Hot cup of love

Eight

Luca's POV

Moving my arms and legs in sync, I covered the length from the pool for at least the fortieth time this afternoon. I'd already swam about a mile, but I still didn't feel more relaxed than when I had entered the water. Normally the feeling of the soft water carressing my skin was an immediate stress relief. It offered me a kind of freedom, a moment of weightlessness, where no responsibility or memory could bring me down.

Since the gears in my head wouldn't stop turning, I decided to call it quits and head back to the coffeehouse. I was drying my hair with a small towel when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

Looking down, I saw a pretty girl a few years younger than me.

"Hi," she said with a wide smile. She had wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes and was wearing a red cut out bathing suit. "Sorry to disturb you, but me and my friends over there were wondering if you're free to hang out with us." She pointed over her shoulder to two other girls standing a bit further back, whispering to each other. The three of them were no doubt pretty, but the one in front of me looked way too familiar. Especially those eyes, it was like looking at a miniature copy of Nikki...

"Listen, you seem awfully nice..."

"Tessa," she offered, still smiling.

"Tessa," I continued. "But I gotta get back to work. Thanks for the invitation though." I tried sending her a little smile, but since I lacked the enthusiasm, it probably didn't appear very friendly.

"No problem. If you finish early, you can find us at Blue's Bar on 9th. Bye!" Swaying her hips, she walked back over to her friends and the three of them continued to enter the pool area.

I rolled the muscles in my shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension. Anytime I saw someone who resembled Nikki, even if it was only in one particular aspect, like the color of their hair, the way they walked, or in this case the color of their eyes, my skin crawled. This was one of the main reasons I couldn't date girls. It was too painful to be reminded of her, despite the fact that I hadn't seen her in six months...

F L A S H B A C K

6 and a half months ago

I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Finally Jayce and I had found the perfect location for our coffeehouse. After a lot of meetings with the bank to fix the financial aspect, and looking for a decent accountant to help us if necessary, we closed the deal! All the papers were signed and the keys had been handed over. We were going to be independent business owners!

Jayce wanted to go out and celebrate at a club downtown, and though it usually wasn't my scene, I decided this was a special occasion and thus required a unique celebration. So I dropped Jayce at his place to freshen up and agreed to meet him for dinner together with Nikki.

We rented a cute, airy appartment only two blocks from Jayce. We'd been dating for a little over two years now. Before that, we were great friends in high school, but we lost track of each other. It was an amazingly happy coincidence when I ran into her again in the city just when Jayce and I moved there. She was applying for a job at a marketing agency and I decided to take her out to have coffee. We talked for hours on end, laughing and reminiscing about the good old days. At the end of the day, we exchanged numbers. The next week, I took her out on a date officially.

She was truly amazing. I'd been spiraling towards a depression after the loss of my mom and she managed to pull me through. The fact that my mom used to love her coming over when we were just teenagers also meant a lot to me.