Chapter 26

You stared, frozen in place, rim of your cup barely grazing your lower lip. The strong scent of coffee rising through your nose. You shakily lowered the cup, and put it on the table. You, and everything around you, felt as surreal as it was the day you met him. In a Coffee shop. This was almost like the same day, but reversed. You came here to find him, and instead ended up in Sweden, where he walked into the shop instead of you walking in on him.

Ben caught your stare, and his toothy grin stretched almost from ear to ear. He left Felix at the counter and made his way over to you, joining you in the booth, smile not fading.

"What are you doing here?" You managed to hiss, glancing between him and Felix, mind ticking over, "How do you know him? I don't get it. What's happening?"

All he did was laugh, following your stare over to Felix, who hadn't even noticed that Ben had left his side, and was busy ordering something in Swedish. Ben turned back to look at you and his face grew a little more serious.

"Don't you get it?" He said slyly, "Don't you see what's happening?"

You shook your head instantly.

"No, no I don't!" You said, trying to keep your angry voice hushed, "I don't understand at all! I thought you were just a stranger being nice to-"

"What stranger, in this day and age, is nice to a beautiful girl he randomly meets?" He laughed, voice dripping with sweetness, "Unless he's a creep."

There was a new aura to Ben than you had noticed before, as if the Ben you met was a figment of your imagination; as if it had been an act. You even now realised that Ben was no longer in a suit, and was dressed in a simple pair of jeans, shirt, and leather jacket, definitely not something you tend to see business men wear. Nonetheless, you shivered as the word 'beautiful' left his lips.

"Why didn't you just tell me you knew who I was in the first place…"

"You wouldn't have wanted anything to do with what I knew. You'd have probably tossed me aside and called me crazy. I am a stranger, after all."

Without saying anything more, he stood up and away from the booth, without giving you time to protest, and strode his way back to the coffee shop entrance, patting Felix on the shoulder as he walked past. Now, the only people in the small shop was a couple on one corner, the man behind the counter, you in the other corner, and Felix. Everything seemed a lot more cold and sinister than it had done a few moments ago; and to top it off, you were still utterly confused.

Just as you were toying with questions in your head, you spotted Felix turning to face you. A lump caught in your throat and you couldn't help but look away. You stared, shocked and still, at the corner of the leather booth, and waited for something to happen. No longer did you feel as confident to speak to him, let alone see his face. All that confidence had been washed away, and you as a result felt sick to the bone.

"…_?" You heard. It was Felix, and he was standing right in front of you.

You looked up slowly.

"Hello, Felix," you tried to sound confident, but your voice was wavering slightly.

"_, how did you get here?"

"By plane," you drawled, accidentally sounding more sarcastic that you meant.

The man sat in front of you, in the chair opposite and put his drink down, he also had a sandwich that had been neatly placed on a small china plate. He cleared his throat on purpose and you stared up at him with remorse. Was this really a good idea? And how on earth did Ben know you."

"Explain me this," you continued, trying your best to not let your voice waver at the sight of the Swedish man, "How did that Ben guy know who I was, and how does he know you?"

"Okay, fine. I was too scared to admit I still wanted you to come with me. Your mother texted me, telling me that you were coming after me-"

"Wait wait wait, what? My mother? She has your number, she told you?"

"I don't know, _, she must have taken your phone and gotten it or something, but anyway, she told me, and I knew you were going to have trouble finding me, and since Ben was in your area at the time, and he's a close friend of mine, I thought he could give you a little guidance…"

"So, you knew I was coming this whole time, and you didn't tell me that some stranger was going to lead me to you?"
"I did try to ring you…"

"That's beside the point, Felix," You almost shouted, voice shrill. You tried your best to say more, but nothing came to mind. What he had planned, had worked, so you had no real reason to get angry. You wanted to see him again, and you wanted to apologise.

"I just…" You looked down a little, at your drink, "I came here because I wanted to apologise to you. For getting all snooty or whatever and assuming you put your dog first. Because you did, and that's fine," you now looked up at him, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry and I was an idiot."

For a few moments there was silence, and you looked worriedly into Felix's eyes, looking for whatever emotion he was displaying. A small smile crept across his face and he raised a hand to your cheek, holding it gently and letting his thumb slide across it. You couldn't help but smile too, albeit the fact your heart had never beaten so fast in your life.

"It's fine," he said simply, "anyway, I got Maya back. She's at my parents."

That reminded you of something.

"Who's car was that in your driveway?" You asked suddenly, and Felix's thumb stopped gliding across your cheek, "it was freshly parked and everything."

"Oh," Felix mumbled, "That was Ben's car, he drove to mine to tell me you had arrived. Then we saw you walking down the road and followed you. Did you knock? Since we didn't hear you."

"I did," you said quietly, "I kinda prefer this shop though. I'm a big fan of Coffee."

"Me too," he smiled, "definitely."

With that, he stood up and leant across the table, bringing your face close to his and pushing his lips against your own. You inhaled sharply and brought a hand to his face, pulling him closer as your lips made contact. The feel of his skin was sweet, and made tingles of pleasure shoot up and down your body. Every now and then your lips parted, but only to come crashing back down against each other. From somewhere behind you, you heard a distant wolf whistle; but you weren't paying attention, you were too busy excitedly greeting Felix's lips with your own.

Pulling away, Felix stared you deeply in the eye and cupped your face with his hands, before resting his forehead against yours and grinning from ear to ear.

"Now," he breathed, "Now you've got to promise me never to leave me again."

and there, we have it.

I really hope you've enjoyed this story.

and I honestly hope the ending wasn't too abrupt, or bad.

I tried my best to make the whole piece realistic, or as close to that as I could.

This journey has been fun, has it not?

Kind regards,
-Emma