I groaned at my obnoxious alarm chirping shrilly. Rolling over and searching desperately for my phone somewhere in my bedding. Finally shutting it off I sighed enjoying the peace but before I could drift back to sleep memories of last night hit me along with excitement for what today would bring. Springing upright in my bed I fumbled with my phone to call Clara.
"Hey, you weren't kidding when you said early." She picked up after just two rings. Her brown hair pulled into a bun and behind her a beautiful beach.
"He's taking me out for breakfast. What do I wear?!"
It was clear she had already been thinking about my outfits because there was no hesitation as she told me what to pull from my closet. As I carefully twisted strands of my hair into a bun I told her about last night. She then directed me on how to apply makeup and then I was ready. Grabbing my satchel I checked the time and said goodbye to my sister.
I sat on the bottom stair bouncing nervously, it was five nineteen and he would be here any minute. A knock on the door made me jump and warmth spread up my neck and cheeks.
"Good morning," I greeted shyly looking up at him through my eyelashes.
"Good morning beautiful, how did you sleep?"
"Very well, you?" I asked feeling awkward as he placed a hand on the small of my back and led me down the driveway
"Great! I had nothing but sweet dreams of you Cupcake." He winked and smiled as my cheeks blushed.
Darn this boy.
"Getting started early today huh Charming?" I smiled as he opened the passenger door for me and helped me in.
"So where are we going for breakfast?" I asked once we were on the road.
"There's this really great café I love, I work near by and go there whenever I have a bad day. It has a cheery environment and it is also a bookstore." I smiled to myself loving that he was sharing a part of himself with me.
"You like to read?" I asked excitedly "Do you have a favorite genre?"
"I like mysteries, I don't mind some history, but action is my favorite. How about you? I know you enjoy writing so you must like reading right?"
"Yeah, I love to read, I'm usually not too picky when it comes to genre. It really depends on my mood, I like action when I'm frustrated about something, adventure/fantasy when I'm sad, I enjoy paranormal supernatural books, I'm a sucker for a good clean romances and sometimes when I need a good cry I read dramas."
"No mysteries huh?"
"No offense to them but they frustrate me. I don't like secrets and I hate it when I've been screaming at the main character for five chapters and finally and the end of the sixth they do what I've been saying."
"Ah, not a patient person are you?" He smirked at me briefly before turning back to the road.
"I can be, it just depends on the person and circumstance. I can sit with my nephews for hours helping them but when it came to my brothers ex who had no commonsense I lost it very quickly."
"You have nieces too right? How about them?"
"They are too focused on figuring things out on their own they rarely ask for help. Too stubborn." I shrugged.
"Does stubbornness run in the family?" He asked and I could make out the teasing in his voice.
"Maybe,"
"Well I look forward to seeing that side of you."
"You may regret saying that." I warned as a memory came to me. "I went rock climbing with my brothers once and we got to a difficult ridge. They reached out trying to help me up but I kept slapping their hands away which meant I only had one hand holding the rock. They quickly realized that was more dangerous that letting me try on my own."
"Did you do it?"
"Almost, But Troy got impatient and just yanked me up. I was so mad at him." I chuckled as I remembered hiking down "On the hike down I was still upset so Paul steered me away from my brothers until I cooled off."
"Paul?"
"Yeah, Leo and Nicks best friend."
"Not Troy? Or you?" He ask casually
"I like him alright though if he's around too much we can get a little..." I trailed off looking for the right word as he waited patiently "cranky? Argumentative even." I looked away from him feeling a bit ashamed.
"Well I'm not the least bit surprised," my head snapped up to him in surprise, "You've got fire in you, you may be sweet as a cupcake but there is definitely something there."
I sat in silence trying to absorb the complement, well I hope he meant it as such.
"Here we are!" He announced putting the car in park. "Wait here." He ordered me as he hopped out and came around to my side to open my door.
Taking his hand I stepped out and followed him to the entrance door he held open for me. "Thank you, Sammy." This time he only rolled his eyes at the name.
He even pulled out a chair for me which stunned me so much it took him speaking again for me to process it and move to into the seat.
"is this table okay?" He asked unsure looking for a new spot in the nearly empty café.
"Its fine, I just wasn't expecting you to do that."
"No one has ever pulled a chair out for you."
"Can't say that they have. My brothers and father open doors for me all the time but that was a first."
"Happy to be your first in anything," he smirked making my heart skip beats and cheeks to burn bright.
"Good morning, here are our menus." A boy roughly my age greeted cheerily placing a beverage menu and food menu on our table. "anything I can get for you?"
"I will get a black coffee." He directed the boy before turning to me. "see anything you like?" He asked me in a softer tone.
Glancing over the menu I found a peppermint coffee and smiled up at the boy and asked for a medium.
"No problem." He smiled at me his eyes focused on me making me shift uncomfortably. "Any-"
"That's all for now, we will let you know when we are ready to order." Samuel dismissed him and I let out a tense breath. "what is your favorite breakfast meal?"
"Pancakes," I smiled up at him relaxing again.
"I don't know if you are into this kind of thing," he said with a knowing tone "but they do have some incredible chocolate chip pancakes." My smile got bigger and he chuckled "sausage and scrambled eggs?" He asked remembering my preference from last night at the diner, I nodded eagerly and he smiled adoringly as he stood. "I'm going to order at the counter, will you be okay here?"
I watched him at the counter talking to our server then roamed my eyes around the place. Bookshelves covered two walls of the café then a short set of stairs led into a cute bookshop filled with rows of shelves. My eyes strayed back to Samuel he was leaning casually at the pick up counter. He wore a light blue dress shirt with khakis. He had parted and styled his hair back not one lock out of place. Some part of me wanted to run my fingers through it solely to bring back that messy look he usually had. He looked good though.
He caught my eyes and gave me a smile and wave, his smile dropped as the server handed him the coffees. The hard look reminding me of our first meeting. As he walked back to me the hardness passed replaced again with a warm smile.
"Food is going to take a few minuets. So tell me what you think of this place."
Taking a long inhale off my peppermint coffee I smiled "Its peaceful," I took a cautious sip of my coffee warming me up, "and the coffee is definitely better than the stuff I make."
"You think so?" He sipped his then shook his head vehemently. "Nope, I disagree. The one you made for me was a thousand times better."
"You are ridiculous."
"And you are blushing."
"Actually I wasn't until you made me think about it." I grumbled ducking my head as I sipped my coffee.
"Chocolate chip pancakes, sausage and eggs, scrambled." I was too excited about my food to spare the boy a glance.
Noticing Samuel didn't have his plate yet I placed my fork down not wanting to take a bite until he had been served. Looking up at him I found him glaring up at our server who was currently staring at me.
"Uh," I nervously looked down to my plate feeling uncomfortable. "t-thank you."
"Yeah, sure no problem at all, is there anything else I can get for you?"
"My waffles would be great."
"Right of course," the boy sounded flustered but I felt his gaze leave me and I relaxed looking back up and Samuel.
"That was a bit strange." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat feeling odd.
"Don't worry about it." He moved his chair to sit in the corner closer to me and wrapping an arm over my shoulders giving me comfort. "He probably just hasn't had enough coffee."
"Oh yeah, that I can understand, before coffee everyone in my home is a zombie... well not my mom. She never drinks coffee and somehow manages to take care of us all."
"You have a very big family and you're all really close, right?" I simply nodded as I had taken a big gulp of my drink. "So why are you spending the holiday volunteering? It a great thing to do but won't you be missing out?"
My face flushed as the memory of my mom suggesting I invite him to thanksgiving played in my mind. I honestly wanted to ask but suddenly felt shy.
"Um, actually that brings up a question I have for you." I peeked up at him, meeting his curious sunflower eyes. "This year a few of my family member are working today so we are going to celebrate on Saturday." I forced myself to have courage and held my head up high. "I was wondering if you would like to come."
The Boy deciding to bring the food in that moment cutting off anything Samuel was about to say as Samuel gave him a raised in challenge eyebrow. The second he turned away my mouth went off on a nervous ramble.
"You don't have too, I get it if you think it's too weird or you have plans. It's short notice and you don't know-"
During my rambling he had cut into his waffle and stuffed a large and delicious piece in my mouth. My lips locked around the fork and he pulled it back, my cheeks burning up and I had an awkward tight lipped smile as I tried to chew the large bite.
"You want me to come to your families thanksgiving?" I nodded eagerly hoping he would agree. "Don't you think that would be an intrusion? I've only met one of them."
"Trust me, they wouldn't see it like that, my brothers bring friends all the time, even partners from work. My mom likes people to feel like her home is a haven, a place open to anyone. We play games eat tons and tons of food and then we watch movies. Plus," I grew shy again as what I was about to say sunk in. "I would really like to see you after all of this."
"Okay," my head snapped up in excitement making him laugh. I liked his laugh, it was..... warm. "I would love to see you after this too, cupcake."