07.

THEODORE.

"Woah, woah, woah. Someone's shining so bright today, I think I need my sunglasses."

"Shut up, Alex." I tried to avoid his teasing by swinging round in my chair till my back was facing him, face stuffed into my phone.

But who was I kidding? My smile was so wide that the corners almost reached my ears.

Alex is a great guy and all but he can be a little too observant for my liking. Heck, he could even sniff out if something wrong with his husband. And Nathan's walls are pretty thick to put it into perspective.

"Theo, I've known you long enough. I have never seen you smile like how you are now," he swung my chair around and used his fingers to draw circles in front of my face.

"In all honesty, you're creeping me out man."

I nudged him away with my elbow, phone still in my hands. "You're thinking too much."

"And how do you know what I'm thinking of?" he provoked, a slightly sinister smile on his face. "Unless I'm correct without even guessing."

"What are you going on about?"

"You," his index finger went straight for my face as he bent over my desk. "Are crushing on someone. Hard."

I waved him off. "Pfft, as if. I'm destined to remain single, remember?"

He stood upright, folded his arms and tapped his right thumb and finger on his chin. "At this rate, not for long."

"You're over-thinking things."

"Then you must be under-thinking. I'm gonna bet you one-hundred dollars you'll have a status upgrade by the end of the year." Man, did he sound confident. December 31st was merely a few weeks away at this point.

"Impossible." My voice shook a little, for some reason.

I packed up and headed out, ignoring Alex who continued to tease me like no tomorrow. My footsteps a little lighter than some time back and I started to notice how to flowers bloomed. How the the evening sky had beautiful shades of orange, yellow and purple.

God, Theo. You seriously sound like a girl who got struck by Cupid's arrow.

My phone buzzed. I lifted it up and saw the notification on the screen.

———

Daniel:

I know you're looking at it. Stop staring and start walking.

Me:

What are you talking about?

Daniel:

A hopeless romantic like you would definitely put everything down to admire the colours in the sky right now.

______

I bit my lip as I tried not to smile like and idiot in public. Hopeless romantic? Now that's a term that I wouldn't mind getting used to.

Daniel has definitely started to warm up to me over the past few weeks. We have been texting more often and even ate out together.

I have started to notice small little things about him. Like how he would drink from his water bottle if he's trying to avoid answering something. Or how he would sometimes seem to zone out after our conversation (and here I thought only I did that).

And I may be imagining things but

he seems to have a soft spot for me. He tends to give in if ask for something repeatedly.

Just look at the progress we made. We had meals together, I got his number and now we are texting buddies.

So I tried my luck a little. The one thing that he refuses to talk about, is that red necklace.

"I don't like to talk about that."

He brushed me off whenever I tried to pry a little further.

Guess we still have some boundaries to adhere to. That sucks.

______

Me:

Whatever man. Are you ending your shift soon? I'll pick you up.

______

Instant regret slapped me in the face when I sent that message. Pick him up? Too lame. Who did I think he was? Some damsel in distress waiting in the rain?

_____

Daniel:

Actually, I'm right in front of you.

_____

I looked up and saw him leaning against the pillar. He waved his phone at me, a smile on his face.

"About time you got out. All the students left already."

The damsel is definitely me. My heart is about to beat out of my chest just from realizing that he's been waiting for me.

"Sorry, I didn't-"

"Of course you didn't. It's not a surprise if I tell you, right?" he tilted his head to the side.

I bit my inner lip and took a deep breath in, just to stop my dumb self from smiling. I had to look away for a second just to make sure I didn't give him a hug right now.

Alex is right. I'm crushing so hard right now.

"Anyway," I said with a pitch that's audibly too high. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought of stopping by and giving you this." He held up a cup and shook it slightly. "Cappuccino, on the house."

A grin crept onto my face. "You came all the way here, just to give me a cup of coffee?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Thanks m-" I reached out to grab the cup but he moved it further away.

"You did say it's for me right?"

He looked at the cup and back at me, smirking. "It is."

"Then give it to me," I reached out once more but he moved back even further. Now he was holding the coffee next to his ears.

"Come on, man. You know I want to drink it. It's not nice if it's cold."

"It's yours, if you can get it from me," he continued to tease.

I placed my bag down and stepped forward. That coffee is mine.

One step forward, one step back. That's how we dodged my every attempt to grab the cup. We looked like two teenagers playing at the sidewalk.

"Daniel, you'll end up spilling the coffee," I warned. My left hand went around his right shoulder, trying to distract him.

"Try harder man."

I took another step forward with my right foot and reached my right hand behind him. I finally felt the paper cup in my hands. "Ha! Got it!"

"Hey!" I didn't realize I leaned forward so much that I stumbled a little. My forehead bumped into his left shoulder. His hand was on my gripping onto my own, attempting to stabiliz-

I begged, pleaded as I held his arms in my hands, desperately trying to grab on.

"Its not gonna work out. Don't be blinded and lose sight of the problems we will face," he said through gritted teeth.

"Come on, Dan-"

"Theodore!"

I looked up, still trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. I quickly stood up right when I saw Daniel's faces, inches away from mine.

My face was heating up. My ears were on fire.

"Sorry about that," I said as I cleared my throat.

"No problem. Didn't mean to make you fall. Here," he held out the coffee cup. "Your coffee."

"Thanks," I took the cup into my hands.

"Alright, let's go shall we?" He patted my shoulder and turned around. I picked up my bag and the both of us headed towards the station.

I wasn't my usual chatty self anymore because all I could think about was that flashback. I called out Daniel's name.

Why did I call out his name?

—————————

A/N: Here we have the updated for the week!

How have all of your been? Well, I suppose! I've been busy myself, preparing to head back to work soon.

Theodore finally called out a name in one of his flashbacks! 😬

What did you think about this part? Comment away! 😀

See you all in the next part!

Stay safe everyone! ❤️