replayed yesterday's events in my head.
"That's so cute!" Delilah grinned.
I shrugged. "It's kind of weird, but a good weird I guess."
"Now I understand why you smell like you've dumped an entire bottle of perfume on yourself." My friend scrunched her nose as she laughed at my reaction to her snide comment. She wasn't wrong, though. I wanted to smell nice and figured the perfume would ware off as the day went on. Apparently I was wrong.
"I may have gone overboard, but at least I don't smell like a dumpster, right?"
"Don't flatter yourself." I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice I had been waiting to hear. How much had he heard of that conversation? Shit.
"Mason." My eyes widened and I could feel my cheeks start to heat up.
"Miss me?" Mason smirked. I did my absolute best not to check him out but he made it pretty impossible.
I could actually feel Delilah's not so discreet smile radiating off of her face even though my eyes were glued to Mason. I wanted to tell her to leave before she embarrassed me, but for some odd reason I was just too compelled with the fact that Mason was here to say much of anything.
"So, you two know each other I'm guessing." Delilah played dumb while I just stood there like an idiot.
Mason shrugged and glanced at me. "You could say that."
"What brings you to the shop today? Can I help you find anything?" She asked.
"Actually, I came here to see Iris." He nodded his head toward me. "Is it okay if I borrow her for lunch?"
"Borrow me, huh? I'm not a library book." I stuck my tongue out at him and watched his smile spread.
"Never said you were, I just-"
Delilah cut Mason off with her loud voice. "Go ahead, have some fun, you two!"
Before I knew it, Delilah was pushing me from behind the counter and basically forced me to stand next to Mason. I would have gladly done it on my own if she had given me two seconds to collect my thoughts and realize that I was about to spend my lunch break with the insanely attractive guy who bought me dinner last night.
Within a few minutes, I was walking alongside Mason on the sidewalk.
"Thanks for rescuing me. It's been a really slow day." I said.
Mason turned his head to me and smiled again. "It's my pleasure, but it wasn't like it was a surprise, Miss whole bottle of perfume." I stopped in my tracks as soon as I heard the words come out of his mouth.
"You heard that?"
I could tell by the way Mason was grinning that the answer was definitely a yes.
"God, that's so embarrassing." I put my face in my hands and shook my head in terror. Why was I so prone to things like this, exactly?
"Don't worry, Iris." Mason's voice softened as he got a hold of my wrists and pulled my hands from my face. "Let's forget about it, okay?"
I huffed and nodded, feeling like a child, but it was genuinely humiliating that he heard Delilah and I talking. I forced myself to suck it up and try to forget about it by distracting myself. "Where are we going again?"
"You'll see in a minute. It's one of my favorite hidden spots aside from the Chinese place. With all of the people here in this city, I'm surprised people still waste their time on Panda Express when they could have the real thing."
"Exactly." I agreed. Like I had noticed last night, Mason and I had a lot of similar opinions and preferences. He just seemed like a perfect guy who seemed to at least want to be my friend.
"Alright, now we have to go down a few alleys unless we want to walk all the way around and miss it." He warned me. I didn't feel scared at all though, because something about Mason gave me comfort and made me feel safe.
"Okay." I replied coolly.
We cut through a few alleys, which were not exactly my cup of tea to be perfectly honest. Mason seemed to know this place like the back of his hand. He even greeted a homeless man as we passed him. "Hey Jim." He said.
I turned my face to Masons to give him an odd look, but he just smiled that cute smile and I forgot all about this weird situation I was in. I was starting to wonder how in the world I was repaying him. Was he about to shove me into a sack and throw me into the nasty sewer or something?
"Look, I can tell you're freaked out by your facial expression, but we're here so there's no need to worry." Mason's raspy voice tore me from my paranoia and I realized we were standing in front of a tiny coffee shop.
"Oh." He opened the door for me and I smiled in hoping he took that as a thank you. I was a lot less shy in my head, but something about life muted my words.
As soon as I was inside I was hit with a strong aroma that I recognized as espresso. I wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but I did love the smell of it. It reminded me of my dad who drank it in the morning and oddly enough, the night.
"Mason!" The barista greeted the guy next to me as if they were brothers.
"Hey Connor." Mason nodded his head toward him and led me up to the counter so I could see the menu. He turned to me. "So I remember you telling me you didn't like coffee last night..."
"So you brought me to a coffee shop." I finished.
"No, this place actually has the worst coffee I've ever had." He said.
"Hey!" Connor interjected with an offended look on his face, making both of us laugh.
"The coffee isn't what's good here. It's the tea and pastries that are incredible."
"Alright, what can I get for you two?" Connor approached us with a slight scowl on his face because of what Mason had said.
"I'll have the usual." Mason told him. What's with this guy and his usuals?
"For you?" Connor looked at me expectantly.
"Uh, I'll get the same." I blurted without thinking. I really hoped Mason didn't get something nasty. We eventually sat down to wait for our orders to come, Mason sitting across from me just like he had last night.
"How do you know you'll like my usual?" He smirked.
"I don't." I shrugged. "I trust your taste, though."
"You trust me already. Huh." Mason looked a little stumped as if this was something quite unusual and strange.
"Should I not?"
"Considering the fact that you've only known me for less than a day if that, no. Do you realize that we're basically strangers apart from knowing a few things about each other?"
"Are you saying I shouldn't trust you then?" I was becoming more and more aware that we weren't talking about ordering from a coffee shop anymore.
"No, but-" He paused. "It's just that I usually have to earn people's trust."
I wondered why, but I didn't get a chance to ask because Connor- apparently the only employee working at the moment- came with our drinks and pastries. It turned out that Mason's usual was just a Chai tea and a croissant.
Before Mason could change the conversation I added one thing. "Looks like you're getting a break Mr. Usual, because you've got my trust."