The Homeless Boy

nine.

"What's that?" he asked her as she sat down beside him.

"This, my friend, is a molten chocolate lava cake. In order words, absolute heaven."

  He let out a laugh. "Sounds good."

  "Tastes good, too. Here. You can have this half, " she handed him a spoon but he hesitated.

  "I–"

  "Will try it?" she offered, smiling hopefully. He sighed and gave in.

As soon as he ate a bite of it, his eyes closed. "This is the best thing I've ever had."

  She chuckled and let him eat the rest of the cake. Once he finished, she smiled up at him.

  "How's that coat treating you?"

  "Very well, thank you, " he replied with a grateful smile.

  "Good, " she nodded. For a moment, they were silent, just listening to the whistles of the wind. Then, she turned to face him. "Tell me about yourself."

  "Myself?" he repeated and she nodded. He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know where to start..."

  She grinned playfully. "Well...you could start by telling me your name."

  "Oh. My name. Okay, I'm Miles."

  "Miles. I'm Estelle."

  "Estelle...can I call you Elle?" he asked her, intrigued by her name. Not because it was an interesting name, although he thought it was.

  He was fascinated because now he could put a name to the face. The beautiful face.

  "Sure, " she smiled softly.

His eyes bored into hers; he could see stars twinkling in her stunning orbs. In fact, he saw an entire world in them.

Their world.

  For the rest of the day, they sat beside each other, covered with blankets given by her, and talked. Talked about the simplest things.

  Likes, dislikes, hobbies, food, movies, books, everything.

  Only when the sun began setting did he realize she didn't leave to go to work. His eyes widened. "Elle! You didn't go to work! Oh, you could get fired. I shouldn't have distracted you–"

  "Miles!" she cut him off, laughing lightly. "I got the day off."

  "So...you're not going to get fired?"

  "No, of course not. They wouldn't survive a day without me, " she winked at him.

  "Okay, then. Good, " he sighed in relief. She looked up at the sky and frowned.

  "It's already getting dark out?" she pouted while he nodded.

  "It's to be expected since it's eight in the evening, " he said, which made her furrow her eyebrows.

  "How do you know? Do you have a phone?"

  "No, I've just been on the streets for a while. Time is easy to tell when all you do is wait."

  She tilted her head in curiosity. "Wait for what?"

  "Something to live for, " he whispered.

  She gave him the most gentle smile he had ever seen and hugged him from the side. Her touch was light, her skin was warm. Everything about her was soothing.

  When she pulled away, he felt the cold wind of her absence. Then, a thought struck him.

  "Elle, " he called as she stood to leave. "If you had a day off, why did you come here? To give me that lava cake?"

  A charming smile spread across her face. "No. I wanted to talk to you, too."

  She would never know how much those words meant to him.