The blond man nodded, returning my smile though his eyes crinkled in confusion. He was probably beginning to regret inviting me out about now.
"We're here." He said lightly as we pulled into the parking lot of a tiny little coffeehouse, its pink pastel walls hidden beneath the shade of a lime green ceiling. While the colors were strange, the scent of the brewing coffee practically made me salivate like a hungry animal.
Despite living in this small city for the past two years of college, I'd never even noticed this place before. How one could drive by it and not be blinded, I wasn’t sure.
"How'd you find this coffeehouse?" I asked as he opened my door.
I hadn't even noticed him walking over to my side of the car, I'd been so enthralled in checking out the building.
His burning fingers brushed over the soft fabric of the shirt on my back as I stepped down from the jeep, "A friend owns it." He said with a shrug.
"Wow." I hummed, following him as we began towards the building.
Inside, the colors continued on cheerfully. The walls were painted a shocking yellow, the ceiling golden orange. The tables were a collection of assorted rainbow colors in jewel like tones. I blinked once and then twice, almost wishing I’d brought my sunglasses with me.
People bustled everywhere, most of the tables already taken. I'd never seen a coffee place so crowded before, though judging by the glorious scents surrounding me, I was about to have the best damn coffee I'd ever had in my life.
We settled into a small table in the corner, plastic lined menus already in front of us.
I inhaled sharply, eyes glazing over as I went over the list of different types of coffees and flavors that were available. I'd never seen so many in my life before. I'd always been bad at decisions, this was my worst nightmare. I had to pick something, anything.
"What are you getting?" I whispered furiously, turning my gaze intently back to Eli.
"Eli!" A shrill voice called as a woman all but sprinted over, wrapping her arms around my handsome neighbor, "How are you?" She asked, beaming at him.
The woman was tall and slender, with a fresh from the beach tan and sun streaked strawberry colored hair. She was gorgeous, not too much older than us. When she turned back to me, the shocking blue of her eye shadow matched our table.
"And who might this sweet little dumplin' be?" She cooed, like I was a baby out on my first trip in the world, "Eli never brings his little friends around." She added with a whisper and a wink.
She stuck out her hand, rainbow manicured fingers glinting in the light, "Aubrey." She said, "Nice to meet you."
"Jade." I responded, smiling. This woman's personality was bigger than anyone's I'd ever met, no wonder this place was so bright and cheerful, it had to compete with its owner somehow.
"What can I get you, Jade?" She said, tugging out a small little pad of paper.
Fumbling with the menu, I stared down at the words that seemed to be swirling all over the place, blending together into confusing mess of phrases. There were so many choices!
"Err, vanilla bean cappuccino." I finally sputtered. It sounded good enough. Anything would be better than the coffee I was used to.
"I'm gonna throw in a shot of pumpkin too." Aubrey said as she jotted it down, nodding firmly, "You'll thank me."
I smiled, nodding happily. Sounded delicious to me.
"And an Americano for the stud?" She continued, glancing at Eli.
"Always." He said, crossing his arms over the table.
Aubrey skipped away, heading behind the counter.
"So," I said playfully, hiding a smile behind my hands, "When were you going to tell me that you have no friends?"
Chapter Four
“I have friends.” Eli Hunter scoffed from across the café’s small, sky blue table.
His beautiful tawny eyes watched me meticulously, not even glancing up at Aubrey as she slapped our cups down in front of us moments later
“Oh, do you now?” I teased.
Of course he did, who else would come to his raucous, monthly parties. It was fun though, to sit here with him, and pretend to flirt a bit. How long ago had I been on another date?
“You just don’t get to meet them.” The blond man smirked, lifting the mug up to his perfectly curved lips.
A pout tugged at my mouth as I sipped at the cappuccino in front of me.
It was delicious, more sweet and bitter in some caramelly way than I could never describe without sounding insane. It was the most perfect cup of coffee ever. I could completely understand why there were so many people in this shop, she had to be lacing the coffee beans with crack or something.
A satisfied moan flitted from my lips as a wide grin spread Aubrey’s lips, “That’s what I was waiting for.” She said with a proud nod, patting Eli’s head before turning and walking to another table.