Adrians POV
"Hell no" I said and she chuckled "Why would you say that?" I asked.
She blushed a little and took a sip of her coffee.
"I don´t know, maybe... you just realized, that spending a day with a stranger is kind of awkward" she said with a small smile.
"Somehow, you don´t seem so strange to me" I said studying her.
She thought about it for a few seconds.
"Somehow, you don´t seem so strange to me either" she said still looking at me.
"How come?" I asked. Was that just a perky answer or did she really mean it?
"I don´t know Adrian..." she began "I guess it´s your eyes" she said, suddenly being rather busy with the lid of her cup.
"What about my eyes? I mean besides them being amazing?" I teased.
She laughed at that.
"God, forget it, you´ll think I´m some kind of a freak or something" she said, still avoiding my gaze.
"Try me" I said.
When she looked up I was surprised how close her face was to mine. Without thinking about it, I´d been coming closer.
I noticed, that she was surprised, too when our eyes met.
She cleared her throat and I shifted back a little.
"Sorry, I didn´t wanted to make you uncomfortable" I said.
Sydneys POV
"You´re not" I said quickly.
And it was true. Of course I was kind of nervous around him and yes, his closeness had caught my by surprise, but I didn´t mind it.
In fact, I felt completely comfortable with him, like I would feel with a close friend. It all was very confusing.
"Somehow they´re reminding me of something. I can´t quiet put a finger on it" I finally answered his question.
He looked at me and smiled.
"Still want to spent the day with me?" I asked.
"Yes, still do" he said and I was more than relieved about that.
"There is an exhibition about italian art, would you be interested in going there?" he than asked.
I looked at him in surprise. I´d already planed to go there.
"Sure" I said.
"Ok, than we´ll go there" he said.
"I didn´t think you´re an art person" I said with a grin.
"In fact Sydney, I paint myself" he said.
"You do?" I asked looking at him.
But than, I could picture him perfectly with random stains of color on his shirt and a brush in his hand.
He chuckled and I wondered if I´d missed some kind of joke.
Adrians POV
"Yes. To be honest, I´m taking art classes at college back in Palm Springs" I said.
And you helped me with that. I thought. Somehow it really was frustrating.
On the one hand I knew I couldn´t go on pretending that I was just getting to know her. She deserved the truth and I somehow I even felt guilty to leave her in the dark about our past.
But on the other hand telling her about me, about us just seemed to much for her to handle.
Looking at her cheek told me, that she probably wasn´t even aware of her being an alchemist, or ex-alchemist for that matter, so she probably would have a hard time to even believe that.
I couldn´t just tell her that her own father kidnapped her and probably was part of the whole memory erasing thing.
"Palm Springs?" she asked bringing me back from my thoughts.
"Yes, Palm Springs" I said.
"Well that´s far away" she said and I thought I saw a hint of sadness.
"I´m taking a break at the moment" I told her and she nodded.
"I really would love to see some of your paintings someday" she said.
"Maybe you will" I said.
A few minutes later we got up and got ready to walk to the place where the exhibition took place.
It was a 30 minute walk and I was happy to know, that we would be back inside soon.
We walked for a couple minutes in silence.
"So Adrian, do you always invite strangers to spent the day with you?" Sydney than asked with a coy smile.
I chuckled by her using the exact same words like I had before.
"Only if they are as adorable as you are" I said returning the smile.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Come one, on how many girls did you use this line before?" she than asked me with a smile.
I laughed. To be honest, there might have been a couple. But most of the times it just had been a pickup line. Nothing more.
"Just accept the compliment Sydney" I said and she chuckled.
The exhibition wasn´t as uninteresting as I´d thought it would be. I´d expected modern art and to be honest, I wasn´t a fan of that. But to my surprise it was about ancient roman architecture and sculptures from this era.
Besides, seeing Sydneys eyes shining with admiration would have been worth anyways.
We spent the next hours wandering around talking about the sculptures and the impressive buildings.
"We´re talking about that in college, too" Sydney said, when we reached a huge table, where the Colosseum was copied in miniature size.
"It´s so beautiful. You know, someday, I´ll go there" she said admiring it.
Escape Plan Number 1 I thought. If only we´d just gone through with it.
I looked at her. She seemed completely lost in her thoughts. Her eyes were capturing every inch inf the Colosseum and she had a light blush on her cheeks.
She looked so peaceful in this moment, so relaxed and so beautiful.
She was slowly walking around the table and I followed her, when suddenly her phone buzzed and brought her back to reality.
She sifted through her bag and looked at it.
"Adrian I´m sorry, but I have to go" she said after reading a message.
"Everything ok?" I asked.
"Yes, I just have to get to college" she said.
"I thought it was your free day" I said confused.
"It is, but one of my professors had been sick last week and he´s making good for it today. I have to be there in an hour... I´m sorry" she said.
"Ok" I just said. I wanted her to stay, but I also knew, that she was probably taking college pretty serious.
"I had a wonderful time" she said honestly.
"Me, too" I said truthfully.
She still had her phone in her hands and hesitated for a second looking at it. She blushed even before she spoke
"So maybe you could give me your number?" she asked unsure.
I grinned at her "Only because you really are adorable" I said.
She rolled her eyes but smiled, handing me her phone.
I saved my number for her and gave her back the phone. I was about to ask her for her number, too but decided to leave it at her, when or if she would give me a call.
For a brief moment we were just standing there unsure how to proceed.
Than I decided, that it would be appropriate to give her a small hug and so I did hug her.
She smelled like Sydney and I really was tempted to pull her closer, to take her face in my hands and to kiss her.
Of course I couldn´t and so the hug ended much to soon.
I was flodded with feelings. Love, agony, sadness and even anger.
"So give me a call if you want to have coffee again or I don´t know if you want to do something else" I said.
She smiled "Okay... Bye Adrian" she said.
"Bye Sydney" I said with a smile and than she walked away turning around once again to wave at me.
I watched her leaving the room and I really hoped, that I would hear from her.