Falling in Love is for Fools

I cursed slightly under my breath. I could not believe I let him talk me into getting lunch with him at the local coffee shop. 

I combed my hair mindlessly, distracted by my circulating thoughts. Any other time, it would be just me and me alone with my writing inside that coffee shop. I really shouldn't be hanging out with anyone. I had a writing deadline to meet. I didn't need any distractions. 

I suppose it wouldn't kill me to socialize every once in a while although I hardly know the guy. And he hardly knows a thing about me either. 

I never spoke much to him until fate had the audacity to allow us to cross paths at the local supermarket. 

What should have been a simple "hello, how's life?" unraveled into somehow agreeing to get a light lunch and exchanging numbers. 

Maybe I'm just too nice. 

It was my idea as to where to grab lunch. I naturally chose the coffee shop because of its familiar atmosphere. 

To my relief, I was the first to arrive. I ordered a simple iced mocha and waited. And waited. Five minutes came and went. And then another five. Figured, I'd be set up. In an odd way, I kind of hoped he did change his mind. 

"Sorry about being late! You won't believe what happened to me!" 

Shit!

"Totally thought I lost my wallet for good! Found it shoved under the passenger seat. Good thing I found it because I was literally just about to call the bank to cancel my card."

I looked up and raised an eyebrow just slightly amused and let out a subtle smile. "That's good."

He look flustered as he took a seat. "No shit! Really! I spent like almost a good thirty minutes searching for it. Not sure how it even got shoved under the passenger seat!" he paused to smile. "How are you?"

What a talker! 

It was perfectly fine if this was the one and only time we hung out and yet, part of me looked forward to socializing with him again if the opportunity would rise. But why? Maybe it was his personality. 

His attitude was infectious. It didn't matter if I had a simple response to his comments, he always found some way to reply and build off from it. I could have merely told him that I was more of a cat person than a dog person and he would ponder the benefits of having a cat curious to fully understand my point of view. Even the most mundane event, he always had something to add to it and that was something I wasn't used to. 

I never told him I was a writer. 

Sure, I've written my fair share of things that probably didn't deserve to see the light of day, but it wasn't something I was ashamed of.

It can be difficult to get non writers to understand anyway. 

I reached into my purse and went to pull out my wallet. I wanted to grab one pastry to take with me. A scrap piece of paper caught on my wallet and floated to the ground as I pulled it out. 

He picked it up and started to read it before handing it back to me. 

I felt nervous as if I were caught with something illegal. He noticed my anxious stare and immediately handed it back. 

"They're just some writing prompts." I explained despite him not even asking for one.

"I don't think I'd be any good with giving writing prompts. I don't even think Steven King would be able to work with any of the writing prompts I'd come up with!"

That had to have been one of the most dumbest comments I've ever heard and yet, I found myself laughing. 

 Somehow I agreed to meet him again for lunch but his choice this time at one of the local restaurants claimed to have the best burgers. Maybe it was his convincing smile. How he eyed me suspiciously when I told him I was likely busy that day. 

"Doing what? You can't use writing as an excuse to get out of some much needed socialization. You should get out and live a little." There was a hint of arrogance in his voice. 

I was caught between annoyance and the urge to make up an excuse not to go and curiosity of wanting to find out more about him. 

A day before we were to meet for lunch, he texted me. 

Hey, sorry, won't be able to make it. I've got too much going on today. Maybe we can do lunch some other day. How about Thursday? 

My heart sunk. Instead of being relieved to get out of a social situation, I actually felt disappointed. I didn't understand. I favored my alone time and yet I felt deeply disappointed that he had to cancel. 

I found myself looking forward to talking to him and finding out more about him. He occupied my mind more and more frequently. Far too frequent as far as I was concerned! It was distracting me from the projects I was supposed to be working on. 

A smile would have the audacity to sneak up on me every time I thought about the few times we had hung out. I shook off my smile replacing it with a stern emotionless expression. 

This couldn't be happening. There was so much I didn't know about him. I couldn't have feelings for him. I had no room in my heart for such foolish feelings of love. If that's what it even was. 

I was in denial and yet he intruded my mind every single day.

My feelings, both the cynical side of me and my elusive near non existent romantic side battled with each other. I took a deep breath. I could not deny my feelings anymore. 

This time I will be the one to ask if he would like to grab lunch. As I texted him, a part of me wondered if it would ever become something more.