ripped jeans | hes

fifty nine

"This place is so great." I said excitedly as we stepped into The Bird Rock Cafe.

"Even better than Fiona's?" Harry asked skeptically.

"No, of course not." I smiled gently, walking in front of him.

"Just making sure." He shrugged.

"But you know, it's still good." I told him. "I used to come here all the time with Dylan before I moved to LA. We'd sit at the same table every time and he'd always yell at me for playing with the sugar..."

I chuckled darkly at the bittersweet memory, hating myself for putting up with him for so long. I continued to walk towards the cashier, tucking my hair behind my shoulders.

"Ad..." Harry caught my hand and pulled me back to him. He look distressed, a crease in his forehead and his almond-shaped eyes uneasy. "Let's just go to Starbucks or something."

"Harry, it's alright." I got on my tip-toes and swiftly kissed his gorgeous lips, which looked pinker than usual, almost like he was wearing lipstick. "Plus, Starbucks coffee will never beat Bird Rock."

"Okay." He kissed me back before pursing his lips.

After ordering and receiving our iced coffees (Harry's was black, of course), we scanned the cafe for some open seats. Harry's eyes caught sight of the small round table in the corner of the cafe, and he took a step towards it.

"Not there." I stopped him.

"Why not?"

I didn't respond. He kept quiet.

"Come on, there's a seat by the window." He slipped a hand on the small of my back and directed me towards the bar by the window.

We sat down by the window that allowed us to see everybody who walked by the cafe. I reached for a sugar packet from the white ceramic dish. "So, you survived Thanksgiving with my crazy family."

"Indeed." Harry sipped his coffee. "This is fucking good."

"I told you!" I nagged, ripping open the packet and pouring the sugar on the table. "It'd be even better with sugar and cream, though."

"What're you doing?" He eyed the sugar crystals that I was pushing into a perfect square shape.

I felt a familiar wave of nervousness flood over me. "Nothing."

He looked back out the window, paying no mind to my weird quirk. "It was definitely an eventful holiday, yeah?"

"To say the least." I softly bit down on my straw. "But my family seems to like you."

"We still have to figure out what we're doing about Alec." I loved how Harry said 'we' instead of 'you.'

I pulled my hair back into a ponytail before flattening the sugar square. "I know. I don't really feel like worrying about that right now, though."

I glanced out the window to see a group of girls huddling on the sidewalk, all of them occasionally looking at Harry and I, shamelessly whispering and giggling. A weird feeling bubbled up in my chest.

Harry didn't seem to notice, for he was too busy typing away on his phone.

After a few moments of the girls staring at us, I nudged Harry. "You know them?"

Harry looked up from his phone and at the girls, who I guessed to be freshman in college. "Not in the slightest."

"They keep looking over here."

"Maybe they think you're hot." He teased, obviously not too worried about it.

"I think it's the other way around." I watched as the girls rushed onto the cafe, giddily pushing each other inside.