Lucas

The meet up's and visits with that girl from America, Nicole, had been frequent. Whenever she went somewhere by foot she always passed by the Magic Beans which was next to my store, which consisted in her passing right by the front of the store and stopping by to say hello.

She was really nice, if you'd ask me. Not that we've engaged on a really thick conversation or shared our favorite childhood memories or anything but, she treated me well - always asked me how I was doing, always had one of those contagious smiles on her face, never complained about the rainy weather of fall like most of our visitors do when they step foot inside the store, where it doesn't rain cats and dogs, she always asked about Melanie and Lexi, which always made my heart do a little back-flip. 

To my satisfaction she always looked drop dead gorgeous, and today was no exception. 

It's her second week - I think - here in London and she waltzed inside the store with the same beautiful smile and a pair of  caramel colored Ugg boots that matched the whole looking good without trying look achieved with a simple pair of jeans and classical London grey hoodie that were sold literally everywhere.

"Hey you!" She said cheerily as she walked inside the jewelry shop and spotted me behind the counter, as opposite to my usual place in my office in the back.

"Hey!" I responded in a similar tone, my lips instant lifting into an upward position at the look of her. "What are you so happy about at 9 o'clock in the morning?"

"Long story, but what matters is I'm happy, right?"

"Yes, definitely." I agreed before I put down the necklace I was busy with and came closer to her.

"I was actually dropping by to see if you wanted to have breakfast with me?" 

I already ate.

"Uh, not breakfast but I'll take a coffee." She smiled at my words. "In. Henry isn't here today and I can't leave the store, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'll get my breakfast to go and a coffee for you."

And so she did and about fifteen minutes later we were each sitting on the chairs behind my desk in the back office - she was eating a croissant and I was drinking my second coffee of the day.

"What do you even do here in back anyway?" She took her phone out of her hoodie's pocket and placed it on the desk next to the food. "I thought you just sold jewelry, why do you need your own office?"

"I draw, I make designs for new pieces."

Nicole dismissed my explanation in the room and paid all her attention to every corner of the small room we found ourselves in. It didn't have much - a desk, chairs, my laptop still inside his case, paper sheets, two mugs filled with drawing pencils, a clock on the wall and a little something on top of the desk that seemed to have caught her attention. 

"Aw, look at that cutie." She said as she picked up the frame and took a close look at the picture of Lexi with only two tooth showing as she smiled for the camera.

"She was three." I commented, reminiscing the sunny day at the park. "What do you do here in London?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself. "I mean... what brought you here?"

"I am... working on a book."

She writes?!

"You're a writer?" I asked with an audible gasp that earned her giggle. 

"Trying to be." She nodded before continuing. "I also needed a little space and a little time off from my life."

She didn't seem to keen about going into further detail about that last part, so I didn't push it and instead I simply nodded in agreement.

"I get it. So you're... a writer." I decided to change the subject to what really caught my attention. "If you write, you're a writer. It doesn't matter if no one buys your books. You're still a writer."

"Thanks." She smiled at me, a shy smile, one she seemed to try not to let creep on her face too much. "You're a really nice guy."

"Well, you're a really nice girl." She chuckled at my response before finishing her cheese and ham croissant. "So, why London? For the book I mean?"

"The story sort of happens in London and I was having a really hard time working on the details about the city and the people and... I had to see it all through my lenses you know? Plus my boss gave me the idea, with the bonuses, vacations days, anything I could ask for."

"Wow, where do I find one of those?"

We laughed. We always laughed when we were together, even if it was over the silliest things, and I loved it.

"She is also my best friend so... that helped. You'd like her. To be fair, anyone would like Diane, she's just one of those people you know?"

"I happen to know one, yes." You. 

I couldn't tell if she understood that I meant her without actually speaking those words but if she did, she didn't give away her discovery and I appreciated it. Not sure if I was ready to be confronted by Nicole.

Change the subject, Lucas.

"Uh... So what do you do?"

"I'm Diane Fitzgerald's secretary. She's also known as the best lawyer in San Francisco." She giggled at her words before correcting herself. "Maybe I'm just biased 'cause I'm her best friend."

I laughed again with her, taking every opportunity I had to look into her chocolate colored eyes that opened ever so slowly as she squinted them while she enjoyed herself. 

"So, you were saying you draw? You design the pieces?"

"Some, not all of them. I don't make them though, we ask Henry's grandfather, he's the one who makes my drawings come to life."

"That's so cool. Can I see some of the stuff you've done?"

I nodded as I agreed with a barely audible "Sure", and got up from my seat to search for some of my favorite finished work. I handed her some of my designs, and sat back down, watching her looking through all the drawings and the photograph of the actual product clipped to the sheet, in awe.

"Oh my God, you did this?"

"I did, yes." I nodded again, although she was so focused she didn't see me.

Finally when she darted her eyes away from the rings, necklaces and bracelets I have created and her eyes met mine, she turned her slightly opened mouth into a smile, one of those that only she could wear and make me smile too.

"These are amazing, Lucas. You're so talented."

"Thank you. They're not really that big of a deal, it's just... something I do." I shrugged.

"Well, I beg to differ." She stated assertively, starring into my eyes and simply sucking all the sadness out of me, all the hurt and all the pain and all the heartbreak, making me feel absolutely undone and blissfully happy, content.

Was she some Marvel superhero?

"I actually wanted to design for cartoon shows. And movies. It was my dream but then... oh well."

"No way, really? That's so exciting!" 

The look on her face when she looks enthusiastic about something, her eyes looking totally ablaze about whatever's being said, just like now? Priceless.

"You should follow your dream."

"Like I said, you're a nice girl."

"I am also honest." She deadpanned as she tilted her head to the side, and our faces stood just a short amount of inches apart, enough to feel her breath on my neck. "Look, I was thinking, and I need to go to the centre soon, get to know the city well and all that so I can actually write something worth reading." 

"Yes?"

"And I also want to see the city as a tourist, I have never been here before. And I know no one here, except you," She raised her hand to gesture to me. "so I thought it would be a good idea if you'd come with me, show me around. We could even try and see if there are any other coffee shops that sell coffee as good as Magic Beans, we could feed the squirrels, we could stare at the Buckingham Palace all day to try to spot the Queen anywhere. It'll be fun!" She shrugged as she finished her suggestion, looking at me with pleading eyes that I was sure she wasn't aware of.

"You had me at I am also honest."  I spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen between us  after she rambled about what we could do, trying to lure me into spending a whole day out with her. 

As if she needed to say anything appealing to convince me to spend a whole damn day with the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

But really, she had me at Please? I think I'm lost and it's pouring rain!. 

 * * * 

It's on days like this - and especially after the whole conversation Nicole and I shared a few days ago -, that I truly regret most of the life choices I had previously made at the immature age of sixteen years old.

Actually, that's not entirely true though. The decisions I made at the time weren't solely my decisions, they were mine and my parents'.

Not that I couldn't make them at almost eighteen years old, no, that was not the case. It's just that at that time, you still listen to your parents. Because at sixteen you think you're old enough to make adult decisions but then, at the same time, you can't fully make them without your parents' consent or their approval and if there was something they never approved of was my dream. 

I did end up going to an Arts School once I finished high school, I just never thought that at twenty eight years old I would be sitting in a small chair in my small office in the back of a jewelry store, designing different rings and necklaces and bracelets that no one would buy, except for the tourists or some boyfriend in distress at 5 o'clock on Valentine's Day. 

I had always wanted to be an artist, work for cartoon shows, animated movies, comic books, anything remotely related to drawing and the entertainment business. Those were my two passions, how could I not want to take my life in that direction?

But as the responsible parents that mine were, they were never very fond of the idea and the thought of me actually doing that for a living slowly vanished in my head for the next few years of my life until now.

I don't know what it is about Nicole, about this american girl who came knocking on my door on a rainy evening, but she found a way to find a light in me that I thought was lost. I was an all blackout before she came into my life.

I put my dream aside when I had to find a job and then with a monthly income and a simple life,  I simply settled. I used to think that this all what being an adult is about, but she's proven me wrong. 

She's in her mid twenties, wants to become a writer, doesn't give up on her dream, moves to a whole different country on her won in order to make it come true... She's my bloody inspiration, my muse.

And the fact that she believes in me and in my so thought pipe dream, more than myself, meant the whole world to me.

"Hey, Lucas! Could you come out here please?"

Henry's wishes are orders and I get up from my chair and make my way out into the store, taking my place next to him, behind the counter.

I smiled at the old man standing on the other side and focused my attention on what Henry was holding in his hand and looking at attentively. 

"See this ring?" He rolled it between his fingers and turned it in my direction for a better view. 

"What about it?"

"My nephew brought it to me." The older man caught my attention, as he started explaining what brought him to the store today. "He's an explorer or whatever it is you kids call it these days. He goes on expeditions to save the planet with his mates. They work with animals on the forest and plant trees, they help the recycling companies, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, he just came home from a trip to the Bahamas." He stopped for a minute and I could see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to recall something. "Yes, it was the Bahamas. A real paradise if you'd ask me, I've seen his photographs. Anyway, he went there on a mission to clean the oceans. They had a pretty bad storm there and the island got trashed."

The man looked no less than seventy-five and no older than eighty years old, and looked exactly like what anyone between those ages would look like. The typical wrinkles that told his whole life story, the white hair and mustache that contrasted the extremely pale skin, the plaid beret... He had it all. 

"He found this ring. It looks like an engagement ring." 

"And an expensive one. This thing shines brighter than the sun itself." I made my comment known as I spoke up my thoughts looking at the ring that almost blinded me.

"Think you can sell it online, Luc?" Henry asked, wanting to get an answer out of my with just his eyes. "Or we could sell it here?"

"Uh... I don't know. I could try. But this looks like it could probably belong to someone?" I took the ring from his grasp and held it in my fingers. It looked so precious I thought the slightest move would break it. 

But then again, it had survived a storm, it wasn't going to break itself on my hands.

"Or not. Imagine the girl voluntarily threw it into the the water?" The old man shrugged at the suggestion he had proposed, and I chuckled.

When a new client walked in the store Henry excused himself to welcome him to the store and hopefully achieve a buy and I was left alone with the old man whose name I learned was Earl after talking to him for a while.

"So, what do you exactly want us to do here?"

"Well, I don't want it for sure. Neither does my nephew, he could not care less about diamonds. I was hoping you could buy it from me."

"Uh... I'm not sure." I scratched my neck as I starred at the ring in thought. "Sure, we'll buy it."

"Ah, thank you Lucas." The smile in his face that fought against his winkles told me I made the right decision.

We didn't make a lot of profit in the store, but if I could sell this ring that carried more diamonds alone than every piece of jewelry we have for sale, for at least twenty percent more than what I was about to spend to buy it right now, it would be a good month for both me and Henry.

"No problem. I hope it sells!" I said, the smallest hint of hope in my voice.

"I'm sure it will." He turned in his heels after nodding a goodbye, and the old man was already halfway through his slow walk to the door when he turned around. "It will catch someone's attention with all that sparkling, some tourist or something." For some reason, it stuck with me.

 * * *

Author's Note:

Hey beautiful people! This chapter was a pretty cute one wasn't it? And what did you think of this last part, uh? 🥰

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Xoxo, Mars