Lucy's POV:

Stuart was really cute, even holding the door open for me. No man had ever done that for me...
After Stuart had entered the café as well, he looked through the room before leading me to a little table in a corner so we were to ourselves and couldn't be bothered by too many people being around.
I sat down with the back to the wall so I had a quite nice view of all the other guests. When being in cafes or restaurants I always had the habit to watch the people around me and think of stories about their lives. But this time I had no time to do that because Stuart, who had sat down on the opposite of the table, was a lot more important than all the strangers.
Soon after we had made ourselves comfortable, a waitress came to take our orders.
Stu ordered a cup of tea only while I had a piece of chocolate cake to my tea.

What a nice cafe it was! We didn't even have to wait long until the waitress came back with our orders; not like in some kinds of cafés where you had to wait forever to get what you wanted. 
Because I had been late this morning, I hadn't had time eat breakfast or take some lunch with me to college. So I was very hungry by now and began eating the chocolate cake as soon as it had been placed in front of me.
Stu must have watched me with amusement as I was greedily eating the cake since when I looked up from my plate again he was staring right into my eyes.
I blushed deeply and felt sort of ashamed for being that impetuous with eating.

Either my facial expressions were very distinct or he could read my mind, at least he chuckled softly.
"Don't worry. It really is cute to see a girl eat and not just pick at her food," Stuart said to me with a smile.
Actually his reaction suprised me but after looking at him confused, I grinned happily and reliefed.
"I suppose there are a lot of misunderstandings between men and women that have never been sorted out up to this day... and probably will never be."
These words just slipped out of me and as soon as they were said, I felt they were stupid and regretted answering at all.
Feeling my cheeks turning red in embarrassment, I chewed on my bottom lip and stared down at my plate with the remaining cake on it.
"Very true. There should be a lot more communication between people," Stu said gently and I could see him smile as I carefully glanced up at him again.
That took a load off my mind and a shy smile crept onto my face.
"Hm", I nodded in agreement, "Everyone always assumes it is obvious what they are feeling and thinking when in fact they don't  show it in the slightest bit. And then they get angry and disappointed in their surrounding for not caring... it's weird how our psyche is working."
Actually this time I didn't feel completely stupid, telling one of my deeper thoughts that I normally never share with anyone and it relaxed me to know that Stu probably would react positive to it. But it angered me that it didn't come out the way I intended it to and also my voice would slightly crack inbetween the sentences.
Like before Stu didn't mind at all and smiled at me encouragingly like nothing weird had happened.
Maybe he knew what was going on in my mind and how hard it was for me to do this... At least he gave me the feeling everything was alright.

Our small conversation kept going for a while. Although it was rather slow and sort of uneventful, it made me feel good and I enjoyed it.
Well, Stu made me feel good and knew how to make me feel like I wasn't a burden. With that he was different from all the other's.
You know, beside my mother nobody ever seemed to be patient enough to keep up with me longer then ten minutes, ten minutes that felt like hell because it seemed so forced and unwanted...
Anyway, there were a few seconds in our conversation in which I felt like I was boring him, not saying anything interesting and like he had to keep the whole thing going himself but he immediately convinced me otherwise when always reacting so positively and involved in our dialogue.
Even though we had just met on this day, I felt like we were connecting in a way and that there was something special between us.
Maybe he felt the same way... That thought thrilled me!
Much too soon we had to leave the café since we still had to do some work but Stu was really nice and even walked me home and asked me to meet again some time. He gave me his phone number and I promised I would call him soon.

~•~•~•~•~

During the next two weeks we met every second day in the same café at the same table. It had become our secret place and we both enjoyed this little routine we had developed.  To my big surprise I trusted him more and more and thus found it easier to talk to him and tell him what really was on my mind.
Believe me, it felt amazing and relieving to finally have someone I could tell practically everything, which doesn't mean that I didn't had things I was hesitant to talk about... But still, it was an amazing experience to me.

One time during our third week of knowing each other, when we met at the usual place again and having a short period of comfortable silence, Stu stood up to instantly sit down on the chair beside me and as I looked at him a bit confused, he leaned closer and suddenly I could feel his lips on mine.
My eyes widened in surprise and I first thought about pulling away but then it felt way too good and right. It was my first kiss and it couldn't have been better with another person.
Instinctively I shut my eyes to enjoy that kiss as much as I could and began kissing him back.
It was wonderful!

In my opinion too soon he pulled away, blushing and looking down at his fingers that were nervously playing with a spoon. As I looked at him, I could see him smile faintly.
"Just couldn't help myself," Stu mumbled, still not looking at me. It was the first time I saw him being -at least a bit- unsecure.  "Your lips looked so.. so sweet," he added and he finally looked up at me, a small grin spreading across his face.
I blushed deeply at that remark but nevertheless I didn't hesitate to look into his eyes  and smile at him sweetly.
"Hopefully they were..", I chuckled shyly then added quietly almost whispering, "The kiss, y'know... I really liked it.."

Stu's POV:

I just kept on grinning like mad and nodded.
"They were!"
Slowly I leaned over and gave Lucy a tender peck on the lips before I went back to gazing into her blue eyes.
By now there was an obvious smile on her face again which made me grin even more. Damn, I guess you could call me the happiest guy in the universe now!
The faint feelings I had for her from the beginning had developed over the time we spent together and for the whole last week I've already had the strong urge to kiss those sweet lips of Lucy. But since she was so shy, I was never sure how she would take it. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to kiss her too soon and in the end it would scare her away...
No, no! I had decided to better wait some longer.
But this time everything seemed perfect! Well, I can't even tell you a real reason why it was the right moment, I just felt it was and so I had just kissed her.

I slowly laid my hand on hers, holding it softly as I kept gazing into her eyes. After a while it must have been too much for Lucy, at least she dropped her gaze to the table but still that happy smile remained on her lovely face.
In my imaginations I had kissed Lucy a lot but now I realized that I've never went on with my thoughts to a conversation afterwards. So now, I didn't know what to say after such a big event.
And she didn't seem to have anything to talk about in mind either.
Without thinking about any possible consequences, I dropped the question that had been in my mind for some time by now.
"Well, I know we've just met some weeks ago and it may seem a bit rushed... but I discovered that I've developed certain feelings for you...," I took a deep breath and nervously glanced down at the table, "I-I love you, Lucy! W-would you like to  be my girlfriend?"
Although the first moment after that confession felt like someone would be wrapping a rope around my neck and pulling it tighter and tighter, almost not approving any space for letting me breath, at the same time I felt a wave of relief wash over my body. I really had said those words and had done everything that I could do, now it was Lucy's turn to be proactive.
Though, a little part of me didn't want a reply from her, being too feared of a negative response.

"Uhm Stu...?," Lucy began, her eyebrows knitting together as she looked down, obviously thinking about what to say.
She sighed quietly and didn't look up at me while she continued, "Stu... This is a bit sudden and kind of overwhelming for me. Please don't be mad if I don't answer you right away..."
I studied her face for a while in the hope to find any signs of a positive reaction. Actually I shouldn't have expected any other replies; I mean for me it was easy because I've thought about my feelings for her for quite some time now, while she was sort of taken by surprise.
And the fact that Lucy didn't immediately scream yes and throw herself into my arms,  didn't mean that she wasn't interested at all. There was still some hope left!
So I only nodded and looked down at my hand which was still resting on top of hers.
"Please don't be mad. Give me some time to think about this whole thing, alright?," Lucy repeated and looked up at me for the first time since I asked her to be my girl.
"It's not that I don't like you -no, I actually like you a lot- I just don't know if I'm ready for a relationship yet..," she added in her usual shy manner but smiled softly at me and even lightly caressed the back of my hand with her thumb, which caused me to smile softly.
"Yeah, that's alright, I suppose..," I murmured and slowly pulled my hand away, not liking that contact after Lucy had hurt me and my pride -and also not really knowing how to react to such a response.
But how I said before: There was still a chance for us to come together.