chapter two
the whole morning felt like a complete blur to me as i happily walked into starbucks, clutching my phone tightly. at seven am this morning, every parent who had a child at penbrooke high had been informed by text that there was a power outage at school, and therefore all classes were cancelled. morgan started screaming excitedly, turning her music up to full volume, whilst i changed out of my pyjamas and began to get ready for the day.
black, high waisted jeans clung to my legs, which i had paired with a white t shirt that had the gucci logo emblazoned across it. i brought my lips up into a smile as my eyes connected with the barista. troye was emblazoned on a white name tag, and his bleach blonde hair – despite completely clashing with his bottle green uniform – framed his pale complexion, along with a grin.
after ordering a raspberry frappuccino, i perched on one of the leather bar stools, resting my drink on the table and bringing out my phone. i scrolled through my social media as i pondered on how to spend my day of freedom.
my thoughts, however, were interrupted by a loud slurping sound. i snapped my head upwards from my iphone, vision landing on a boy drinking my coffee. the boy sat opposite me ran a hand through his auburn hair as i coughed, gaining his attention. his eyes, a blue green ocean, twinkled as he licked his lips slightly, twisting the straw between his thumb and forefinger.
i almost gasped in disbelief, spluttering 'excuse me?' and reaching for my drink. the boy grinned, pulling the cup away from my grasp with a smirk on his face. 'give me my drink back!' i exclaimed, jaw almost dropping open.
'no,' he said with a soft smile, lifting his head so he stared right into my eyes. at this point i got a proper look at him, with his messy bed head quiff and slight stubble on his jaw line. 'not until you tell me your name, princess.'
i practically choked on air, looking at him like he was ludicrous. 'what? what do you mean, princess?' i stuttered, in complete awe at his insanity, reaching forward again in attempt to redeem what was mine.
the boy shook his head slightly, a wry smile on his lips as he pulled the cup away. 'pink drink, designer clothes, pretty face?' he had this stupid smirk on his lips as he spoke, and i blushed as he articulated the last two words. 'you're definitely a princess, if you ask me.'
my cheeks grew red as my stomach filled with an uneasy feeling. 'well, i didn't ask you, so give me my drink back and go away.' i snapped curtly at him, making him chuckle in disbelief.
'okay, princess, let me start. i'm shane dawson.' he grinned, sticking his hand out towards me. i eyed him carefully, glancing at his clothes. black basketball shorts sat on his hipbones, along with a green t shirt that had some kind of logo i didn't recognise printed in the corner. they didn't look expensive, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was friends with someone like garrett, or his brother. he looked around our age anyway. 'you are...?' he prompted, quirking an eyebrow.
'getting bored, and rather thirsty.' i remarked in irritation, glaring at him. he laughed, perhaps more of a giggle, and set my frappe down on the table in front of us, drinking mockingly, raising one eyebrow at me. impatiently, i sighed and retorted, 'listen, shawn, or whatever you name is–'
'shane.' he corrected. i fully well knew it was shane dawson. the second the name fell out of his lips, it was like it was being played on loop in my head. his cheeks hollowed as he sucked on the straw of my now half-empty drink, and his eyes flicked upwards and connected with mine, making my stomach churn.
why was i feeling like this? like i was on a theme park ride, or about to go down a water slide; full of adrenaline.
'i'm not sure what you want,' i eyed his lips, cherry red from how much he'd bitten them in the last few minutes of confrontation, 'why do you even want to know my name anyway?'
shane laughed again, louder this time. 'well, when most people go out on dates, they know each other's names.'
he liked boys. well, that was different. i'd never actually had a full on conversation with someone who liked boys before. my parents always said it was wrong, to be frowned upon, but that we had to keep this opinion to ourselves as so few people in our town follow the true word of the bible.
i remember, a few months ago, loren coming round my house and telling me that garrett watts was gay. she'd seen him kissing a boy in town. according to her, the whole day had been ruined after she witnessed their interaction and that her chauffeur had had to come pick her up. that seemed a bit extreme and dramatic, and i was about to open my mouth to say such a thing when morgan had burst into my room, along with her boyfriend, andrew (who, may i remind you, is also garrett's brother.)
this did not end well. morgan had started screaming at loren about how she couldn't slag off her boyfriend's brother just for loving someone, hence loren had retorted that my sister didn't have the privilege to even speak to her, let alone tell her off.
funnily enough, they haven't really spoken since.
'this isn't a date, shane.' i told him through purses lips, narrowing my eyes as he grinned.
'you sure, princess?' he replied with a cocky smile, running his finger along the edge of my frappe, collecting a dollop of creme before innocently placing it on his tongue.
out of desperation for him to just leave already, i cracked. 'fine. fine! my name is ryland, okay? now please, leave me alone and let me have what's left of my raspberry frappuccino.'
shane cheered in victory, throwing his arms in the air and making customers turn in their seats to see what all the commotion was about. 'so, the pretty face has a name.' he stated, licking his lips slightly as he slid the cup across the table.
my cheeks flushed at the adjective. pretty. boys weren't pretty, they were handsome, surely? maybe that's just a term of phrase people like him use. i drank the last of my coffee, tossing it into the bin a few feet away from me.
'you owe me four dollars for that, you practically drunk the whole thing.' i informed shane, who was looking at me with a small smile on his face.
he nodded and agreed, before hesitating and speaking again. 'dates with boys as beautiful as you normally cost a lot more than four dollars, ryland. how about i take you out on a real date, make up for this?'
a date. with a boy i'd just met. there was several problems with this. i have a girlfriend, i don't like guys, i didn't even know him, just to name a few. i opened my mouth to reply, but my phone started ringing. it was really loud but no one even flinched or glanced at me, not even shane, as i scrambled to find my iphone. when i finally retrieved it from my bag, it wasn't even ringing, so i looked up to ask shane if it was his, but he was gone.
'ryland, for fucks sake!' a voice screamed and i bolted upwards, blinking slowly in confusion. wasn't i just in a cafe with shane and the coffee and the phone? why was i in bed and why was morgan yelling at me? she stormed in, slamming the door behind her and sitting on the edge of my bed cross legged. 'your alarm has been going off for the last five minutes, it's seven am, you need to get up.'
'what?' i asked, head aching badly. 'schools cancelled.' my voice was thick with sleep as i spoke, eyes threatening to drop shut again.
'no it's not, you dork, hurry up and get ready or i'll eat your breakfast too.' she grinned, pushing my shoulder lightly before returning to her own bedroom.
slowly, i attempted to stand up, but ended up stumbling back into bed. that whole thing was a dream? the boy who stole my coffee, who liked boys, who flirted with me, who called me pretty, was a dream?
why do i feel so disappointed?