Chapter 5

Once we arrived at Java, the wonderful scent of coffee beans wafted through the air. I subconsciously close my eyes to collect the smell. This place smells like paradise. Cooper and I walk up to the counter, and as we wait for the employee who is probably in the back of the store, he tells me that his boyfriend and his friend are sitting on the other side of the coffee house. I turn my head in the direction Cooper is pointing and my eyes fall on the most attractive man I've ever seen. He has this silky black hair- or maybe it's dark brown. And his eyes! They are these two beautiful blue-gray orbs that I know I could stare at for hours... Is that weird? And don't get me started on his body. He's sitting down, but I can already see that he's built like a truck. His arms are extremely muscular and are most likely bigger than my thighs. He has biceps, triceps- all the 'ceps'! And now this man, whose name I don't even know, is staring at me with an intensity I've never felt before. I blush and look down at the ground, suddenly finding my shoes to be extremely interesting. Oh, look! My right shoe has a bit of dirt on it. I should probably clean that when I get home. I'm interrupted from my thoughts by Cooper, who is tapping on my arm. "Hmm?" I say as I snap my head up to see what he wants. He chuckles and says "are you going to order?" This is when I notice that the employee came out from the back of the store. I turn to see that it's Tyler, a guy I went to high school with that I trained a few months ago. "Thea! It's great to see you again! How's school going for you? I miss having shifts with you" Tyler says with that pretty boy smirk that usually works on girls, but now I find I'm not in the mood for a boy, but a man. Oh my god? Where are these thoughts coming from? "Hey, Tyler! School's fine. How are you?" I ask, avoiding the comment about missing me. "I'm doing great! Just had football tryouts so hopefully, I make the team." I remember Tyler played football in high school. I never went to any games- I was the girl who stayed home to study- or at least use studying as an excuse to be antisocial. I still remain on the shy side, but I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone. "Yeah, hope you do," I say, not knowing what I'm supposed to say in this situation. I barely know the guy and he's striking up a conversation with me. I guess he's just trying to be nice. "Can I get a vanilla latte for myself and caramel macchiato for him" I nod in Cooper's direction. "Ooh! Also, do you have any blueberry scones?" I question, biting my lip in anticipation. "Oh, we don't have any made right now. I can start a batch right now" Tyler says. I look behind me and see a line is starting to form. "No, that's okay. We'll just take the drinks. How much?" I ask. "On the house" Tyler smiles at me. I'm about to tell Tyler that he really isn't supposed to do that at Java when I hear a low growl tear through the room. I jump and turn my head in the direction of the sound. Instead of finding a grizzly bear in the room, I just see an extremely grumpy looking... I don't even know his name, but it's the really attractive guy that I'm praying isn't Cooper's boyfriend. There's another guy with golden blonde hair and brown eyes across from Grumpy who matches him in size and looks. I didn't even notice him when I first walked in. "What the heck was that?" I ask Cooper, alarmed by the sound. "Um, it was just a motorcycle going by or something," he says to me. That did not sound like a motorcycle, but I guess that's what it must be. I don't see an animal around here. "C'mon Thee, let's go sit down." Cooper grabs the coffees and leads me over to the table where the other guys are already seated. I chuckle at what Cooper just called me because Evie always calls me that. They would probably get along really well. They both act like 6-year-olds. The closer we get to the table, the more nervous I get. This is what happens when I don't go out at all during high school and am thrust into social situations. What if I don't know what to say? What if they don't like me, or think I'm weird? And now, I realize that since the two guys are sitting across from each other, I'm going to have to sit next to one of them, not Cooper. This just helps my nerves even more. As we near, they both stand up to greet us, and holy mother of God, they are so tall! I'm only 5'2", and Blondie must be around 6'2" and Grumpy around 6'4". I have to tilt my head up to look into their eyes. Cooper embraces Blondie and kisses him- quite provocatively I might add. I smile a little, thanking the heavens that Cooper is with Blondie, not with Grumpy. I look over at Grumpy, who is smirking at me, almost like he knows exactly what I'm thinking. I widen my eyes and look down while preoccupying myself with my coffee. I grab it and sit down in the seat next to Grumpy as the other two sit down across from us. "So, this is Thea, my friend from Psychology. Thea, this is my boyfriend Axel" Cooper says pointing to Blondie. "And that," Cooper says nodding to Grumpy, "is Grayson." "It's a pleasure to meet you, Thea," Grayson says. His voice is deep and smooth, and it perfectly matches his exterior. It makes my breath hitch, and when he extends his hand out to me, I place my small hand in his large, calloused one. Sparks. That's is the only thing I can say to describe the feeling of my hand in his. A series of tingles spread down my arm and throughout my body, landing somewhere I'm too embarrassed to mention. I swallow very loudly, and to cover up my awkwardness, I clear my throat and reply before too much time has passed. "Same to you Grayson." I really wanted to say his name, to see how it rolls off of my tongue. I love it. We continue to stare at each other until Cooper basically screams "So, it seems you two are off to a great start." His comment brought me back to reality and I quickly pulled my hand from Grayson's grasp, almost like he burnt me. Grayson glares at Cooper and grumbles something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'I'm going to kill you.' I really tried to suppress my giggle, but it somehow slipped out and Grayson looked at me with a look that I can't define. Maybe he was surprised that I found his actions funny? I'm not sure, I'm not very good at reading people. It looked like Grayson was about to ask me something when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Tyler with a tray of blueberry scones. They smell amazing, and there's steam coming from the top so I assume he just made them. "For you," Tyler says looking directly at me. His hand is still on my shoulder which makes me a little uncomfortable, and I find myself slightly gravitating towards Grayson. "Thanks" I mumble to Tyler. I avoid eye contact hoping that he'll go away, but he asks if there's anything he can do for me- and I'm getting that he's not just talking about as our server. "I would remove your hand from Thea before I have to remove it for you" Grayson threatens. Tyler immediately removes his hand in fear of Grayson. I would be scared too if Grayson were staring at me with his jaw and fingers clenched like he's ready to pummel me. Tyler mumbles something about seeing me later and then he returns to the counter. With one look at Grayson, I see that he is still staring at Tyler with disgust and pure rage. I don't understand why he's so mad. We just met, and Tyler didn't do anything to me. He may have made me a tad uncomfortable, but his hand was only on my shoulder! Grayson seems to be breathing heavily, and it looks as if he clenches his jaw any tighter than he will break it. I don't know why, but I place my hand on his and give him a shy smile in hopes it will calm him down. Surprisingly, that seems to work, and Grayson looks at me with an intensity that I've never experienced. I remove my hand when I realize that Cooper and Axel just witnessed that entire scene. Cooper is smirking at me while Axel has a soft smile on his face. I'm extremely embarrassed and I hide my face with my hair as I look down. Two fingers on my chin pull my face back towards Grayson as his other hand pushes my hair behind my ear. "Don't hide from me, Thea. And you look absolutely adorable when you blush" Grayson says, causing me to turn even redder if that were possible. He chuckles at my involuntary response, then releases me. I quickly grab my coffee and chug half of it just to give me something to do. "What is with you guys and embarrassing me?" I say, half-joking but also half-serious. "What do you mean?" Grayson asks with pure curiosity. I stare at Cooper who only begins to laugh like he's the evil villain in a movie. Grayson glares at Cooper and leans forward. "What the fuck did you do to her?" he growls. "Gray, calm down," Axel says. That's when I realize that that's the first time I've heard Axel speak. He must be a man of few words. Considering who he's dating, I guess it makes sense. Opposites attract. "I didn't do THAT much" Cooper chuckles. "Really?" I ask with my mouth agape. He has got to be kidding me! "You got everyone in that class to think that I attacked you and wouldn't stop screaming! Then in the middle of the lecture, you threw twenty pens at me and everyone stared at me, again! They probably think I'm insane!" I screamed. Once I finished my mini-rant, I turned to Axel. "How do you deal with him?" Axel's smile spread wider as he turned to look at Cooper. "You get used to it," he said, then he kissed Cooper's temple. Cooper cuddles into Axel's side and puts his arms around him. "You love me." "Yeah, I do."