Me & You

Chapter 1

The bell rang above my head as I forced my way through the doors of the crowded coffee shop. "You're late again, and I could really use some help back here Emmaline!" my friend, Mariah, called out from behind the crowded counter. I rushed behind the counter, barely slipping the apron over my head, as I started taking orders.

"I am so sorry, I woke up late this morning beca..." I caught myself before I let anything slip. "be-be-cause I was finishing an assignment that was due for school, yea...." I trailed off and I could tell Mariah was getting suspicious of my constant tardies at the shop.

"Hey, its fine, don't sweat! I was only busting your balls." she mumbled sarcastically. The silence slowly took over between the two of us as we hurried to finish up the orders of the Monday rush hour.

****

As the last customer in sight fled out the door, Mariah turned to me with her questioning gaze. "Soooo, what's got you coming in late almost every single day these past two weeks? Hm? Perhaps a guy you're hiding from me?" I groaned as I mumbled some incomprehensible words about how she was so dearly wrong. The truth is I've never even had a boyfriend let alone be hiding one from her.

The rest of the day seemed to slip by in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, it was closing time. It was the most dreaded part of my day. Most people looked forward to going home at the end of the day, but I absolutely dreaded it knowing what waited at home for me.

As I went to lock the doors and turn off our glowing open sign, a man rushed up to the door. With an urgency, he spoke quickly "Excuse me Miss, but is there any possible way you can just let me order one more thing? Nothing crazy complicated. Just a plain black coffee, please?" He seemed out of breath and only then did I glance up at this man.

He stood a mighty six foot three inches tall at least, which towered my five foot two inches of height. His broad shoulders tensed as his incredibly muscled biceps rippled under his white button down shirt that was tucked into his black slacks. He was a god of a man.

I stuttered over my words, "O-o-f c-c-ourse sir. W-w-will that be all for tonight?". His husky voice responded to mine, "Yes, at least for tonight." His words left an odd feeling in my stomach. What does he mean by for tonight?

As I prepared his coffee, seeing as I was the only one left on duty because I had closing hours, he tried to make small talk to avoid this awkward silence that settled between us. "So um, I didn't quite catch your name back there Miss..."

"Emmaline, you can call me Emma.. or Line.. or.. um.. anything you can come up with really."

He chuckled at my response, "Well Emmaline, I like the name. It's quite beautiful, fitting for you."

I turned around so he wouldn't see my blushing face. I obviously didn't get complimented very often. I stuttered out a shaky and quiet "Thank you." As I turned around with coffee for the gentleman in hand, I couldn't help but notice his attractive features. Particularly his deep grey eyes that were blazing into my light brown ones.

Our fingers brushed as I handed his coffee out to him and he graciously took it with a jaw dropping smile. "Do you mind if I stick around a little longer? It's a little lonely back at my place and I was thinking that maybe we can get to know each other better?" the man in front of me spoke with such honesty and comfort that I couldn't let him go.

"Sure you can stick around until I'm finished cleaning up but then we're both out of here." I'm sure he could hear the dread that filled my voice when I mentioned leaving the shop and returning home. It wasn't much of a home, but it's my home, I guess.

"Well since we have some extra time why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" he spoke gently, leaning back and against the counter, matching the tone and the quietness of the shop.

"Well my name is Emmaline Harper, I am eighteen years old and graduated high school last year." I wipe over the same spot on the counter for the fifth time, trying to avoid eye contact. "uh, Well I live at home with my... dad and work here, at the coffee shop. That about sums up my life, plain and boring." I let out a breathless laugh and shook my head at how pathetic my life actually is.

He seemed to notice my hesitation at my struggled mention of the word dad. He leaned across the counter and said, "Well I don't think thats plain or boring, its simple. Simple is always good. I wish my life was simple, it's better than being complicated and dramatic." He shrugged and sipper his coffee, eyeing me from over the mug.

I finished cleaning the coffee machines as he finished his sentence. "Well looks like I'm done here, and I'm going home for the night." I silently pleaded he got the idea it was time as well as I stuck my hand out asking for his empty coffee mug.

As we walked out the doors we both turned our separate ways to go home, until I heard my name being called over my shoulder. A familiar man's voice called out to me, "Emmaline, how are you getting home?" the man from the coffee shop approached me questioning. I turned facing the voice.

"Well normally I walk home, or catch a ride with a coworker." I shrugged in response to his question.

"Well since you're walking home tonight can I offer you a ride? It's the least I can do since you kept the shop open longer for me." I felt oddly happy at his proposal yet still hesitated.

"Thank you for the offer, it was truly kind, but I don't even know your name. I don't exactly go hopping into cars with strangers." I chuckled nervously, going over everything that could go wrong in my head.

"If you won't let me drive you home, at least accept this as a thank you for tonight." he extended his hand out to me with a wad of cash. I stared at his hand in aw, "I'm sorry sir, but I can't accept that. it really wasn't a big deal.". We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, and finally he put the cash away when he realized I was not going to take it.

"Alrighty then, well I hope to catch you around Emmaline" he spoke to me, adding a wink in my direction.

Suddenly feeling brave I turned to him and spoke, "May I remind you that I don't even know your name."

He seemed taken aback before a smirk found its way to his face. He chuckled lightly, sending this chilling feeling up my spine.

"The name is Elliot. Elliot Carter."

Well hello loves! Thank you so much for reading my book! Please bear with me as this is my first book and I'm hoping to improve my writing as this goes along and improve grammatical errors and other things of the sorts. Also, please feel free to point out any errors you see throughout the chapters so I can improve them for future readers! Thank you guys so much!