Sun was declining down the horizon, the atmosphere scattering orange and red colours having violent overlapping the two creating a serene. People exiting their workplaces, some still had themselves stuck inside the buildings. Children wrapping their little fingers around their world, their parents. Evening summer breeze diffusing the air with the fragrance of flowers planted in nearby gardens and small parks. Everyone walking down the street on the sidewalks, being so busy to look up from over their phone screens and let their shoulders relax in an ounce of serenity admits hustling and bustling of the city.
Suited people carrying satchel bags, women lost in the little world of their kids, high school girls snickering at today's insult of a certain someone who would have to be self-centred of gossips as per his doings, a few teenagers locking their eyes on the screens, liking and commenting on Instagram posts, there walked two sharing one of the powerful weapons on earth, silence.
Upon exiting the library, grim didn't utter a single word. He walked closely behind Ellen. When they crossed a street, Ellen looked behind to find grim still following her. She wanted to turn around and ask why was he following her but her peace of mind was more dear to her than grim's non-stop babbling. Thus, the girl welcomed the silence between them and continued walking until she was outside a cafe.
Grim furrowed his brows when Ellen stopped outside a shop and entered right away. He waited outside until she came back with an Iced Americano.
"What's this?", he asked seeing the same logo he saw hundreds of years ago when he flew down to earth for a long drive.
"A cup?", taking a sip of her drink, she replied clearly not understanding what grim meant by his question.
"I mean what's inside it?", eyeing the liquid inside the cup grim asked again.
He had a cappuccino a few times back in the past. He didn't like it much though. However, he had never spent this much time on earth. Long drives would only take a few hours, making him fly back to the realm of skies after some time. This time, there were certain changes he hadn't noticed yet.
"You know it's coffee. You're playing the fool here, right?"
Ellen stood there in perplexity, expecting a laugh crack out of grim, indicating this whole an act of him, making fun of her gullibility for believing this nonsense.
"I've tasted something similar. What was its name?", grim lowered his head to the level of the cup and tried to recall the name of drink he had years ago.
"You kidding me?", Ellen swayed the cup away from grim's gaze and held it to the side, scanning the poor grim reaper with uttermost disbelief when he just shook his head as answering in denial.
After studying his unchanged facial expressions for a good few seconds, she gave in though it was impossible to believe that the young man who was standing in front of her had never for once have an Iced Americano.
She jogged back inside the shop and walked out with another cup in her other hand.
"Here. I don't want someone tagging along with me in the streets of Los Angeles claiming not knowing the most popular and common Iced Americano and how it tastes", she handed grim the new cup.
Taking it in his hands, grim held it firmly with both hands as if someone would snatch it away if he loosened it a little and took a sip.
"This tastes delicious!", he yelped in joy and proceeded to take another sip when a woman walked out of the shop holding a poster that had different flavours of coffees imprinted over it and names under each drawing.
"Cappuccino!", finding the name of coffee he had years ago he pointed at the poster the woman was holding.
"I know cappuccino is also chart-topping among Americans", he looked back at dumbfounded Ellen who never knew grim had this side too.
Besides being sassy and flirty.
The cute, adorable side.
Grim waited for Ellen's response to acknowledge him or at least take her words back as he stood there proudly because to what it looked like earlier, Ellen degraded him for not knowing the most popular drink in the city.
"Aww, the baby Shawn knows about cappuccino", Ellen couldn't contain her smile inside and cooed at grim who was sulking at her like a high school girl whose crush was poking fun at her uneducated a*s.
"So the great seducer can also act cute", Ellen smiled and started walking.
"Do I look like a seducer?", enjoying the coffee, grim asked without looking at Ellen as he was busy admiring the dark colour of Iced Americano.
"Considering how you've been acting a total flirt around me and your encounters with Mrs. Benson, yes you're a flirtatious person and a seducer who's been trying to seduce me with his not-so-hot looks", crossing the road, they started walking down the street as Ellen's house could be seen at some distance.
"If I were to seduce you, it wouldn't take me a second to make you swoon all over my body", his cute side, that grim himself also never knew existed, disappeared in a moment.
Ellen didn't say a word and tossed the empty cup over in the side dumpster and stood outside the door of her house.
"I dare you", she voiced out in the heat of the moment and looked straight into grim's eyes.
"As much as I'd like to, but no thanks", Ellen looked cool and calm outside but only she knew how much she was cursing at herself for even making such a statement. But what grim said made her eyes went wide.
"I'm on birth control."
"What do you mean by you're on birth control? And what were you do to me that would make you give birth??? Above all, you can't give birth!", to say the little fawn was truck struck would literally be an understatement. She could be Pluto struck, Meteorite struck not just truck struck!
"I know I can't. I ju-"
"What made you post such a bizarre statement?", cutting him off, Ellen asked virtually boring daggers at him.
"Well, Jeremy was watching a movie a few weeks ago in which a boy pounded harder inside the girl and kept making other moves until the girl told him it's of no use since she was on birth control", grim explained. He just found the girl's comment very hot and was waiting to use it on his little fawn. In the realm of skies, there was no concept of getting pregnant by practicing sex. However, grim clearly was aware of the depths of the sexual intercourse, he was just teasing his little fawn.
Ellen blinked her eyes at Shawn in stupefaction and wished for the ground to open and take her whole inside.
"Did it hurt?", blankness took over all the senses and thoughts of Ellen leaving the part of her brain that contained the word, Shawn.
"When? Watching the movie?", grim recalled Jeremy bawling his eyes out during watching the movie and he asked him if he was hurt anywhere. The latter just shook his head telling grim that he would never understand.
Of course, he got emotional watching the heartbreaking end of the movie but explaining the reason to grim would only make it more complicated since grim never even for once showed an ounce of such emotions. As if he was void of sentimental feelings.
"I wasn't but I asked Jeremy if he was as he was crying all the time even after the movie finished. He said I would be-", when Ellen exhaled an astonished scoff instead of answering him he decided to explain further only to get cut off by her again.
"No thickhead. When you fell from the hell!", grim would've won an award already if it were a contest of teasing Ellen because he had annoyed the shit out of the baffled girl up to the skies.