I'm only going to tell you the gist of the story. Not the long story-short. Trust me, I won't leave out the best parts. But i'm not going to tell you every detail. I'm not going to tell you what kind of coffee she ordered, even though I could because I have it memorized. I'm not going to tell you every single stupid thing we rambled on about either. Even though I could probably remember every single word. No, i'm only going to tell you the stuff that makes this story, well, a story.
All i'm going to tell you is that from the moment we started calling it a date, everything was perfect.
And we spent the whole afternoon in that tiny, little coffee shop. Our empty beverages sitting on the table as we took up each-others time. The best part was, she never once looked down at her watch, or up at the clock. She never gave me a time limit as to how long she wanted to stay with me. She just sat there. Smiling and talking and being absolutely gorgeous.
And to my surprise, I never once looked at my watch either. As I sat there, I wasn't aware of what time it was, or what people were around us in the shop. I was lasor focused onto Miss Lilly Reynolds. Lilly who perfers roses. Lilly who makes time non-existent.
She told me about herself. How she loves being outdoors, but she hates camping and she's terrified of the woods. Of how she travels alot now a days. Of how she loves The Beatles and how she enjoys dancing.
See, I knew it, she had to be a good dancer. I could tell by the way she walked.
But one huge thing that she told me, both surprised me, and got me thinking about who Lilly is exactly.
"I recently quit my job. And I dropped out of college this semester." She said it like it was something so normal. To just randomly drop everything.
My eyes widened when she told me. "What?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She grinned. "You must think i'm crazy."
I shrugged. "No, it just makes me curious. As to how a girl, who looks so... figured out, could drop out of school and quit her job so randomly. What happened?"
Lilly looked at me. It looked as if for a second, she was going to say something serious. But she brushed that look off and smiled. "I don't know. I just realized that, I needed to take a break for a while. I was sick of the everyday drama. And the fact that my life was so perfectly mapped out. Life isn't supposed to be that way. Life isn't supposed to be predictable. Its supposed to surprise you. So I took it upon myself to make it a little unpredictable and I dropped out, and moved to London, closer to my mom. I didn't second guess anything, I just did it."
"Wow. That actually makes sense." I said. "And for a second I thought you were just crazy."
She laughed.
I looked at her. "So, you just wake up every day, not knowing what you're going to do next, just winging it?"
"Pretty much." She said. "Its good to be a little clueless sometimes."
She was so poetic. She had her own opinions and outlooks on different things. And the crazy part was, she had good points. She actually made me wonder if I was living my own life right. I'm very different from her. I have my life mapped out. I used to think that was a good thing, until Lilly began to change my mind. She made me second guess everything, just by having one conversation with her.
But that's what interested me. She wasn't just a pretty face. Her answers to my questions facinated me. If she was a book, she'd be a best seller. And the genre would be a mix of poetry, mystery and comedy. I'd definitely buy that book.
"How long have you been in London?" I asked curiously.
"I quit college three weeks ago. And last week, I moved here." She answered.
"How do you like it here so far?" I knew I was asking so many questions, but I could'nt help it. I was curious about her.
She grinned. "Its beautiful. I just wish I was more familiar with the city." She shook her head. "I came here once when I was twelve, and I thought i'd remember at least some of London. Because it seemed so easy to navigate back then. But it's like, it's completly foreign to me."
"Well if you ever need a tour. No one knows London better than me." I said with a grin.
She smiled. Shaking her head slowly as she looked at the table. "It's still so surreal."
"What?" I said.
She looked at me. "My first date in London, is with one of my favorite actors. And now he wants to be my tour guide. Its just really..."
"Unpredictable." I finished her sentence. "Well then, Lilly, I guess you're living life correctly."
Lilly grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am."
The coffee shop was closing. It was about six o'clock at night. Yeah, we talked for five hours straight. We finally decided it was about time to leave. First time in five hours, and I now know what time it is again.
When we got outside, I knew it would be the point where we would part ways, and maybe, HOPEFULLY, exchange numbers. But, I did'nt want it to be that time just yet. Five hours was'nt long enough for me.
So before Lilly could even say a word, I interrupted. "How about now?"
Lilly giggled softly. "Now what?"
"How about I give you that tour now? If, it's not too late for you." I said, kind of nervously.
Lilly was quiet for a moment, contemplating. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Okay, you win. Lets go take a tour."