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Another week later and you had pretty much given up. Logic had gotten to you, telling you that he had already bought more candles than a single person would need even in two years, and that if he came back at all, it would be months from now. Plenty of time to forget about his fluffy brown hair. 

Until he came back on a Thursday morning, when you were stocking shelves with a new summer smell in a variety of products. 

You didn't notice him at first, until you felt eyes on you. You finished setting up the new display and stepped down from the stepladder you had been using, brushing your hands off on your pants and turning around, assuming there was a customer that needed help. Instead, you were met with dimples and bright brown eyes and the hair that had been haunting your dreams. 

"Hi." He said, rocking back on his heels a little. 

"Hello again." You smiled. "What can I help you with today?"

"I need some more candle help." The boy said. 

You laughed. "Actually? You can't possibly have run out yet, those things take forever to burn out."

"Maybe I just like candles?" He said, shrugging. 

You rolled your eyes with a smile, and grabbed one of the shopping bags to hand to him. "I actually found one a while ago that I think you would like." You said, going to grab the blue one that you had stumbled upon a few weeks ago.

You handed it to him, and Noah's advice coming back to you, let your fingers brush over his in the interaction. Maybe not the bold she had been thinking of when she had given the advice to you, but you were working yourself up.

You weren't going to let him get away without a name or a number again. 

He closed his eyes as he took a whiff. "Oh wow, this is really nice... this made you think of me?"

"Yeah." You said. "Something about it just screamed 'cute candle boy'."

His eyes snapped open to connect with yours, a faint blush falling over his face. Adrenaline rushed through you - nervous, yes, but also... proud. Bold. You could do bold.

Bold was kind of fun.

"Oh." The boy stuttered a bit, but smiled. "Well, thank you for thinking of me."

"Of course." You said. When am I not thinking of you?

"I actually wanted to get some more vanilla kind of ones too." He said. "That one that I got last time kind of grew on me."

The one that he said the design looked like your eyes. "Oh, alright." You said, leading him over to a display full of sugary scents. You pulled two candles from the table and offered them to him. "The one in my right hand is one of my favorites. I have this one as a lotion too."

Without even smelling it, he took it from you and dropped it in the bag, letting his fingers brush over yours. Butterflies flared in your stomach.

The second candle, he did pop open though, taking a sniff. "This smells like a candy bar."

You shrugged. "It's a little too sweet for me, but some people like it."

He pondered for a moment before dropping it into the bag with the others. "I kind of like it." He said. "It reminds me of being seven."

You smiled. You could see where he was coming from - there was a certain sticky-sweetness that reminded you of Halloween nights. "Yeah, it kind of does."

You moved throughout the store with candle boy, going through the same routine you'd done three times now. This time though, every time you would hand him a candle, he would make a point to let your hands brush together, and it was doing things to the butterflies in your stomach. You had a feeling it was because you had called him cute candle boy to his face. You'd kind of been hoping he would offer his name after that, but maybe he liked being called cute candle boy. You couldn't imagine he wouldn't have liked being called cute. 

You pulled more scents from the shelves, moving from oceanic salty smells to sweet vanilla and cinnamon swirls, and even finding a few blends between the two. He seemed pleased with the selections, piling almost everything you pulled into his bag without any second thoughts. 

Eventually though, you found yourself behind the register again, slowly scanning the candles, reminding yourself to be bold.

As you scanned the last candle, you steeled yourself. "Would you like to sign up for the rewards program?"

"Actually yeah." The boy said.

You flipped the screen around, so that he could input his name and contact information. While he was busy, you printed the receipt and grabbed a pen, scrawling your number along the bottom and sticking it into the bag. You would just hope that he would look at it instead of throwing it away.

Maybe you should have used red pen. 

It didn't matter though because soon enough he was spinning the screen back around, and you were handing him his bag with a smile. "Here you go."

"Thank you again." He said, flashing those dimples you liked so much and taking the bag.

"Of course." You said. "Have a nice day!"

He tossed a wave over his shoulder and walked out of the store, a jaunty little skip in his step as he joined the crowds of people outside the storefront. You watched him go until you couldn't see him anymore, your heart swelling. 

He had come back. And you had given him your number.

And, now you had his name.

You pulled up the information he had put in for the rewards program and found his name at the top. Karl. An odd spelling, but oddly fitting. No last name given, so stalking him would have to wait, but at least now you didn't have to call him candle boy.

Noah would be so excited to hear.  


A LITTLE LESS SIXTEEN CANDLES; A LITTLE MORE TOUCH ME // Karl Jacobs X ReaderWhere stories live. Discover now