A pair of glittering eyes caught his gaze across the room. He held the gaze, his own eyes widening at the sight of the vision before him. Dark hair fell in loose waves that framed the pale young woman's face. A pair of pink lips flashed him a gentle smile before her gaze shifted back to the laptop in front of her.
"Definitely a vampire," said one of the companions. The laughter around the table shook Nova from his reverie and he looked at his friends, all of whom were watching him intently.
"What? She's not a fucking vampire," he said, and the others just laughed.
"You should go talk to her," said Kootra, and Nova just looked at him in disbelief.
"What? No, I'm not gonna just go up to her," he said.
"You should!" said Sp00n, and Nova groaned.
"You're just not gonna fucking drop it, are you?" Nova asked, and the others all shook their heads.
"What's the worst that can happen?" asked Kootra.
"I get fucking rejected," snapped Nova, and the others silence for a moment.
"She's looking at you again," said Seamus, breaking the silence, and their heads all began to turn.
"Not all at once!" said Sp00n. "Let Nova do it."
Taking a nervous breath, Nova turned his head slowly and once again, he was gazing into the girl's gentle eyes. She held the contact as she lifted her drink to her pink lips, taking a delicate sip before setting it back down.
"Oh, fuck me," Nova muttered. The girl looked away mischievously as he stood up, and Kootra applauded lightly. Nova shot him a glare as he started towards the girl's table.
As he neared her, the girl looked again up at him, and he finally got a good look at those eyes that had been flirting with him from across the room. They were a stunning hazel, the inner part being a soft brown and the outer rim a shocking green. He almost stopped dead in his tracks, but her encouraging smile pulled him forward.
"Hey," he said, standing awkwardly before her.
"Hi," answered the girl, and her soft voice all but sent shivers down his spine.
"My name's Nova, what's yours?" he asked.
"Arianna," she said, "but you can just call me Ari."
"Arianna," he murmured before he could stop himself, eliciting a delicate little giggle from the girl.
"Would you like to sit?" she asked, nodding towards the empty chair across from her.
"I don't know," he muttered, shuffling his feet. "Sitting leads to talking, and you'll be disappointed when you start finding out shi – stuff – about me."
"Then why did you bother coming over?" she asked, a challenging sparkle in her pretty green eyes.
"I – oh, fu – okay, okay," he said, laughing nervously and pulling out the chair.
"You're not good at this, are you?" she asked.
"Good at what?" he asked as he sat down.
"Picking up women in coffee shops," she replied with a sweet smile.
"Oh…no, not really," he said.
"Well, just ask me a question. It can be anything – ask me what I'm drinking, what I do for a living, what my favourite colour is, anything."
"Okay, well, uh, what do you do for a living?" he asked, running a nervous hand through his own dark hair.
"I'm a teacher," she said.
"Jesus," he muttered, before he could stop himself.
"What?" she asked, cocking her head cutely to one side.
"That means you're really smart," he laughed, and Arianna giggled softly.
"So? What do you do for a living?" she asked him.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"I make Youtube videos."
Much to his surprise, a curious smile crossed Arianna's lips. She leant forward slightly, resting her arms on the table, an intrigued glint in those pretty hazel eyes.
"You make Youtube videos?" she asked softly.
"Yeah," Nova mumbled, nodding. "I dunno, I'm nothing fancy I guess."
"What kinds of Youtube videos?" she asked him, smiling encouragingly.
"Uh, well, I do Let's Plays, that's basically just a playthrough of a game," he said.
"Yeah, I know what an LP is," she said, and he looked at her in surprise.
"You do?" he asked.
"Of course," she said softly, smiling. "What makes you think I wouldn't?"
"I just, uh…I didn't really have you pegged as a gamer," he replied, and Ari giggled adorably.
"Well, then, you'd be surprised," she said softly.
"So hang on, you play video games?" he asked. Another laugh from Arianna.
"You sound so bewildered," she giggled. "I play lots of video games."
"What games?" he asked.
"Minecraft, lots of Black Ops, I used to play Skyrim. I never played it myself but I liked watching my ex play Assassins Creed and Grand Theft Auto 5."
As she sat there listing off games, her voice growing softer as she went, clearly afraid that he was losing interest, quite the opposite was happening – Nova's dark eyes were gazing at her in disbelief. She was so perfect in so many ways; he'd hardly expected this pretty young woman to love all the same games he did.
"So, um, yeah," mumbled Arianna, her cheeks going a light pink, and Nova grinned.
"No, no, don't be embarrassed," he said. "I love all those games."
"Really?" she asked, her hazel eyes widening and seeming to light up with delight.
"Yeah!" he said. "Maybe you could come over some time and we could play together."
Arianna gazed towards him with the prettiest of smiles on her lips.
"I'd really like that, Nova," she said softly, and his name rolled off of her tongue so eloquently, so gracefully, that he nearly had to remind himself that it actually was his. "When would be good for you?"
"Any time, really," he said with a shrug. "Hell, you could come home with me now and we could shoot some zombies."
Arianna grinned at his words and nodded.
"That sounds like fun," she said, and he just smiled back.
"Awesome," he replied. "Do you wanna wait and finish your drink or something?"
"I can finish it in the car," she answered, reaching down to the floor and picking up a bulky black purse. Nova nodded, standing from the table. As Arianna stood, he took a moment to admire the pretty girl's figure – while they'd been sitting he'd seen only her face, which was captivating enough, but she had a slender waist and flawless curves clad in tight jeans and a shimmery purple halter top. She was absolute perfection in its human form.
"Let me just go tell my friends I'm leaving," he said suddenly, remembering the guys on the other side of the room. "Any chance you could drive me? They still have some stuff to do before heading home, so I can't really take the car and just abandon them here."
Arianna laughed softly. She glanced towards the table from which Nova had approached her, and she saw that the group of guys was glancing their way now that the two of them had stood. She gave the table a flirtatious little wave and they all quickly shifted their gaze away from the couple, and she let out another laugh.
"Of course, go tell them," she said with a nod.
Nova all but danced over to the table, and the other guys were all grinning maliciously as he stood by them.
"Well?" asked Kootra. "How's it going?"
"Absolutely fucking great," Nova replied. "We're gonna go back to the house and play some games."
"You're gonna do WHAT?" Sp00n asked, and Nova grinned.
"She's a gamer girl, man," he said. "She plays all the same shit we do."
"Oh my god," said Seamus.
"Marry her," said Kootra.
"Hell yes," answered Nova, absolutely beaming. "So we're heading back to the house to play some Black Ops."
"Does that mean we need to drive you home?" asked Sp00n.
"No, I'm gonna ride with her, leave you guys the car."
"Awesome," said Seamus with a nod.
"Hey, Nova," said Sp00n, "if anything…you know, happens…just text us so we'll know not to come back yet."
Nova laughed slightly.
"You mean if I fucking get laid?" he asked, and the group all laughed with him.
"Alright, now go, don't leave a lady waiting!" said Kootra, and Nova nodded.
"Okay, okay, sheesh," he said. "I'll see you guys later!" And with that, he turned and headed to where Arianna waited for him, and the two headed out of the little coffee shop together, laughing and chattering animatedly.