a/n is this your first time reading or a re-read? i'm curious!

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café latte

"MORNING, ASPEN. YOUR USUAL?"

My tired eyes drifted up to the perky barista, Vivienne, her black hair tied into a high ponytail as her pale fingers resting above the cash register. I gave a weary smile in return.

"You know me too well."

She flashed her pearly teeth at me, typing in the order and accepting my money, exact change. I made my drowsy way towards an empty table. While Café de Fleur was a gorgeous little coffee lunch that made the best soy lattes in town, it wasn't the most popular, making finding a table easy for me.

As I took my seat, I couldn't help but let my eyes drift over to the table beside me, hidden in the very furthest corner of the café. Isaac Hensick sat alone at his usual table, his long, tanned fingers sliding a graphite pencil across a sketch pad hidden from my sight.

Beside his muscular arm sat an untouched cup. His soft green eyes fluttered across the page, one step ahead of his hand as he marked the paper with his pencil.

Isaac was my classmate, although he was barely seen in class. To be completely honest, my morning visits to the café were the most I'd see him all day. He was a popular boy, well-liked – if not loved – across the entire school, but he was definitely not the studious type.

Every morning for the past two years he'd been sat in that chair, too focused on his drawings to notice me and too absorbed in his own world to even sip the coffee he always ordered.

Black coffee, three sugars.

"You're staring again, Aspen," Vivienne's booming voice woke me from my thoughts. "Here's your latte."

I looked up to see Vivienne in front of me, her arm extended with a take-away coffee cup in her hand and a small brown bag, containing my usual biscotti.

I flashed an embarrassed smile, taking my order from her hand.

"Thanks Viv," I mumbled gratefully, taking a long sip from my coffee. Almost instantly, my pounding headache was relieved. I let out a sigh in relief, the hot liquid sliding down my throat and scalding my tongue.

I grinned up at Vivienne and she sent me a knowing smile.

"Have a good day at school," she said before returning to her counter, busying herself with tidying the cake display.

"You take care," I replied, my eyes subconsciously moving back to Isaac.

He was in my French class, meaning he'd have to leave now to get there before the bell, but he made no effort to move from his seat, instead staying occupied with whatever he was drawing. His coffee remained untouched beside his scribbling hand, the steam long gone.

Turning away from him, I opened the door to exit the café and make my way to school. He could miss class as much as he wanted to, but I was going to turn up on time.

As I began my walk to school, I watched the people on the street, familiar faces of neighbours and classmates who probably didn't even know of my existence.

I guess I was what you'd call a wallflower. I was never involved with any school dramas or the subject of the grade's daily gossip. It's not like I minded it, though. It was always fun to observe, to not get caught up in all the drama, even if it made my life completely uneventful.

"Aspen, Aspen!"

At least I had my friends.

I turned to see my best friend Riley bounding through the hallway to reach me at my locker, her little blonde ponytail flying around the back of her head. For a such tiny person, she was always filled with nothing but energy; the complete opposite of me.

We'd been friends since the fourth grade, when she stabbed Billy Johnson's hand with a pencil after he spent all lunch pestering me. She received a week's suspension and was forced to begrudgingly write an apology letter to Billy and his family. Ever since then, she was my closest and oldest friend.

"Good morning, Riley," I sighed, closing my locker and turning towards her with an exhausted, lopsided grin.

"Aspen, guess what!" she squealed, not even pausing for me to guess. "Arthur Andrews got a haircut!"

My grin turned into a sarcastic smile.

"Great."

"I know right!"

I chuckled at my best friend before turning to the sudden sound of a horde of teenage girls' squeals.

What do you know; Arthur Andrews really did get a haircut. Riley let out a sigh of admiration, leaning against my shoulder with a dreamy grin.

Her eyes followed Arthur Andrews in all his muscular, tanned glory, his cropped brown waves sitting neatly atop his head. He was the soccer team's captain, and Riley had been crushing on him for months.

"He's so cute. I'd love to go out with him."

I snorted at her, shoving her off my shoulder. "You and a hundred other girls."

"I can dream!"

I laughed loudly when a hand gently tapped my back. Turning, I met eyes with our other best friend William.

William was a lanky boy with black hair that fell just above his brown eyes. We had become friends in our first year of high school, when Riley had dragged him out of his introverted bubble to sit with us at lunch.

He reached a thin arm out to loop around my shoulders.

"Ew, you're sweating!" I exclaimed, stepping away from his hand as he panted loudly.

"I had to run for the bus," he explained, leaning against the lockers as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Yeesh, how far did you run for it?" Riley joked, nudging me with an amused look.

"Well I missed the bus," he continued, "So I had to walk to school."

We stared at him in silence as I took a sip of my coffee. His story itself was tiring me out and I was already on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. It had been a long week of minimal sleep, as most could tell from my bags and bloodshot eyes.

"But I saw Mitch on the way," William paused to turn to me, "That's my mom's dag of a boyfriend," he faced Riley again to continue, "So I went the long way behind Picasso's and since it's so long I had to run."

I stifled a giggle with a final sip of my coffee, the liquid already cold from the short walk to school.

"You're an idiot," Riley scoffed, rolling her eyes at William. "You know, you're going to have to speak to him sometime."

"Over my dead body!" William spat, causing Riley and I to laugh in unison.

"William," I began, resting a hand on his arm. "It's not so bad. Give him a chance. I refused to talk to Sabrina's boyfriend for half a year, and now they're planning on getting engaged."

William's face contorted into an expression of horror.

"If my mother marries that buffoon," he took a sharp inhale through his nose. "I'm moving to Canada."

Riley found this hilarious, evident through her loud, high pitched laugh. She squealed in giggles, slapping William on his back. He fell forward, his lanky body no match for Riley's enthusiasm.

William smiled, clearly proud he had been able to make Riley laugh so hard, and I rolled my eyes at the pair, the warning bell soon sounding through the hallway, alerting us to start making our way to our lessons.

"I'm going to go work on that runaway plan," William muttered, turning to follow the trail of students trudging to their classrooms. "See you at lunch?"

I nodded, and Riley turned to face me to begin walking towards our French classroom together. William had chosen to take Spanish this year, claiming girls loved a Spanish speaking man, and earning the silent treatment from Riley for a week for 'betraying our friendship'.

I took a step in the opposite direction, my shoes squeaking against the floor and causing her to pause in her tracks.

"I'll meet you there," I said to Riley, holding up my empty coffee cup as I headed towards a nearby bin.

She sent me a curt nod, turning to walk towards our class alone.

Before I knew it, the hallways were cleared, me being the only person left as I made my way towards the closest rubbish bin. I quickly tossed the empty cardboard cup into the trash can before turning back to make my way to meet Riley before Mrs Dubois arrived.

My legs felt heavy as I dragged myself across the hallway. The sound of my shoes squeaking against the linoleum rang through my ears, contributing to the throbbing headache that had returned just behind my eyes.

I pressed my eyes shut, wishing I had gotten a second coffee to get me through first period.

I peeled my eyes open a second too late when I collided with a sudden well-clothed wall, causing me to shout and fall backwards, an arm snaking around my back to hold me from impact.

I squinted my eyes open, blinking through the daze the collision had caused, only to see the dazzling green eyes of none other than Isaac Hensick studying my face with concern.

His hand gripped my waist tightly, his hair falling in messy locks over his forehead as he leaned forward to hold me. His brow was furrowed as he watched me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice raspy.

I nodded, speechless, moving out of his arms and onto my own two feet. His eyes sent shivers down my spine, preventing me from looking away. I felt locked, frozen into place, and quickly forgot about my fatigue and the pain coursing through my head.

How did he get to school so fast?

His perfectly pink lips parted once more, letting out that gorgeously raspy voice that I had only heard from a distance in Café de Fleur. His cheeks imprinted with those famous dimples as he spoke.

"Do I know you?"

My heart fluttered from nervousness – I hadn't expected to ever see him this close before. I watched with fear as he narrowed his eyes, scanning my face, a hint of familiarity and confusion lingering behind his eyes.

He was even more gorgeous up close.

My heart skipped a beat, recognising the pause that had fallen between us. I shook my head wildly, causing him to squint his eyes in confusion. It felt so strange seeing him up close rather than our usual encounters at the café, if they could even be called that.

"Are you sure? I swear I've seen you before. Are you new here?"

I chewed on my bottom lip anxiously, shaking my head once more and clearing my throat.

How could he not recognise me? Despite being a wallflower, I expected him to at least be aware of my existence from the English class we share. Or the French class. Or the art class. Or literally from just walking around the same school for the past four years.

"No, I'm sure," I squeaked out, desperate for this awkward encounter to end and my heart to stop pounding so hard.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into the skin of my palm.

He opened his mouth, ready to speak, when the final bell sounded. My heart began to race as I took the chance to escape.

"Well, that's the bell, better get going!" I rushed, stepping around him and beginning to power walk towards my class. "Don't want to be late!"

Mrs Dubois was way past retirement age, meaning she often turned up to class a little late, but I didn't want to be here with Isaac for a moment longer.

I sent a thin-lipped smile and began taking long strides, sliding down the hallway as fast as possible.

His brows rose, and his mouth fell open – ready to speak but with no words to voice. I kept walking, feeling incredibly awkward and watched as I moved through the halls, rushing to get to my French class nearby.

Nevertheless, I could feel his eyes on my back, tempting me to turn back.

Sending one last glance behind me, I noticed him still staring at me as I sped away from him, as I'd suspected.

But I hadn't expected his suddenly wide eyes to be swimming with one emotion.

Recognition.

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a u t h o r ' s  n o t e

I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think in the comments, and votes are appreciated! Thanks! x

edit: RRs please try to avoid spoiling about a certain love interest! if you know, you know 😁