"He... What?" Eliza asked, setting down her coffee cup. John smiled brightly, oblivious of how pained her eyes looked. He was telling Eliza the story, of course he was telling Eliza the story. It was Liz after all, John told her everything.
"He kissed me!" He exclaimed, a dreamy look in his eyes for a moment. "Of course," he added, blushing, "not on the lips." Eliza sighed, looking down.
"I'm happy for you," she said, not meeting John's gaze. He cocked an eyebrow.
"Liz," John started, "is everything alright? You seem... Off." Watching her face closely, John tried to make eye contact. It wasn't like Eliza to be so quie. If he knew anything about her, and he did, it was that Lizzie was always laughing and smiling. Even on her worst days, she was never silent.
"I'm fine," she sighed, giving John a smile that was supposed to be reassuring. "Are you going to ask him out?"
"I mean, I guess. I don't know how he'd react. But I think I might!" John said, smiling still, albeit a bit smaller.
"That's good. It's obvious he's into you," Eliza mumbled. John gave her a confused look.
"Wait- it is?" He asked, a small blush creeping up onto his cheeks. He'd never really considered the idea that other people thought Alex liked him. His friends liked to tease, sure, but John had never suspected anything serious.
"Definitely," Eliza assured. "I was there that day, at the movies, remember? He's really into you." John smiled like a madman. "I'm happy for you..." She added, before standing up.
"Where are you going," asked John, looking up at her.
"I should go, I'm sorry. There's just things to do, and... I'll see you later," she said, picking up her coffee and heading for the door. Over her shoulder, Eliza sadly called, "Tell me how it goes." John nodded, admittedly confused.
"Alright..." He called after her, watching the shop door swing closed. Shaking his head, John picked up his coffee as well. There was no point in staying if Eliza had left. Besides, he needed to talk to Alex. Wrapping his jacket tighter around himself, John pushed open the door and entered the cold. His car sat in the parking lot, covered in a light layer of snow.
Stepping into the car, John instantly turned on the heat. He never had liked the cold growing up, and South Carolina winters were *nothing* compared to the ones in New York. Although, even if New York winters were freezing, there was nowhere he would rather be.
Pulling out his phone, John opened his messages to Alex's conversation. He was finally going to ask him out. He had to admit, that idea terrified him. Yet... Yet still he was going to do it. "You're crazy, Laurens," John mumbled, as he backed out of his parking space.
Pulling out onto the highway, John glanced down at his phone. "Hey," he typed, "you free tonight?" With a smile, he hit send and put his attention back on the road. Snow was still drifting down lazily, making it a bit difficult to see, but if was better than it had been on the way to meet Eliza.
The phone buzzed beside him. Alexander's response, no doubt. Picking it back up, he opened the conversation. "Yep!" the screen read, "What's up?" John paused for a moment. In all reality, he wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't just come out with his full intentions over text, but he couldn't lie either.
After a moment, he finally decided on saying, "I need to talk to you." That sounded like a good enough reply. Although, John never finished the sentence.
Everything happened so fast. Too fast. One moment he was looking down, in the middle of typing a word, and the next his phone was being nocked from his hand as he slammed into the steering wheel. The last thing John heard was what sounded like shattering glass, before being enveloped in silence.
Hey guys. So so so sorry that it's been so long! I was suddenly more busy than I'd expected, and couldn't get any writing done. Anyway, it's up now! Yay? We'll go with yay.