my friend, taylor, excitedly dragged me out my bed by my arm. i rubbed my heavy eyes and adjusted my shirt as she called an uber.
"what are you doing?" i asked her, half asleep.
"i'm tired. you're tired," she started, "slightly more than me," she said under her breath, "so i say we go get coffee."
i nodded and gave her a thumbs up. i left my room to go get ready. after i showered and brushed my teeth, i threw on a hoodie and some jeans along with light makeup. i had no idea what to do with my hair, so i just straightened it and walked out of the bathroom.
taylor was already at the front door ready to leave. i quickly put on my sneakers and started running through the house to get to her. we hopped in the uber and started off to starbucks.
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after the short ride, we thanked the driver and got out. taylor ran ahead to grab the door for me and impatiently stood in line. the boy in front of us took forever to order. taylor was ready to yell after a few minutes. when he finally finished, it was out turn to order. taylor requested a complex drink. i would hate to be a barista serving her, to be honest. i simply ordered a caramel frappe.
as we waited for our drinks, the boy that was ahead of us in the line went to grab the ones he ordered. he grabbed three cups off of the counter and started off. we learned that his name was finn. we could barely hear in the crowded and noisy café.
when we heard the lady behind the counter call our names, we rushed over to grab our drinks. when we turned around to find a seat, we quickly realized that there were no empty tables. in the corner of my eye, i saw the boy from before approaching us.
"hey, you can sit with us if you want to." he signaled to his table where two other boys were.
"that would be great, thanks." i said back to him with a smile. he lead us back over and cleared off two seats where we could sit.
he introduced us to the others at the table, wyatt and jack, and we quickly became friends. they were all pretty funny and loud, but finn was the most quiet of them. we continued talking, even after we all finished our drinks.
when taylor checked the time, she realized how long we had been there.
"hey, thanks for inviting us over to this table, i had a blast. my mom will kill me if i stay out any longer, so we've gotta go." she announced. i nodded in agreement as she called an uber.
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when our driver finally arrived, we got up and thanked everybody for letting us sit with them and said our goodbyes. as we walked away, i felt somebody grab my arm, but it wasn't taylor this time. it was finn.
"hey, i was thinking we could meet again sometime?" he looked at me with big eyes. i smiled and nodded.
"sounds great." i replied, pulling my phone out of my pocket. i opened my contacts app and handed him the device. after he entered his number, he handed back my phone with a smile. he handed me his, and i did the same.
"see you around, finn." i smiled at him as i walked off, back to the uber.
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when we were in the car again, taylor kept smiling at me.
"what's up?" i asked her skeptically.
"you and finn. he obviously likes you." she said with a giant grin on her face.
"yeah, right." i said, rolling my eyes at her.
"how did you not notice him staring at you?" she asked me. "he was so quiet too. how could you not notice?" i remembered how he was so unlike his friends in the sense that he was quiet and withdrew from some conversations. whenever i looked over at him, i would see him quickly move his glance to the wall.
"i see where you're coming from now." i told her understandingly. right after that, my phone dinged. i pulled it out to see finn's name on my screen. when i opened the text, only a few words appeared on my screen.
'are you busy on saturday?'