Love In A Pocket

      A ray of sun peeked through my curtains and stroked my face when I woke up. I reached out for my phone to check the time, and sprang up from the bed and rushed into shower when my clock showed it was 8:00. I didn’t take up much time getting ready, I just slipped up a sweater and jeans, grabbed my bag and dashed out of my apartment, stuffing my pen drive with the presentation that I got to give today in class and some cash in my back pocket. As I was walking down the street I pulled out my earphones, connected it to my phone and started listening to a recording of me giving my speech and walking down the block till the bus stop. The crisp, cold air of New York is what I love the most, walking past all the buildings and watching all the  cars zooming by, people on their phones, it made me miss home where everything wasn’t so fast. I was soon standing near the bus stop and pulled out my phone to check my messages, and soon the bus arrived and I got on. My friend texted me then to check up on my presentation and reassuringly I reached out for my back pockets to find it missing! “it was just here!”, I shouted, frantically searching my pockets for the missing pen drive, and when I got down, a guy walked up to me when I was rummaging my backpack and said “you made quite a scene there” and I angrily said “yeah, you tend to do that when you lose something your reputation is riding on” he let out a chuckle and then cleared his throat to draw my attention, as I turned he pulled out a small watermelon that is too small for his hands. I soon recognized it was my pen drive! And my money!. I got excited, reached up and hugged me, soon realizing it inappropriate I pulled back, when he stretched out his hand, giving my things and when I reached for it, he pulled his hand back. Scanning my confused expression he continued “I’ll give it to you when you promise me to meet me for coffee after school”, so I agreed in a hurry to get the pen drive hearing the bell ring and. I ran through the plain beige colored halls with papers and books in disarray.  I entered our chrome wooded, vast room with at least hundred students all staring at me from above their computer tops, and sat up next to Jessica. I was setting up when I noticed Alex Wood looking at me and smiling, I turned away instantly, not knowing what to do. Alex a cute guy, a great student and a footballer, there was a rumor going that he liked me but I never found him attractive. Then teacher called me down to start my presentation, when I took out my pen drive a piece of paper falling out with a number written on it and I guessed whose it was, I put it aside and carried on with my presentation. It ended and all the students were rushing out, I told Jessica I’d meet her later when Mrs. Johnson called me, she wanted to congratulate me and by the time we were finished the entire classroom was empty and there was an unfounded silence that was absent before. I was walking out of the room, when I heard a disembodied voice behind me and saying “you did well in there, especially your entrance” with a small hint of a giggle, I turned back to see and there stood a robust guy with a face structurally proportionate and a small smile smeared across his face and his eyes were filled with childlike desperation. He moved to one foot away from me. I could feel his breath hit me when he said “you did a really good job, particularly on the entrance” and I replied “yeah I worked a lot on it” and he let out a rather loud laugh which was unnecessary and asked “so what do you for ditching class and going out?”, I responded as “I’d love to but I can’t, I promised Jessica I’d help her with Eco” and he nodded with no sign of disappointed and said “how about a snack in the cafeteria?” and I was hungry and I couldn’t pass that up, I agreed. We were walking when Alex takes my hand in his but then I pull it back and he doesn’t resist it. We entered the cafeteria, which had nobody, so we ordered and sat at a table, I set down my bag and when I reached out to pay, I could feel the crumbled paper with the number of the bus guy, yeah I named him that. Then I started of the conversation “so why did suddenly decide to talk to me?”

“I don’t know, I always found you interesting and cute also I might have had a crush on you” and he started blushing. I could see the blood rising up to his skin when he asked “so do you want to be my girlfriend?” nervously, I WAS SHOCKED! My adrenaline pumped and it was flight mode, I ran through the hallways until I was inside my next class, feeling bad about what I did there. I reached to pull out my notes when the bus guy’s number fell out from my jacket pocket so I picked it up and stuffed it into my bag but now my mind was mind refused to separate itself from it and I spent the rest of the class wondering about it and also how he looked like. I was in a hurry so I didn’t get a good glimpse of him and honestly I was actually interested to go get a coffee with him, his voice was husky and strident enough to intuitive for me. The class was done and I managed to get to the library without Alex seeing me and I told Jessica the whole situation, but she was more interested in meeting the bus guy and kept on telling me it was a date but I reassured her it wasn’t. Our classes got over and I was walking out with Jessica when I saw a guy in a black suit, with a physique that seemed much more sophisticated and classy with a aura of maturity around him than the people around him, I took time but recognized him from morning, he was the bus guy.  He seemed to have noticed me as he started waving at me and I waved back, I showed her the bus guy and she bid me bye, I walked up to him in a faster pace, it was like my feet had just their own life, and soon I was near him. He started of the conversation “so are you ready?” and I asked, sounding innocent, “coffee? I need some”

“Sure lets go then”, he said

“Okay” I added timidly

We were walking down the street towards a coffee shop that stood 2 blocks away from school when I resumed the conversation, which I usually don’t, saying “so why did you want to have coffee with me?”

“I don’t know, you were kind of funny when that guy robbed you, you didn’t even flinch when that happened”

“WHAT!”

“Yeah a guy walked by and saw your money, took it out with the pen drive and when he saw me watching all of that, he gave me all of your possessions and ran away.”

“So why did you decide to give me a mini heart attack?”

“I just wanted to see what you would do. You didn’t notice for a long time and you were very a klutz when you realized it. I have never seen anyone like you.”

“Yeah I’m one of a kind, and thank you if I entertained you well” I said sarcastically, and with profound annoyance and a hint of mad in my voice.

He laughed and said “yeah well it was definitely a change from my usual ‘entertainment’ “

“And what is that?” I asked as we were entering the coffee shop.

“All the people I know crack bad jokes on their jobs and wives, so this is different to me”, he said in a husky voice seemingly filled with maturity and knowledge.

We ordered our coffees and grabbed a table near the window when I questioned him “so what do you do?”

“I work in a law firm, Stanley and Simon’s.”

“Yeah I know it’s like one of the biggest firm right, wow you must be really smart”

He laughed and said “yeah it’s not that, my dad owns that place, you know the Simon of it.”

“Oh that’s wonderful” not sounding surprised enough and added “so you must be a really good lawyer, learning under a really good mentor huh?” I said, sounding foolish.

“OH! I’m not a lawyer; I’m kind of like an intern”

I flinched and said ignorantly “you sure seem like one”

He let out a small sigh and said “the lawyer dudes are like 32 or something, how old do you think I am?”

I replied “I don’t know” and he burst into a laugh which surprisingly sounded very musical.

“I’m 22, these suits do make me look older don’t they”

And we both let out small giggles and he asked me “so what do you do?”

“I am a student and I also have a tattoo studio here”

“I should visit you then, so what do you study” he asked sounding interested

“I actually am going through law school”

“Oh, then maybe I can help you” and we both blushed when our coffee’s arrived.

“If this is not preying, why were traveling in the bus?” I said to continue the conversation.

He let out a sweet chuckle which sounded so rhythmic, which I hadn’t quite noticed it earlier and said “I like public transport, it reduces pollution, you know” and we both nodded and started sipping our coffee.

“This is so rude but I forgot to ask your name” I asked, flinching my eyes, totally ashamed for not doing it before.

“Its Leo, Leo Simon, what’s your?” he enquired

“Catlin, but you can call me Catty” I said and we resumed talking about music and art, he was surprisingly interested in the same things as me. As we were sipping coffee, I observed his eyes that were of perfect size and perfectly aligned to the nose and the lips were of soft pink drizzle and when he smiles, those lips fold into two little lines stretching across his face and his jawline was just magnificent. It was raw cut but not to sharp and it goes totally with his bright blue eyes and pink lips, giving his total appearance a classy yet knowledgeable look.

The sun was setting and all of the buildings reflected orange when we finished our last sips and we were heading out of the door when I was mesmerized by how gracefully he moved with confident and humility in that studly body soon we got up the bus and he bid me bye at my door. Jessica called me I told her about. I was cleaning up when Leo’s number fell down, so I decided to call him, and we didn’t sleep a lot.

                                         I couldn’t sleep so I woke up pretty early the next day so I made myself a cup of coffee and walked out to the balcony and watched the entire city waking up, I finished my cup and got into shower. I was soon out of the door and I was walking down, Leo was waiting in his trench coat and I asked “so do you live here?” “not really” he replied casually.

“So why do board the bus here?, it is even close?” I questioned.

“No, it actually all the way across” he replied not bothered.

“Then why do board here?” I asked again.

“Chill” he says as we both board the bus.

He then realized my half mad, half confused expression and said “okay, I was actually boarding this bus yesterday after I spent my night with a certain person”

And I cut him off saying “is this friend a girl?”

He defensively replied “not important” and subtly agreed

Then I said asked “so why did you come here today?”

He replied appearing a bit ashamed “I just wanted to drop you off, see you to school, you know”

“Yeah it isn’t creepy at all” I added sarcastically

“You know what I mean” he said it blushingly and I started blushing again.

I got down at school, bidding Leo goodbye and entering the premises, where Alex was sitting on one of the stairs. He stood up when I came and wished me morning and we entered school together. As we were walking Alex asked me what my answer was and he kept on explaining himself, but I stopped him and explained everything. When he asked about Leo, I told all about it and he said “see I don’t want to step on your parade but all these rich people only take advantage of us, they don’t care about us, I dated one of them and I can tell you that they are all the same. See I like you too much to see you hurt” Alex said in a low voice.

I got tensed up in a second, my morning got rather complicated, I swallowed it up and walked up into my first class of the day. I tried the whole time to stop thinking about it but I couldn’t help it. I just keep thinking about Leo and his sweet smile, just hoping that he wasn’t just land me in his bed, he seemed sweet but Alex really got into my head and whenever I think about I felt a bit uncomfortable and I couldn’t totally dismiss the fact that he was sleeping with a girl and then asked on a ‘date’ and I started spiraling and made no sense. I got out soon and when I was walking out I could see the same figure like yesterday and surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to recognize it, it was Leo. My heart started pounding very hard and I couldn’t figure out if it was the excitement or me being afraid if what Alex told was true, I swallowed a lump like feeling in my throat and took few steps down the stairs, more nervous now than ever and I started walking in Leo’s direction intuitively when I was approaching him, I panicked and turned away. While I was walking out, away from him, I felt a bit sad and guilty but soon it went away when I felt a familiar soft touch on my shoulder, it was LEO!. My heart started racing super fast and my muscles tightened themselves but I kept on moving, when Leo jumped in front of him I ignored him and tried to walk past him. As I was crossing Leo in a grey suit, glistening is the evening sun, he stretches his strong arms and pulls me to him, our bodies touching each other and our eyes lost into each others, our skin trying to touch the most and our lips just centimeters apart. I could feel the heat in my cheeks and hair on my body rising but I remembered what Alex said and pulled away from him. I almost stomped away when Leo caught up to me asking “what happened?”

“Nothing” I replied sounding really sad but angry

He said “you don’t seem yourself” and jumped in front of me. This time I didn’t bother to ignore him but I couldn’t help myself from some eye rolling.

When he asked me what’s going on, I replied “I don’t need to tell you anything” with some anger I tried to cough up. And when I tried to walk away, he did nothing but say “stay” and my body just froze up immediately involuntarily, he then walked in front of me with his arms on my shoulder and said “you have to tell me what is wrong, did somebody do something to you or said anything to?”

“Yes!” I said aloud “they said that you are a big fat jerk who is just here to get me in his bed” and I started walking.

“What are you saying” he said it a bit loud.

I turned around and said “I thought I finally found a friend who is different, who is more like me but guess he wants other things, I can’t believe it”

He had a surprised look including a bit a astonishment and unbelief, then I added “did anything of yesterday mean anything to you or was I just one your many accomplishments?”

“Catlin listen” he called but I turned away and was walking down the street to the bus stop

Once I got home, I dropped everything and got into the shower and turned up the hot water, I got out and changed into my sweats, and walked into the living room to notice a table with red cloth on it, a long candle stick and two chairs. The table was full of food but what caught my eye was the pizza from Papa’s, a small pizza place which has my favorite pizza and on one of the chairs was this handsome, studly man in dark shirt and jeans. The whole room was dimmed and only the candle flame glowed brightly, enhancing his beauty.

“What are you doing here?” I acted like I was freaking out but I could feel some easing inside me.

“I wanted to apologize about what happened today” he said humbly.

“How did you get in?” I asked, all softened.

“Your friend Jessica gave me spare keys, but I’m here to apologize and to talk” saying this he gestured to the seat adjacent to him.

I walked up with my heart all filled up “so what do you want to talk about?” I asked sternly but we both could see through it.

He cleared his throat and said “you asked if yesterday meant anything to me and I am here to answer that, you are a wonderful, sweet, loving and independent woman and having to be able to spend that time with you has truly been a pleasure and when you said that you are one of a kind, I totally agree now. Me asking you to coffee was totally involuntary, like my mouth just wanted to say that and I’m really glad it did cause meeting you has changed how I see this world. Fighting with you today made my heart ache so much, so Catlin Anne Johnson I wanted to say that I really like you and I want to go out on a date with you”

I was so rapturous and was about to tear up, when my hands just flew up to his cheeks and soon our lips met for the very first time, sharing an ecstatic kiss.