Take Me Away

Overthinking

*Alec's pov*

Much to my surprise I actually made it through lunch without being interrogated by Izzy. That was probably thanks to Magnus, who told her a story about Paris. I listened to the boy's pleasant voice telling the tale and my sister asking questions from time to time.

When school finally ended I made my way outside. While walking I sent Magnus a quick text, after all, we hadn't agreed on where to meet. As soon as I exited the building's front entrance I realized the message had been unnecessary. The boy was already there, smiling at me "I see you found me after all."

I laughed a bit and made my way up to him "Found is a bit exaggerated, I just took the only way I knew to get out of the building," there were some other exits for emergency cases or other uses but this was the main one. So why not use it?

We started walking down the street. Since I only had lived here for around three weeks I had no idea where the coffee shop was, but fortunately, Magnus knew and all I had to do was follow him. While walking we talked about the classes we had had today, whereby I found out that my classmate liked chemistry a lot.

It didn't take us long to reach our destination, a coffee shop called "Java Jones." It seemed to be a usual meeting place for students and teachers. There were a few familiar faces, visible through the glass front of the one-story building.

I made my way inside, following Magnus to a booth that faced the street. We sat down opposite each other and I started feeling nervous. I didn't know what to talk about. It had been easy today during french, we had had a task and just told what we were supposed to. I sure enjoyed talking to him but I didn't want to start any topic that might make my counterpart uncomfortable. Since I only knew him for two days that was a hard task.

"So what can you recommend?" I asked while taking the leaflet off the table, not only because it was a save choice but also because I was genuinely curious. The coffee shop offered a variety of small meals and cakes alongside hot and cold drinks. My family usually ate dinner together, but a snack here would do no wrong.

"The cakes are good," the boy in front of me answered, "But I have to say, the belgian waffles are my favorite." It took me some time to find them on the paper in my hand. I had eaten the dish before, it wasn't my favorite, but quite fine, so I might as well give it a try "The belgian waffles it is then."

When I lifted my gaze up again I saw Magnus smiling at me. Had he been looking at me all this time, while I had been busy avoiding his gaze with looking through the leaflet? I put it down, realizing that I might come across as rude.

It wasn't that I was afraid to say something awkward and make a fool of myself, there was a good chance that I was already doing that as it was. I was afraid to mention something that would make Magnus feel bad. That he would say he didn't want to talk about it and there would be an uncomfortable silence.

I still wanted to get to know him better and I wasn't going to do that if all I did was sit in silence and overthink it. "So you've been to Paris. What other places have you been to?" I asked, remembering the story he had told Isabelle at lunch today.

Magnus took a moment to think, probably counting the places he had visited during his life "I don't remember all of them, we started traveling when I was a little kid, but I definitely have been to Peru, Sydney, Rome, London and Johannesburg."

I couldn't stop a low "Wow," escaping my mouth, that was a lot of places! I had only been to Elsass to visit my mother's parents. The other holiday trips I had had with my family were exclusively inside the US. I never felt the need to explore the world. From the stories I had heard it all sounded so spontaneous and chaotic that it didn't seem like something I would do good at.