BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Aaron Stowe groaned and buried himself deeper into his blankets, still half-asleep. The beeping of his alarm continued to sound, getting louder and louder. His eyes shot open as the loud noise failed to stop killing his ears. He scowled and glared at his still-beeping alarm.
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" he huffed. He banged his fist on the annoying thing and let out a sigh of relief when it turned off. Another wave of tiredness seeped over him, and he fell back into his bed. He closed his eyes and nearly fell asleep, until-
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
This time, Aaron was fully awake. He shot out of bed and ripped the stupid alarm off the wall. "That's right, you better not try to wake me up this early!" he said to it.
Then, he looked at the time. It was 7:03. In two minutes, the bus would be coming! In a panic, he quickly put on his favorite black jeans and a band t-shirt, along with a pair of sneakers. He didn't bother to fix his hair in the mirror, although he already knew it was a crazy mess.
Aaron raced outside his house, only to find his identical twin brother, Alex, standing there. He ran up to Alex, a frown on his face.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Aaron accused.
Alex turned to him. "Your alarm went off, shouldn't that be enough to get you awake?"
Aaron just shook his head and decided not to argue. The school bus pulled up in front of them and they both got on. Aaron stayed in the front, watching as Alex went to greet his friends in the back, as always.
Alex was way more popular than Aaron. He was known as the 'more liked twin.' He had a girlfriend, and he also excelled in all kinds of art. To Aaron, Alex seemed like the perfect person. He was popular, creative, and liked by everyone.
It was so frustrating.
Aaron didn't seem to have any friends these days. In his past, he'd been very controlling of the few friends he had. He was also bossy and mean to them. Now, he had pretty much learned his lesson and was improving on being nicer to others, but no one seemed to like him anymore. Yep, it was pretty depressing.
But then, out of the blue, someone came into his life and turned it upside down. It all started a month ago. He was working at the register, something he almost never did. He heard someone come in, but didn't look up until he heard a soft ahem. He looked up and he saw an extremely pretty girl, with tan skin, brown hair that was almost the exact shade as his, and light brown eyes. He nearly forgot how to breathe but quickly asked her what she wanted to order. Just a simple question like that, and he noticed her eyes filled with tears. He had no idea what to do. But, he assumed she had been having a bad day, so he did what he could to cheer her up. After that he saw her everyday after school at the coffee shop he had a part-time job at. Everyday, she ordered the same thing: an iced coffee. And everyday, she came exactly at 3:30. He had developed a major crush on her. There was only one problem: he didn't know her name.
He did know a few things about her, though. He knew she was the same age as him. He also knew she definitely liked the color green (since she wore it almost every day). She was also a very cheerful person, it seemed, and Aaron always looked forward to seeing her.
I just have to get through the school day, and then I'll see her, Aaron thought. The same thought ran through his head almost every day. Seeing her was a daily part of his life now, and he was glad she had come into it. Even if they had never had an actual conversation, she had become a very strong influence on his life. If only he could stop being shy and talk to her for once.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. He stared at the wall in all of his classes, only talking when his teacher asked him to. He sat alone at lunch, which was a common thing for him. His school might've been pretty big, but no one had ever sat with him. He wasn't too bothered by it anymore, though. He was used to it.
Aaron was relieved when the school bell rang, signaling that everyone could get out of this prison. He grabbed his backpack from his locker and walked outside the door. He spotted Alex with his group of friends and hurried onto the bus. He sat in the front seat and started on his homework since he couldn't do it at work.
Twenty minutes later, Aaron and Alex were let off the bus. "Have fun at work, Aaron!" said Alex with a smile. Aaron blushed slightly, wondering if he knew. Did he know about the girl? If Alex had been watching him…
Aaron shook off the thought.
"Thanks," he told Alex. He smiled a little and ran over to get his bike. Finally, his favorite time of day had arrived.
Kaylee Jones sat on the bus on the long ride home, looking out the window. Her friend, Sky, kept trying to get her attention but she was way too excited. And this kind of excitement happened once every day. When she got to see him.
Just the thought of him made her smile widen. He was extremely cute. He had chocolate brown eyes and brown hair that was normally messy. He was also taller than her. Not only appearance, but also his personality seemed great too. Although he seemed kind of shy around her, he was always really nice and sweet. She had met him a month ago.
That day, she had been having a pretty bad day. She had missed her bus, and it didn't help at all when she arrived late, and her teacher spent a solid twenty minutes yelling at her. At lunch that day, she stood up from her table to throw out her food, but someone slammed into her. The person's drink spilled all over her clothes. Everyone nearby had started to laugh, and the rude person didn't even apologize. She spent the rest of the day wishing she was invisible. Her friends didn't even bother to ask what was wrong, or why she looked upset. By the time she got home, she was done. Completely done.
And so, she decided to go to the Two Hearts Café to get an iced coffee, which turned out to be one of the best decisions she had ever made. The minute she saw that boy, her spirits were lifted. He had asked if she was okay, and genuinely seemed to care about her. She eventually grew happier just from being around him, and when she left, she knew something in her life had shifted.
Now, every day at 3:30, she went to her favorite coffeeshop. Not really for the coffee, although it was still nice, but just to see him. For a while, her goal had been to have an actual, real conversation with him. Not just an exchange of words. She really hoped she could talk to him today.
"Today," Kaylee whispered to herself. "I'll talk to him today."
"Who's him?" a voice asked.
Kaylee turned to see Sky staring at her, a little annoyed. Which of course, made Kaylee grin even more.
"How long have you been staring at me?" she asked.
"Almost ten minutes!" Sky complained. "Who're you thinking about?"
Kaylee just waved her off. "Nah, doesn't matter."
"Is it a booooooy?"
Kaylee flushed a deep red. "N-no!" she stuttered.
Sky grinned. "Aha! So it is! Who is it?"
Kaylee shook her head. "Just a boy.."
But her friend didn't seem to get the hint. Seriously, why couldn't she stop bothering her about her crush?
"What's his name?" Sky demanded, leaning forward far too eagerly. When Kaylee didn't respond, she said, "Kaylee Jones, don't tell me you don't know his name."
Kaylee sighed. "Fine…I don't know his name. But I see him every day at that coffee shop I go too. He works there."
"Huh…" Sky said, leaning back into her seat. "I guess I haven't heard of him…"
They sat in silence for a few minutes before the bus pulled up at Kaylee's house. Kaylee stood up.
"Have fun seeing that boy today, Kaylee," Sky called after her as she got off the bus. It took all of Kaylee's willpower to not jump back on and strangle her. She ran inside her house and set her back down. She checked her watch. It was 3:20. She put her brand-new white jacket on and hurried out the door. She grabbed her bike and hopped on it. A smile exploded on her face. He was only ten minutes away.
"Aaron, can you get coffee beans in the back?" Aaron's boss shouted from across the room. His boss was a pretty intimidating looking man, although his personality didn't fit the description. Which was good, of course, since he used to mess up at this job all the time.
He nodded and hurriedly ran to get some. He ran to the hidden closet in the back, where large supplies of coffee bean bags were. Today, the coffee shop was unusually crowded. Apparently, everyone wanted to get coffee at exactly 3:30.
Aaron grabbed a few bags of the coffee beans and gave it to his co-workers who were making the coffee. He ran back to the cash register and took orders. He wanted to look for the girl, but the coffee shop was so crowded he couldn't tell if she was even here. She probably was, though, right? He hoped so.
The crowd kept shouting their orders at him, all talking over each other. Aaron looked helplessly over at his boss who had a frown on his face. His boss walked up to him.
"Aaron," he said urgently. "I can take it from here. Go hand out the orders to our costumers."
"Okay," Aaron replied reluctantly. He didn't feel that comfortable with a large amount of people, but this was his job. He did not want to get fired. He grabbed a few of the finished coffees and handed them to the people who had ordered them. Eventually, the crowd got smaller.
Just as Aaron was going to hand out his last coffee of the day, he slammed into someone. The coffee he was holding spilled all over the unfortunate person's new white jacket.
Aaron gasped and grabbed a tray of napkins, handing it to the person. "I'm so, so sorry!" he said, not quite looking at the person yet. He felt really bad. How could he have been so careless?
Then, he looked up. His eyes widened. It was her.
Today, her hair was up in messy bun, although it still looked pretty neat. She looked flawless as always. Then, he noticed it was her white sweater that was stained with coffee. This made him feel ten times worse.
"I'm so sorry…" he said again, meeting her eyes. He was utterly confused when a bright grin spread across her face.
"Don't apologize!" she said happily.
"Why…why are you saying that?" Aaron asked. "I spilled my coffee on your new white jacket! Let me at least make it up to you! I can buy you a new one."
The girl shook her head. "I don't need a new one…I have more at home anyways."
"Oh…" Aaron muttered, kind of disappointed. "Well can I still at least buy you anti-stain spray?"
She laughed, nearly making his heart stop. Her laugh sounded amazing. If he could, he would listen to her laugh all day.
"N-no that's fine!" she insisted.
"Oh…okay…well I should get back to work…" Aaron said. He mentally cursed himself. Why hadn't he said more? He started to walk off, his heart sinking in despair.
But then, the girl intercepted him. He nearly exploded in joy and surprise. She actually would talk to him again? "Wait! There is a way you can make it up to me!" she said.
Aaron just stared at her; afraid his hopes would be getting up too high. "How?"
The girl took a deep breath, her eyes meeting his. "Well, since it's a Saturday tomorrow… how about you take me out to lunch?"
Her face mirrored his own: hopeful and a little too happy. Aaron nearly gasped. Did she just ask me out? he thought. He almost pinched himself to see if this was a dream. They were finally having a conversation…and she had asked him out.
Aaron controlled his wild thoughts and smiled. "That sounds great! Meet here at 12:00?"
The girl nodded. "Yeah, I'll definitely be there."
Aaron almost face palmed himself. They still didn't know each other's names! He really didn't know why he'd never bothered to ask. After a month of seeing each other every day, he probably should've gotten that thought quicker. He thought of a solution. He held out his hand to her. "Oh, I'm Aaron by the way."
She beamed and took his hand, an electrical feeling pulsing through his own, like nothing he'd ever experienced. "I'm Kaylee."