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Later that week, on an uncrowded Sunday, she made her way to the local coffee shop where James and her had planned on meeting. She fiddled with her wallet zipper as her nerves increased exponentially with ever step she took. Her pale yellow dress ruffled against her legs, giving her a sensation to focus on instead of the clamoring thoughts in her head.
She took a deep breath before pulling open the door of the shop. Since she arrived quite early, she expected to wait a while for her "date" to arrive, but was surprised to see him there with a book in his hands. It almost made her giggle to see such a broad figure intensely concentrated on a small thing in his gloved hand. That was another thing she noticed about him. Only one of his hands were gloved.
Discarding her thoughts for a moment, she hesitantly made her way to his table. His eye snapped up to her when she was halfway to his booth. His eyes, at first, were cold and calculating. There was a sharp pulse of fear that shot through her when it happened, and she didn't just think it was her emotion. She tried not to show the falter in her step but, seeing his very intense gaze, she could have assumed he saw. His eyes melted into an almost surprised gleam, and a small hesitant grin spread onto his lips. She tried her best to give one in return.
"Hello again." James said kindly.
"Hello." Her cheeks flushed uncontrollably.
"You look nice." She didn't quite know how to respond. She wasn't entirely used to receiving compliments.
"T-Thank you." Lily tried to strengthen her voice and hide her nerves "Y-You as well." She said it very quietly, and she was surprised he heard but he indicated that he did when he gave a bit of a nod along with his grin that hadn't fallen off yet.
It was a few minutes that they sat in silence when Lily tried to collect her thoughts. Her eyes wandered the room, avoiding him as much as possible. Finally, her gaze fell on the book he had previously been holding that was now half closed. "What are you reading?" She asked with a small voice.
"To Kill A Mockingbird." She tilted her head to the side. He began explaining the premise of the story and she was slightly embarrassed to admit that she wasn't listening too intently. She was fascinated with James. He talked so smoothly. His exterior was calm and collected and unattached.
But she could feel his real emotions.
She focused on the confusion, frustration and resentment, the three feelings with the most complexity. The frustration stemmed from both the confusion and the resentment. He seemed to have a constant raging battle inside his own mind. Over what, she couldn't tell. The resentment and the anger was directed towards someone or something. Maybe himself.
"I've read this book so many times." When his finishing words interrupted her focus, her cheeks flushed in secret embarrassment.
"S-So you consider it to be your favorite then?" For a moment she though she said something wrong. Maybe she missed something when she was tuning into his emotions, but he gave his seemingly signature light smile and nodded with a shrug.
"Do you like books?" She had to refrain from becoming too excited, fearing that it might scare him away, but an undeniable light of excitement came to her eyes. "What's your favorite?" A relaxed and comfortable grin came to her normally timid and tense face, making his heart warm.
"Uh, w-well I don't know many from that type of genre, but I like a book called "The Beginning Of Everything" It's more of a newer book. It's about..."
Lily didn't know how long they stayed in that coffee shop, talking about books and other literary works. The time she spends with him took her mind off of the emotions floating around her, prodding at her to get noticed. With him, she can ignore them.
—
As they walked, the sun was painted with colors made by the sun setting. Lily always found sunsets to be the most calming to her. As a kid, her family would go outside and watch the sen dip below the earth. Lily, as a young child would giggle and laugh at the sight of the clouds that looked like cotton candy. It was a time where she could focus on her own emotions instead of everyone else's.
Lily could see the burning orange sun beginning to dip out of sight, but the ray it cast circled around the sky. The orange faded into other colors like yellow and pink. The pink mixed with the blue of the sky and created a lavender purple. Only very few, small clouds hung in the sky. Some were outlined by the orange light of the sun others blended with the other colors in the sky. Pink and purple clouds looked like cotton candy. It made her smile fondly. James stopped beside her, watching her face with a light grin.
"I love sunsets." Her voice was a whisper, but he could hear her clearly. "The sun disappears and silver dots are in the sky. Twinkling." Her voice was dreamy and happy. It sounded like she had a content laugh on the tip of her tongue, making her voice so calming to listen to. "They make shapes called constellations and we tell stories of those shapes. They could entirely be true or we could have just made them up." A giggle bubbled from her lips. "Look how pretty the colors are." She finally turned to James, his awe-filled gaze on her not faltering. She stepped slightly closer and laid a tentative hand on his forearm and point to the sky. He reluctantly ripped his eyes away from her and took the time to admire the view as she did.
For once, when Lily felt his emotions travel through her, it didn't feel like electricity or buzzing, but more like a quick and smooth river running through channels in her veins.
It made her smile. She smiled so brightly, brighter than the sun. He turned his head to look back at her and their eyes locked. James couldn't help but feel a warmth in him. For a moment he could push aside all the bad things that had happened to him and he could relax. He shared a smile as well. Not necessarily equally as bright, but possible the brightest he had shown her yet.
Then suddenly river turned back into the nerve-racking lightning. Fear and anger surged through her like fire. The intensity of it was enough to make her let go of him and stumble back, but he caught onto her again with a tight grip, one that conveyed just how scared and angry he was, but how careful he was not to harm her. Not only could she feel his rage and his fear, but she could feel her own. Her heart sped up in her chest. She felt like she wasn't taking in any air. She whimpered softly.
"When I tell you to run, run." Her eyes widened and she gripped his shoulder tighter when he whispered the words in her ear. She wanted to cry out in fear. She wanted to curl up in a ball. She wanted to go home, but she nodded numbly. "Go to the alley and hide. Don't move, don't make a sound, and don't reveal yourself until I find you." She nodded again and she felt her bottom lip quiver. Hot tears pricked at her eyes, but she kept them in.
Everything was deadly quiet for a few moments. Everything still. All she could feel was their chests breathing against each other. Then it was like a switch flipped in James' sky blue eyes.
