Chapter Text
Alex hated social places, but sitting at home moping about the fact he had tons upon tons work to do was no way to spend an afternoon.
He’d chosen to study law at a university far from where he lived, meaning he was living alone for the time being. Which had been nice, until he came to the conclusion that he knew no one in the area and therefore was virtually friendless.
He’d spent around 4 months there already, and with no one to hang out with it was growing harder and harder to keep motivated, with only youtube and netflix to keep him entertained in the sparse gaps between studying and attending lectures.
After finding his hand could no longer produce legible notes he buried his face in his hands and dragged out a long winded groan. All of this studying was overwhelming and was close to driving him insane. He rubbed his eyes and turned to face the small window sat beside his desk. It was warm and bright outside, throughout the day light had been leaking in and been slowly warming his right arm during the aggravating period of work, though he had been so engrossed he’d barely even noticed.
He envied the carefree students laying together outside his block on the green, unbothered by life, living in the moment. He longed for that feeling of tranquillity, where nothing mattered apart from being on time for the bus or how much money you had to pay for ice cream.
His eyes wandered across the road from where his university was situated towards a quaint little cafe no bigger than his student accommodation flat. He’d been meaning to go there for a while ever since he’d seen it but had been putting it off after he’d found there had just been no time.
In reality, there still was no time, but his drive to get a warm beverage and a suitable distraction was stronger than his will to finish this term paper; once again, his laziness had prevailed.
He dropped his pen beside his scrawly and probably useless notes and instead focused on finding presentable attire to leave the house.
His eyes brushed over the piles of books he’d accumulated and found to be no use; sighing, he pushed the thoughts of worry and deadline away from his mind, throwing on a stray hoodie he’d left idly draped over the back of his chair and turning indefinitely away from his work.
After locking the door to his apartment he trudged down the echoey halls of the building, hearing muffled voices of people talking behind other dorm rooms and catching glimpses of students round corners. This life was completely different to the environment he’d left behind at home, every class he attended he was certain he saw a new face every time; though he’d been there for a while he had still not grown used to it.
He had exchanged a few passing words to people he’d sat with, asking surface level questions regarding what classes they were taking or what they were doing for work, though not ending up close enough to exchange numbers, social media or anything of real value, leaving him knowing no one there well enough to go out for a coffee with. Nevertheless, he was content, there was time to make friends and he would make them in time.
He walked out the entrance of the apartment block, taking in a deep breath of fresh air as he strutted down the worn path towards the mysterious cafe. He’d always enjoyed warm weather, he pined for the days he’d spent with old school mates under sun, between lessons, or during weekends that never lasted long enough. He’d lost contact with all of them since then, occasionally seeing them pop up on his feed whenever he had the opportunity to check; although they had lost the childlike grin in their eye, at least they looked happy.
Cars kicked up particles alongside the road he walked beside, filling the dry air with a thin beige layer of fumes and dust. He waved the dust away from his face as the entrance to the cafe came closer into view, narrowly dodging a random pedestrian as he found his way along the busy path.
Once he’d finally reached the two wide glass doors he pushed them open, grateful for the cool aircon that rushed over his face as he entered, serving as a huge relief compared to the exposure of the relentless afternoon sun. He brushed himself down and looked around to briefly scan his new surroundings.
The cafe was almost exactly what he’d expected, small tables dotted around the room not much bigger than the main room of his apartment. The sweet smell of coffee and various other scents filled his lungs and compelled him to take a deeper breath. Rustic and worn wallpaper had been placed in mismatched positions around the sides of the room which somehow made everything look so much more warm and inviting.
A woman he didn’t recognise stood at the bar cleaning a glass with a worn cloth, her hair was a variety of pinks and blondes paired with what Alex guessed to be her natural colour. An apron had been tied loosely around her waist and tucked into the pockets were a variety of multicoloured pens and a small notepad scrawled with previous orders of the day.
Next to her stood a taller man with darker hair and an apron that matched hers, writing something on his own pad of paper. Alex squinted, feeling dumb for not thinking of bringing his glasses; slowly, the feeling of recognition overwhelmed him as he gazed further, something told him he’d seen that man somewhere before, he just wasn’t sure where.
“Can I help you?” The voice of the woman called him to attention. Flustered, Alex turned his focus away from the man beside her and concentrated on trying not to make a fool of himself. Her name tag read ‘Niki’ which had been surrounded by small pencil-drawn hearts she’d probably done herself.
“Uh, yeah, I’m not sure what to order just yet.” Alex replied, he tried to look over the vast selection of drinks and other items that were available, already starting to feel overwhelmed by the choices as their words began blurring together, not to mention the fact that he was slightly intimidated by the woman he’d come to realize was actually incredibly gorgeous.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this one,” A second voice, deeper this time, came from her colleague leaning casually at the counter twirling his pen in his fingers, “let me surprise you.” He shot Alex a wink before he got to work, seeming like he knew exactly what he was doing, skilfully turning handles and pouring dark ingredients into a large machine that he brought to life as soon as it was touched.
“Grab a seat, I'll be with you in a minute.” The man’s British accent was barely audible over the buzzing of metal against metal, though his gesturing was enough to give Alex the message.
Stunned by his courteous manner, Alex thanked him and went to sit at a vacant seat where the sun shone by the window. He had no idea what to expect, he’d only met this man two seconds ago and he was already guessing his coffee order like he’d known him for years.
Or maybe he had.
A sudden image of the man from the bar entered his mind, except he was younger, shorter hair, smiling and running through fields of grass and sun.
Whoever he was, he seemed familiar.
Alex pressed his fingers against his temples and thought long and hard, scanning over memories from school, uni, anywhere he could think of. This was definitely the first time he’d seen him in a while so he was sure they didn’t attend the same classes, but then again he couldn’t be certain.
A name he recognised suddenly perked him up, did the waitress just call him George? Alex looked subtly over his shoulder to see the two laughing gratuitously at something the supposed ‘George’ had shown Nikki on his phone; they almost looked like a couple.
Alex turned away, trying to push down the jealousy from being single. Besides, whether or not they were dating was none of his business and, like he always said, good things always came with time.
After a few minutes of waiting the man who had made his coffee came over to his table, placing a medium sized cup before him, accompanied by a cookie with a smile that had been pressed onto the front.
“What is it?” Alex’s eyes flicked over to the man’s name tag which read ‘George’ in all capitals, so he hadn’t misheard.
“You’ll have to try it and see.” George’s face glowed with pride at his creation, Alex took the time to go over his features, the most prominent being his large brown eyes and dark hair that had been pinned back messily with a black headband.
It was then Alex remembered who he was, he felt silly for not recognizing this sooner; of course, this was George, the boy he’d always admired ever since early on in highschool, the boy that made him miss Summer days and warm winds and made him love the wet grass and cold Springs.
George...
Alex had always thought time worked in a funny way, it’s ability to tie in the past with the future baffled him beyond anything.
At the time Alex had been humiliated by the fact he’d taken interest in a boy and not any of the pretty girls in his year, so he wasn’t surprised this was something he’d tried to forget. After George moved away, a year after Alex had developed feelings, he had swallowed down any disappointment he’d felt and focused on letting go, afterwards just assuming George had moved on with his own life and forgotten him too.
“I recognise you.” Alex suddenly blurted, covering his mouth with his hand as soon as the words had slipped out.
“Sorry?” George said with a confused expression, raising his eyebrows with expectancy.
“Ah, no, let me start again, we used to go to school together,” Alex explained, trying to talk as best he could without falling apart on the spot, “I'm Alex, you might know me as Alexis? I used to sit with you in science.”
Alex scanned his face for any sign that George knew who he was too, his heart sank slowly when he received no reaction that could suggest as such.
George squinted at Alex and eventually shook his head, “Uh, no, sorry, I'm not good with names.” He pulled out his notebook and began writing something, Alex tried to suppress the urge to run out into oncoming traffic. He tried not to show his regret for enquiring, he distracted himself by looking down at the cookie which only stared back harshly, it’s welcoming smile now morphing into that of mocking pride.
“I’d like to get to know you though,” said George suddenly, tearing off the page he’d written on, folding it, and placing it beside Alex’s coffee, “enjoy!” he chimed, sauntering off with the same smile he’d arrived with.
Alex reached forwards and unfolded the page, inside was writing scribbled hurriedly which was what he assumed to be George’s number, paired with a square bracket smile. Elated, Alex placed the note carefully in his pocket and took a sip of his coffee, it didn’t taste as bitter as previous drinks he’d had, moreso sweet, the taste of cocoa lingering on his tongue as he looked over the note he’d been given.
He smirked, couldn’t quite put a name to this drink, but whatever it was he had already fallen in love with it.
George had changed so much since the last time he’d seen him, though it looked as though they had both remained a similar height, with George being slightly taller, which, much to Alex’s demise, had always been the case.
It was strange seeing him again, all grown up with a job and actually really excellent coffee-making skills, not to mention his practically flawless appearance. He shook the thoughts of affection from his head, he couldn’t afford falling into the trap of unrequited feelings again, work was set to be his main priority.
He finished his drink and biscuit and made to leave, just before he left through the main doors he turned back, caught in George’s soft glance and a smile laced with sugar. Alex shot a quick smile back and pushed open the thick glass doors out onto the pavement outside, heart pounding and clenching onto the thin paper note.
The entire walk back towards his dorm his heart could not stop racing in his chest, by the time he had got to his flat he felt like he was going to explode. It had been years since he’d felt like this, the contemplation of whether or not George had a similar longing, quick glances and shy smiles, he felt sixteen again and he loved it.
Though this feeling was instantly diminished when the sight of his unfinished work was caught in his view once more. He sighed and trudged over to where his desk was piled high with papers and incomplete notes and sat down, highs like this only lasted so long.
Before picking up his pen he reached towards his glass and took a sip of the water that had probably been there since yesterday, the taste was nothing like the previous one that had lingered on his tongue, he pined for the light feeling and ached for the dark haired man behind the bar.
“I’d like to get to know you too George.” He whispered towards the note he’d been given, staring at the hurried figures he could only just make out. He placed the paper to the side, it would serve as motivation while he worked, making a promise that he would text him once the majority was finished.
The sun had grown lower in the sky, casting deep tangerine orange over the green and grey that paved the ground outside, still just as warm and inviting as before.
Alex had never been more excited for the start of something new, he only hoped it would get better from here.