June and Jessie's Christmas at Starbucks [On Hiatus // Jan 02]

December 28th

December 28th

June took her usual seat at the furthest corner and lowered a steaming hot cup of the same Peppermint Mocha onto the table in front of her. She didn’t know whether Jessie would return today but she had worn her most expensive perfume just in case.

She was not aware of the reason why she tried so hard for him when they were still only strangers to one another.

When the clock hit 12 PM, she glanced around the room one last time and finally gave up on him ever returning. She had already finished her Mocha and now stood from the table with a sigh.

The walk to the exit wasn’t very long but before walking out, she looked up to make sure there was no one on the outside that she could possibly walk into. Her eyes started from a set of black shoes with a brand logo that she didn’t recognise and slowly rose to a pair of navy blue jeans up to a large black winter coat. At last she set her eyes on Jessie.

A smile slowly spread on his face.

Once he was in the shop, he sidled past June and quickly reclaimed their usual table.

June cautiously lowered herself into her seat across from him and carefully watched as he peeled off his gloves and unwrapped the scarf around his neck. “You’re not going to buy any coffee?” she asked as a way to fill the silence once he seemed comfortable.

He blinked a few times and then his face turned serious. June continued to squirm in her seat. “I’m sorry for making you wait,” he explained warmly. June avoided his eyes. “I overslept.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We didn’t have a schedule or anything.” She said it like it meant nothing when it truth she knew that if she had left Starbucks without seeing him then she would probably have been very disappointed. He was growing on her.

“I like the perfume you’re wearing,” Jessie complimented whole-heartedly. He really meant it. June smelt simply divine. “But you really didn’t have to do that for me.”

Despite her extreme embarrassment at the fact that Jessie had noticed her effort, June met his eyes and smiled sheepishly. “My grandma was wearing it earlier, it must have rubbed off on me or something,” she mumbled with a sideways glance that further displayed her lack of skill when it came to being deceitful.

Jessie laughed but June knew that he didn’t mean it in a scornful way so she let the faintest of smiles slip onto her face. “‘Or something’, that’s for sure,” Jessie retorted. He stretched his shoulders and waggled his arms. “I feel very random today,” he muttered with squinted eyes. “Do you ever have those days? Those really random days when everything you do seems completely random?”

June stared at him for the most part of ten seconds before finally shaking her head and gawking at the ceiling. “I think you might need professional help,” she muttered with a false sense of assurance. She looked back at him and nodded her head decidedly.

Jessie pursed his lips and mocked a defensive attitude. “I am perfectly sane, thank you very much,” he tsked. “But I would really like to know why you were at Starbucks the day after Christmas and not at home testing out your awesome new Christmas gifts like everyone else our age?”

June thought that he was staring at her too attentively and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable. A waitress must have taken her cup away when she last stood because she didn’t have even that to play with as she avoided his gaze.

“I know that we’ve barely known each other but you can trust me,” Jessie muttered quietly. When June cast her eyes up at him momentarily, she saw sympathy in the grey depths. She hated that look. “Actually, never mind. You can take as long as you want to tell me. I’m willing to wait until the end of time if that’s –”

“My parents are dead, Jessie,” June explained in a cold, hollow tone that matched the vacant void in her eyes. Jessie opened his mouth to speak but June quickly raised her hand to stop him. “You don’t have to say you’re sorry, I’ve heard it enough.”

Jessie continued to stare at her. “I wasn’t going to say sorry, June,” he explained seriously. June stared at him in confusion. “I’m sure your mom and dad are up in heaven rocking out to Guitar Hero with my Great Aunt Veronica.” A smile slowly formed on his lips.

June laughed and turned away so that she could slyly wipe the thin smudge of tears on her eyes. “Yeah, but they’d better not be jamming to pop music too,” she said with a happy, sad smile.

Jessie nodded. “It’s strictly banned,” he responded with conviction. “Do you want to hear the story of my favourite Great Aunt named Veronica?.”

June nodded quickly. “I would love that.”

~x~

I’ve decided that instead of uploading two chapters at once for two days in a row like I initially planned, I’ll just let this story run two days more than I expected... I sort of want to keep that “what they experience in one day is also what the reader experiences” theme.

I’ve already written the next chapter so it will definitely be up tomorrow :)

Bye :)