He was was startlingly attractive up close.

He looked like a model. A really, really hot model. His deep brown skin looked so smooth, and his chocolate brown eyes were hard not to admire. He had a strong jaw and high cheekbones. He was just perfectly sculpted in every aspect, and he was tall. Like, I had to raise my chin to meet his eyes kind of tall.

My heart was pounding in my chest and yet blood didn't seem to be pumped to my legs because my knees almost gave in. This wasn't normal for me. I had never been affected by a guy like this before, let alone a guy I had never said a single word to.

I heard Serena's soft gasp from behind me and she started bouncing on her toes, pointing at him, "you're the convertible dude."

He chuckled softly, and his laugh was a deep yet soft sound that did weird things to me. I swallowed when I noticed his slight adam's apple.

"And you're the pickup truck girl," he said with a mildly deep and mellow voice.

"That I am," Serena said, but before she could say more, the other convertible guy entered the store.

He was tall too, but not as tall as the guy before us. He had a stubble beard and I had to admit that he was hot up close too, but not as hot as the guy before us. At least not in my opinion. Serena seemed to think otherwise because I noticed the way she changed her stance and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear at the sight of the other guy.

"Elliot," the stubbled guy said. "Car's full, you got everything?"

"Right," Elliot scratched the back of his neck as if he had forgotten to get whatever it was he meant to. "Give me five minutes," he told him before looking at me and gesturing to one of the empty baskets we had used. "Mind if I borrow this?"

I could have said sure. Or no problem. Or even go ahead. But instead, when I opened my mouth the words that came out were, "nope, I don't mind one bit. You can borrow it all you like. I mean, it's not like it's mine. It's the shops', so you should ask her," I cocked my head at the cashier, inwardly wishing a meteorite would kill me right here, right now.

"Uh..." he looked at the cashier who just shrugged before looking at me again. He offered me a small smile before taking a basket and turning away.

"Smooth," Serena sighed. "So smooth, Zara."

"It's another two hours to the beach, so make sure you get enough," the other guy called out to Elliot who went to get whatever it was he needed.

Serena paused. Looked at me. Then paused again before facing the guy by the door and asking, "by 'beach', do you mean Pearl Shore Beach?"

The guy's eyes drifted to her and his brows rose in recognition as if he was only noticing us for the first time despite my horrifying interaction with his friend. His gaze shifted from Serena to me and only then did I notice how blue his eyes were. Wow, those were some gorgeous eyes.

He looked at Serena again, "Uh yeah, Pearl Shore Beach."

"Well, what are the odds," Serena chirped before casually bouncing over to him. That I might just flirt with you because you're cute bounce-step. "That's exactly where we're going."

"Really?" he asked.

She nodded and stuck her hand out to him, "I'm Serena," she introduced herself. "You're probably familiar with my face, and since we're going to the same location, we may as well acquaint ourselves."

The guy grinned and took her hand, "Reed."

"Reed," she echoed before dropping his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Um, Miss," the cashier suddenly said. "Would you like some plastic bags?"

"Oh, yes please," Serena said but rather than grabbing her card and paying herself, she pointed to her purse. "You can go ahead," she said to me with a smile, but I could read the unsaid words in her expression: if it declines, don't you dare say anything about it being my card.

I shot her a tight-lipped smile, "right."

I scrambled through her purse and removed her card to pay, not too worried about whether it declined or not, at least not until Elliot placed his basket on the counter, unloading his items to pay after me.

"That's a lot of chocolate," he commented, looking at the contents of my basket. "I'm gonna guess you Snickers and Kit Kats, judging by the amounts in there."

"You've guessed accurately," I answered as smoothly as possible.

Good, don't embarrass yourself, Zara.

"You won't get sick?" Elliot asked.

"Nah, chocolates cure all my sicknesses," I told him. "Except dark chocolate, I don't like it. And white chocolate is too sweet. It's weird actually," I continued instead of just shutting up, "I don't eat any other chocolate besides these. And I don't like sweets, the sweets here are for everyone else. I don't like fizzy drinks with fizz, I shake the bottle until the fizz goes. I don't like sugar in my coffee but I have three teaspoons of sugar in my tea and a drop of milk, unlike in my coffee where I flood it with milk."

Shut up Zara, he didn't ask about your life story.

"That's...interesting," Elliot commented, grabbing a bottle of water from his basket.

"According to my friends I'm a picky person," I told him.

"And are you?" He asked, opening the bottle, but I only shrugged in response, not trusting myself to speak.

Once I had placed all the handfuls of chocolate on the counter, Elliot chuckled to himself and said, "You honestly really love chocolate."

I really do, is what a normal person would have said, but instead, I said, "Heck yeah! One might say it's where my melanin comes from with how much I can eat."

Elliot choked on a laugh and choked on his water in the process.

"Sorry," I apologised quickly, hesitating as I wondered whether I should pat his back or not.

"It's fine," he coughed, and when he finally recovered he looked at me amused. "That really didn't make any sense."

"I usually don't make much sense"

He grinned, "I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Zara," I told him, rather than saying that I didn't throw it punch line I initially thought of. "And you're Elliot." His brows rose slightly in surprise. "Oh, I'm not a stalker or anything, I'm... I just heard your friend, Reed, say your name when he entered," I explained, before adding a dreadfully awkward and unnecessary chuckle.

Okay, so maybe I was awkward around guys.