It's all in our hands

Something about coffee shops makes me feel at ease. From the aroma of coffee beans being grounded to the soft lighting and the comfy chairs, everything makes my muscles relax. The barista asks for my order and without looking up I recite it. It’s funny how we remember the things that aren’t useful and forgot the things that are. The barista tells me the cost of my coffee and looks up at me to see if I understood. I look at her and smile and I could see her eyes widen at the sight of me. She begins to stutter as she tries to contain her girlish screaming. Pulling out my wallet, I pull out a twenty dollar bill and hand it to her. She fumbles trying to give me my exact change, but I could tell my presence wasn’t much help. 

“Keep the change.” I say as I pull the beanie on my head down to cover my ears as they were burning bright red from this little embarrassing moment. This happened every time. Everywhere I went, people would stop and stare and then proceed to run after me asking if they could get a picture or have me follow them on social media. At times, it was nice having people recognize me for what I love to do, making people’s lives through music. 

I stood in the corner  of the coffee shop and took out my phone. It’s such a great distraction from reality. Don’t want to talk to someone? Take out your phone. Alone in a coffee shop? Take our your phone. I heard my order being called and I grabbed my coffee and two packets of sugar from the container. I turned to leave the coffee shop and go on with the rest of my day when I saw her. She was hunched over, reading a book and highlighting with the cap between her teeth. Her brown hair fell into her eyes in a way that she would have to be constantly pushed out of her face. She was beautiful and no one in the coffee shop was talking to her. It was as if no one could see her but me. I took this as a good opportunity. If no one was going after her than I would. Taking a quick look in one of the mirrors hanging on the wall, I fixed my hair and made my way over to the girl.

“Can I sit here?” I ask, using my ‘sexy’ voice. However, she just nods her head and continues to read and highlight her book. I’m a little taken back on how she didn't even look up, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to back down. If she was playing hard to get than I took it as a challenge. I slid into the chair across from her and sipped my coffee. She still hadn’t looked up and I was desperate for her to just look at me. I mean, I was sure once she saw who was sitting across from her she would freak. Who wouldn’t want to sit across the guitarist for one of the most famous bands in the world? I sat for about five minutes across her and she still hadn’t looked up from her book. Her eyebrows furrowed which caused her to nose crinkle in a certain way which I found to be too cute. But soon I had to force myself to stop staring or she would think I was a major creep. I looked at my watch and saw that another five minutes had passed in silence. Well, if she wasn’t going to start a conversation I might as well.

“You know, highlighting the entire book isn’t going to do you much good.” I say trying to think of anything so she would look up and I mentally scold at myself of how uncool that was. I’m a teenage boy for crying out loud, I should have pick up lines ready to go. However, my uncool statement made her look up. She stared at me with her soft brown eyes, that I could not look away from. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me in a questioning way. I took this as my cue to continue.

“Well, I think you should highlight the things that are important, unless you find everything that’s written in the book important.” I say try not to offend her for highlighting too much. Her lips curl up in a smirk and thats when I hear her talk. 

“Thanks for the advice.” She says before looking back down at her book. I was a little surprised that she responded and a little upset that I didn’t record her voice because it was like listening to your favorite song after a long time. Way to be a creep. I’m sure she digs creepers. We then return to the silence we were in before, but the funny thing was the silence wasn’t awkward. The two of us could be sitting here probably hours in silence and yet I wouldn’t mind it. I then saw the girl look up from her book, giving me a quick glance before looking away. I smirk in confidence. This was it. This was my chance to swoop her right off her feet. I opened my mouth to speak, but she put down her highlighter and looked me dead in the eyes and spoke.

“I know you. I know exactly what kind of person you are.” She says in a tone that meant what she said. I look at her with my mouth open in an ‘o’ shape, but quickly close it and regain my composure. 

“You don’t know me. We just met and you’ve barely spoken ten words to me.” I say trying to not sound too offended from her words. The ends of her lips quirk up. She definitely knew something I didn’t. 

“I know you better than you know yourself.” She says as she leans a bit closer to me. I was suddenly scared. I didn’t expect anything like this. I thought she would be this shy girl who would be smitten by my good looks and famous charm, but things were really taking a turn. 

“How could you possibly know me? We literally just met ten minutes ago!” This girl was absolutely judgmental. We meet ten minutes ago and she already knows what kind of person I am?  I thought you weren’t supposed to ‘judge a book by its cover’? I was getting a little frustrated with this girl, but I knew this girl had something that no one else had. She had this aura  that was drawing me in. 

“Show me your palm.” She said as she held out her own palm. I looked at her confused, the frustration from before disappearing. 

“My palm? As in my hand?” I asked, unsure I heard her correctly. She rolled her eyes at me. 

“Yes, as in the palm of your hand.” Slowly I gave her my left hand. She flipped it over and slowly and gently her fingers ran along the palm of my hand. As she traced the lines and bumps in my hand, my body shivered. 

“You play an instrument, right? I assume it’s the guitar, from the calluses on your fingers.” She says with such confidence as her fingers slightly run over the calluses at the tips of my fingers. I gulp and nod in response. She looks up at me and smiles. The corners of her eyes crinkle and it takes quite a bit of myself to not call her cute. She continues running her fingers over my palm and then stops at the line closest to my fingers. 

“This is your heart line. It shows what kind of person you are emotionally. See how your line your line is a bit wavy? That means you’ve had a quiet a few lovers, you know, nothing too serious.” She says looking up at me for confirmation. I nod and sheepishly look away. I didn’t want this girl to know that, but being in the band has led to many dealings with many flings you could say. She simply smiles and looks back down. 

“The next line is your head line. This shows knowledge and communication. Your line doesn’t touch the line below it, so this means that you prefer adventure and being spontaneous in life.” I laugh in response. 

“You could say so. What’s life without an adventure?” I say, slowly getting accustomed to this intriguing girl. She shakes her head and returns to her predictions of me.

“Your head line is a largely curved. Quite a creative person, aren’t you? I guess you write some good music?” She questions referring back to her earlier assumptions of me playing the guitar. 

“Not good music. I write great music.” I say smirking. 

“Oh, would you look at that! Your line also says you’re a little arrogant and over-confident.” I sit up straighter in my chair and lean over to see where she had read that.

“What? Where does it say that?” I ask a little upset. 

“Oh, it doesn’t say that. I just assumed that.” She said with a little smile. It was now my turn to roll my eyes. 

“On to the third line. Its called the life line which shows how you are health wise.” She continues. Her finger traces the line, but then stops when she sees there is a break in the line. 

“Something happened in your life. Something major because you had to change the way you live.” She said pointing at the break in the line. I look up at her and I could tell her worry was genuine. I smile in a reassuring way. 

“It was a positive life change. I wouldn’t got back to my old lifestyle.” I say, thinking about how the band took off and it was a life I was ready for. The girl smiles back. 

“Well there are other lines on your hand like the fate line and the travel line, but those all predict the future. For now cup your hand.” She said holding out the motion I had to do. I followed her instructions. She then touched the plush area under my fingers. 

“This area,” she said indicating the are flesh under my index finger, “that’s your jupiter bump. It symbolizes how you are percieved by the rest of the world and your air of power. See how your bump is big? It means you’re a charming person.” I wink at her in response as she slightly shakes her head knowing what was running through my head.

“The next bump under your middle finger is the Saturn bump. A high bump, like yours, suggests you’re a stubborn person.” My mouth dropped. 

“I am not stubborn!” I whine and pout my lips. 

“Really? Because when I was clearly trying to study, you didn’t move an inch.” She said, looking at me like she had caught me. I slightly blush. 

“That’s not being stubborn. That’s being determined.”

“Determined? Why were you determined?” Her eyes shown with curiosity and my cheeks reddened even more. I was never like this with girls. I was the smooth talking, famous guitarist, but this girl was making me feel the opposite. I didn’t want her to know I was determined to get to know her and use my moves on her. I gulped and tried not to look nervous.

“Oh, um, that’s really nothing. What else does my palm say about me?” I ask, trying to change the subject. Her eyes narrowed at me for a second, but she didn’t push for answers. 

“Curious to see if I really know you?” 

“You could say.” Her beautiful smile simply graces her face once again as she looks down at my palm once again. 

“Well the next bump is the Sun bump. Your’s is rounded, meaning you’re quite prideful. Not that I had to look at your hand and tell you that.” She said smirking as she looked up at me. I shrug and nod in agreement. She then let go of my hand, and it was like something within me stopped working. I looked up at her a little confused.

“Is that it?” I look down at my own palms, hoping that she would remember something and take my hand back in hers. It was odd. When I first saw this girl I thought I would have her fall in love with me, but I ended up falling in love with her. She looked me in the eyes and I could tell she was feeling the same way. She had grown to like me over this short time and I didn’t want this to end. 

“Well sometimes the hand doesn’t always tell you everything. Sometimes the person does.” She says as she twirls the highlighter in her hand. 

“What do you have to say?” She looks a little shocked that I would want to know about her.

“There is nothing I have to say. I’m not interesting like you, Mr. Guitar Player.” Her eyes casted down as she smiled and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. 

“You just read my palm and were correct about every assumption you made about me! If that’s not interesting that I don’t know what is.” How could this girl not know she is this intriguing and unique person? How was everyone in this coffee shop so oblivious to the fact this fascinating girl was right in front of their eyes and they weren’t chasing after her? 

“Well, I’m glad I was right and interesting to you.” She said as she began to put her highlighter in a pencil pouch and put her book in a bag. That’s when I realized she was leaving. No. She couldn’t leave. I didn’t even know her name and I was smitten by her. She got up and I got up as well, blocking her path. 

“I-I, please don’t go. I want to know more about you.” She looked up at me as her soft brown eyes connected with mine. I could feel her tense up at first, but once I covered her hand with mine and her body began to relax. She gulped and looked away for a quick second. 

“I have to go.” She says in a quiet tone. I lift her chin up so she would look at me. 

“Aaron.” I say to her in a low whisper. Her eyebrows furrow in the cute way she did earlier while studying. 

“My name is Aaron. It’s customary to reply with your name.” I say with a hint of sarcasm. The girl bites her lip to prevent herself from smiling, but she ends up smiling anyways. 

“Malia.” She begins to walk around me to the exit when I grab her wrist and she turns around.

“Wait, when will we see each other again?”

“We’ll see each other again if it’s written in our fate line.” 

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Hey guys,

okay, so that's it. That is the end of my short story. I really hope you liked it and if you did please comment! If you want me to write more to it do tell me, I'll see what I can do. I hope you guys enjoyed it bc it's a little bit out of my element and i've never written a short story in my life. I hope you guys had a great summer bc now we're all going back (or already back for some of you) ot satan's womb. oops my bad appparently it's called school. 

love,

Alex :)

PS: ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS COVER BY @esoterically