With my eyes wide I look between the waiter and the handsome man, "I'm so sorry. Oh my god, I wasn't looking!"
"Jared!", Jenny exclaims angrily from behind the counter.
"It wasn't his fault; it was totally me. Please don't say anything to him." I plead.
She nods, "Get it clean immediately, Jared."
He scurries away and my eyes fleet to the man who has now removed the jacket, "I'm really sorry! I don't know where I was looking."
"It's okay. Stop apologizing." His calm response surprises me, "It happens sometimes. Do not stress over it." He offers a small smile and turns to the Barista, "Jenny, get my order ready I'll get myself clean." With that he leaves towards I assume the washroom.
I stand still biting my lip hard and cursing myself hard for messing up this hard. Oh god, and do not forget how embarrassing this is, moments ago you were fawning over this man and then you made a fool out of yourself. Not only that but troubled the rest of the people.
"Ma'am, do not worry. You may give your order and relax on one of the tables we'll get it to you." The barista offers me a kind smile unlike my very tense one.
I give my order and timidly walk over avoiding everyone's eyes, to a table aligned to the curtain wall that's facing the road outside. I hold my head in my hands and sigh loudly, "What a mess."
I came here to get rid of my headache but now I am on the verge of a migraine. I don't know why whenever I want to be my best the universe finds ways to remind me that I'm not in fact best.
"You seem to be really affected by that." I jerk my head at the familiar voice.
I find the handsome man smirking with his suit jacket hanging on his arm, "I'm really sorry for ruining your jacket."
He glances at it and shrugs, "Honestly, it's not that deep." With that he places the jacket on the back of the cushioned sear in front of me and my eyes finally notice the laptop sitting on the table.
"Oh my god! First your jacket and now I'm occupying your table. I'm sorry, I'll leave." I start gathering my purse and my keys but he stops.
"Well, it's a four-seater, and I have no company. If you don't mind, I don't mind sharing the table with you." He suggests.
I gulp and feel my heart racing. What is wrong with me? He just suggested we share the table not get married tomorrow. Not that it would make my heart race or anything.
I nod, "Sure." I put back my purse back beside me and my keys on the table.
He extends his hand forward, "Jace."
I rub my hand on my pencil skirt to make sure there's no sweat, before I shake his hand, "Gianna…"
I stop myself from saying my last name. Honestly, I haven't had a conversation with someone that didn't already know my last name and that really directed the conversation. For the first time, I really want to see how my name alone can do for me. If the same happens there is something severely wrong with me.
We both retrieve our hands and I lose the warmth his hand provided. His hand wasn't double the size of mine but there's something about manly hands that do it for me. I'm not going to lie, even with minimum experience, I can tell what I'm attracted too and I'm very much attracted to this man.
Don't get me wrong, I have been with men before but it was never instant attraction, it was a slow, gradual process but everything leads to the same ending; the men weren't attracted to me, they were attracted to the idea of me, the supposed persona and majorly my last name. Well, has that made me completely hate men? No. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and nothing has made me against it. Yet. There has to be at least some people on the same page as me, right?
"Are you over thinking about the coffee spill again?" He questions playfully.
I realize I have been staring and I'm pretty sure my cheeks are red considering my very pale skin, "You come here often?" I ask to divert the conversation.
He nods, "Yeah. Almost every day. I can't remember the last time I wasn't here." He looks over at the counter, "Jenny owns the place. I know her personally, been here since it opened."
I look over as well, watching her engage with the customers with a big smile, "She must hate me."
He chuckles and it sounds heavenly, "Absolutely not. She is the sweetest. She has had her fair share of coffee spills as well."
That makes me actually smile, "Never on me though." He continuous teasingly. "I'm joking by the way."
I roll my eyes, "I know."
He chuckles, "From the amount of apologizing you were doing, I thought you would start again."
"Very funny." I bite my lip and say, "It's just polite and when it's your mistake you must do so."
He simply stares at me with a smile for a moment, making my breath catch. My breath releases as the waiter places both our orders on the table and breaks whatever the fuck was happening.
My mouth waters at the sight of the cupcake and divulge straight into it. I take a bite of the sugary treat and almost moan. My eyes roll upwards as if to thank the heavens for this. I taste the coffee and it doesn't disappoint either.
"This is absolutely delicious." I say looking over at him.
He has a sip of his Americano and nods, "You should taste her whole menu, it's outstanding."
I finish my bite and ask, "You come here every day, alone?"
He nods opening his laptop, "I like my peace sometimes."
I raise my eyebrows, "So, I'm ruining your peace?"
He looks up from the screen and smirks, "Peace doesn't always mean being alone."
I swallow and look back at my muffin to stop myself from blushing because of his intense stare. We sit in silence for a while with me eating my cupcake and him busy with his laptop. Once done with his coffee he shuts his laptop and I feel a little deflated at the fact that he will be leaving.
To my surprise he guides his attention to me, "Well, if I may ask, what do you do?"
I try to hide my joy and answer, "I graduated business school two months back and now I'm working at Da-".
His phone rings and he grimaces, "Excuse me." He answers and holds the phone up to his ear, "Yes Silas? Yeah, I know. I'll be there in five."
He hangs up and looks at me apologetically, "I'll have to leave." He picks up his jacket and laptop. "It was nice to meet you."
I nod trying to hide my disappointment, "Same."
He gets up to leave and stops mid step, "I'll see you around?"
I smile big and nod eagerly. He leaves and my eyes follow him outside the door and even on the sidewalk when he walks along the curtain wall of the café. As I finally lose sight of him, I come to my senses.
What is actually wrong with me? Am I really this deprived that such a small male interaction has me melted on the spot. I have never had a silly crush, not even in school but there's something about this man that turned me into a puddle and made me feel like a sixteen-year-old.
I shake my head and finish the rest of my coffee. I Can't believe my first day back in New York and I'm already heading in disastrous directions. I have to act my age, having a silly little crush on a stranger, fairly older than me, doesn't suit me at all. The way I was fidgeting and drooling over him is so out of character for me. I can't believe that actually happened.
To make matters worse, he was literally what an unwanted crush shouldn't be. If he would've been an uptight asshole, and yelled at me for ruining his jacket, it would've been easier to forget about him. But no, he had to be so calm, composed and moreover offering to share the table, giving me that goddamn chuckle, being so hot while drinking a cup of coffee and the list goes on.
I think I have taken too much stress that my mind is forcing me to distract itself. Why am overthinking a 15-minute interaction? We won't even cross paths again! Yes, he said he'll see me around but that's what everyone says out of politeness, right? I don't fucking know.
All I know is that dad was right, I really need to settle down because I already feel crazed.