A Teacher's Love Story

Chapter 8 - Friends

They sat across from one another, Dylan rolling his sleeves before taking a few sips of his coffee, a bright smile extending his lips. He inhaled a sharp breath, savouring the caramel taste that tingle his tongue, and he closed his eyes for a moment, dazed in a dream-like state for a few seconds. There was whip cream left on his upper lick, and Emma felt her body begin throbbing when she watched his tongue slide over his upper lip.

"It's that good, huh?" Emma chuckled, rolling her eyes as she sipped on her ice coffee.

Dylan smiled, "You just don't get it yet. Try it, you'll get what I mean."

"I'll try it after I'm done my ice coffee—"

"No," he shook his head, "trust me, after you take one sip, you won't want to go back to your bland ice coffee."

"It's not bland," she furrowed her brows, "it's pretty appeasing."

"Emma," the way he said her name with slight authority but at the same time, amicably and charmingly, she thought her heart was burst through her chest by how loud it was pounding. She wondered if he could hear it. "Trust me."

Emma sighed reluctantly, and finally took a sip of his concoction that he promised was delightful. And as he had expected, the moment the mixture touched her tongue, her eyes widened in shock and she pulled the cop away, staring at it in surprise. There was whip cream left on her upper lip as well, and he noticed she wiped it with her napkin.

"Woah," she beamed, her eyes filled with twinkled and childish adoration, "this is amazing!"

"See! What did I say? Best drink ever!" he exclaimed, taking a few other sips as well.

Even she was unable to return to her ice coffee, and she was halfway done when she asked, "Who showed you this amazing drink?"

There was a sudden strain in his face, his jaw tightened as he glanced elsewhere for a moment. "Well, you see..." he scratched the side of his face, knowing there was not going to be any further café dates if he wasn't honest, "my wife did." He noticed the excitement in Emma's face suddenly disappear, and Dylan set his drink aside, "Don't worry, we're currently separated, in the divorce process, I just...didn't realize it took so long to get divorced but it's so easy to get married."

He tried to lighten the conversation with a joke, but Emma didn't laugh, instead she simply set aside her drink as well, and lowered her eyes to the table. She paused for a moment before she asked, "Do you guys still talk?"

"We keep in touch, yes. But romantically..." he watched the whip cream melt for a second before he said quietly, "...she's not the one."

Emma wondered how he could be certain she wasn't the one for him. It had taken her many years to get over Liam, and still now she thought he was the one for her, even if they weren't together. There was a time she had done absolutely the most to impress him, attempting everything to retrieve their old relationship, but Liam wasn't fond of her anymore. He admitted he found her disgusting, and was embarrassed to have ever married her, and it took a while for these words to be digested.

Regardless, Emma was sure she had moved on now, even though there were moments of weakness here and there. But ultimately, in a way she could understand Dylan, and she was glad he was honest from the start.

"I'm sorry," was the only thing that left her lips.

But Dylan simply shook his head and smiled, although it had saddened a bit, "No, don't be. It's for the best."there was a few seconds of silence before Dylan leaned backwards in his seat, "So, tell me about yourself."

"Well," she leaned backwards as well, "that sounds like a date question."

Dylan chuckled, "It's a date then."