┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

chapter one
it's sean, by the way.

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘
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┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

The sound of the soft pitter-patter of the rain filled his ears as he walked through the streets of New York City, the cool wind carrying leaves from the trees above him down to the ground, the leaves crunching under his feet.

Sean felt the cold air brushing against his skin, a shiver sent down his spine. He let out a shaky breath, sighing against his lips, before sinking into the soft scarf he had loosely wrapped around his neck and over his shoulder.

Then he felt a drop of rain fall onto his head, then another, and then another; dripping down from the tips of his hair, to his cheeks, down to his soft lips. His lips couldn't help but curl up into a smile, his eyes falling shut.

Sean had always loved the rain. He didn't know why he did, he just did.

He continued to walk through the streets of New York City, drops of rain dripping down his skin, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his beige trench coat, and a small smile tugging on his lips.

The boy felt a splash of water slightly soak his shoes, as he stepped into a puddle that had pooled along the pavement.

Sean shook his head, smiling at the thought; he remembered back when he was much, much younger, he'd jump into the puddles, playing as his two older sisters tried keep him out of the pouring rain, tried to keep him from getting sick.

Key word: tried. He chuckled.

Sean continued to walk along the sidewalk until he caught something from the very, very corner of his eye; a small coffee shop right around the corner, and through its glass walls, he could see what was, quite possibly, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his entire life.

He knew he'd never been more thankful for the ever-bright, blinding city lights than now.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sean pushed past the glass door and as soon as he stepped into the coffee shop, the sound of the small bell hung above the door filled his ears and the scent of freshly-ground coffee beans and cream hit his senses.

As he slowly stepped into the café, he heard the softest, sweetest voice say, "Good morning."

He looked up and saw, as he said before, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his entire life.

A small dimple teased the corner of the girl's cheeks as her soft, pink lips curled up into a smile, her eyes crinkling. Her smile reached her big, brown eyes, brighter than anything he'd ever seen before.

Tilting her head ever-so-slightly to the side, the girl tucked a strand of her loose, long curls behind her ear, brushing against her cheeks, kissed with the softest shade of pink and dusted with the slightest bit of freckles.

At that point, all Sean could think was beautiful.

Just, beautiful.

Sean felt each and every single ounce of air being taken out of his lungs, tightening his hold on the leather strap of the bag he had slung over his shoulder.

He stopped in front of the counter, and almost sheepishly, he said, "Uh, good morning, too."

Sean's eyes met hers for a split second and he shyly looked away, scratching the back of his neck; in that split second, he swore he saw stars in her eyes, sparkling.

The sunlight seeped through the thin sheets of glass that stood behind them, her eyes looking like golden pools of honey under the sun's light, glistening beneath her long, curled lashes. Absolutely beautiful.

"Thank you," she giggled, as she grinned at him.

His face flushed, a shade of pink flowering on his face. "I, uh, did I say that out loud?"

The girl's smile grew even more, "Yeah, you did."

"Oh."

She laughed again. "My name's Kaycee, by the way."

Kaycee. That's a pretty name. "Sean."

"So, what can I get for you, Sean?"

This was the part he dreaded the most; telling the person at the counter his order and just hoping that they wouldn't burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Promise you won't laugh," he pleaded. "Please?"

With his lips in an adorably small pout and his cute puppy-dog eyes, there was no way she wouldn't have said yes.

Kaycee giggled softly. "I won't, I won't. I swear-"

"Steamed milk, please."

Kaycee bit her lip to stop herself from bursting out laughing, her hand balled up into a fist. The girl's cheeks had started to hurt from smiling too much, stifling her laughs.

She almost-almost-broke when she saw the boy in front of him, a shade of red blossoming on his cheeks.

"You promised me you wouldn't laugh!" Sean whined, as Kaycee only whimpered, wiping a tear from her eye.

She drew her breath. "Sorry, sorry. I'm not laughing at you, I swear-I actually think it's really, really cute."

A shade of red seared from Sean's cheeks, to his ears, and for a second, he swore his face was actually on fire.

"Alright, alright. A small cup of steamed milk coming right up," Kaycee said, smiling up at him.

She stepped to the side and scooped up a paper cup from the stack, her other hand then stretching over the counter to get the single marker, seconds away from rolling off of the counter and falling to the floor.

"Gotcha," he heard her say to herself as she caught the marker, right on time.

God, this girl is adorable, Sean thought to himself.

"Sean, right?" He simply nodded and watched as she swiftly scribbled it onto the paper cup, setting it down onto the smooth surface of the table.

Reaching his hand into his bag and rummaging through his things, he raised a brow. "How much?"

Kaycee shook her head, smiling. "No, no. It's on the house."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

The shorter girl smiled up at him, showing two small thumbs up, and Sean swore that his heart had melted into a puddle at the sight.

This girl is so damn cute.

"I, uh, thanks," Sean sputtered, his hand snaking to the back of his head, scratching the back of his neck, shyly.

"No problem," smiled Kaycee, "I'll call you up when your drink's ready."

Sean gave the girl a slight nod before shifting to the side, slipping away from the counter as he scanned the coffee shop for a seat; the café wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny, either.

Faded lights like that of the slow and steady flame of a lit candle hung above his head, fairy lights all around. The soft lights led him to the table in the corner of the coffee shop, faintly-lit; just like he liked it.

Sean slid into his seat, shrugging his coat off of his shoulders. As he got himself comfortable, he shoved his hand into his bag, searching for the small pocket novel he'd stuffed into his bag seconds before stepping out of his apartment.

Pulling the book out of his bag, his brown eyes had once again found their way back to the curly-haired brunette.

Kaycee pulled back the sleeves of her white, long-sleeved sweater, a black scrunchie around her wrist. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, as some strands of her hair brushed against her rosy cheeks.

Sean was so caught up in the girl that he didn't even realize that he was holding his book upside down.

He fumbled with the book and quickly flipped it right-side up, his face flushing. He feared that someone might've seen him longingly staring at the girl like a lovesick fool and holding the book upside down like a complete idiot.

A wave of relief washed over him when he looked around, and it looked like no one saw him making a complete fool out of himself-or so he thought, anyway.

He slumped back in his seat, sighing. The boy hid his face behind the book he held in his hands, his eyes peering over the pages, still on the petite brunette.

It was only a matter of time when he heard her soft, sweet voice again. "Small cappuccino for Sean."

Sean looked surprised for a second, shifting his gaze from one side of the café to the other, scanning the coffee shop for anyone who might've had the same name as him, but had ordered a small cappuccino.

"Small cappuccino for Sean," Kaycee repeated, her eyes on him. Oh.

The boy briskly walked over to the counter, almost blushing. He chuckled softly, sheepishly, "That's me."

"Here's your coffee," she coughed, "Sean."

Sean knew he sounded like the seventeen-year old protagonist of a young adult novel, but he swore he felt some sort of spark between him and the girl in front of him when the tip of his finger brushed against hers, handing him the paper cup.

He couldn't help the smile that was tugging at his lips, his dimples teasing the corners of his cheeks. "You know, you didn't have to cover for me."

"I didn't want to embarrass you," she shrugged. "You already embarrassed yourself enough when you were holding that book upside down for, like, what, five minutes straight?"

Sean tried to fight the blush that was rising to his cheeks, but next thing he knows, his face is already a shade of red.

"You saw?" he asked, awkwardly.

"Yeah," Kaycee said, smirking at him. "You seemed pretty out of it. You okay?"

He was confused as to why this girl was actually concerned about him, covering for him, but he certainly wasn't complaining; he was just happy he was even talking to her.

"Well," he started, "I don't know, really. I did just fly in from California yesterday, so there's that."

She cocked a brow. "Los Angeles?"

Sean's eyes widened, wondering how she would've known. "A-Actually, yeah. How'd you know? Am I really that obvious? Do I-"

He stopped rushing through his words when the sound of her soft giggles filled his ears, the sound-he swore-made his heart stop.

"Just a hunch," she smiled, shrugging.

Kaycee joked, "Anyways, what's your story? Are you visiting a family member, a friend, or are you going on an all-out trip across the country to follow your dreams and find the love of your life?"

I think I just found her, he smiled. "Nope. Scholarship, actually. I'm starting my first semester soon."

Sean definitely didn't miss the way her eyes lit up as soon as he said that, the smile on her lips growing bigger, brighter. "Really? Guess that means I'll be seeing you around, then."

"I'm not complaining," he chuckled.

Kaycee smiled softly, eyes sparkling. "Neither am I."

Their conversation was cut short when the bell chimed, another customer walking into the coffee shop and to the other end of counter.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, I think I have to cut this short," she said, her eyes on the new customer. "It was really, really nice talking to you, Sean."

"You too, Kaycee."

Sean left the counter grinning like an absolute idiot, before glancing down at the paper cup in his hand. Turning the cup around, he felt himself grin even more when he saw what she had scribbled on the cup.

'Shawn'

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Here's your coffee," Kaycee said softly as she handed the paper cup to a man in a black suit and a phone to his ear, a man who obviously didn't have enough time to talk with her, as he quickly snatched it out of her hand and strode out the door.

She shook her head as soon as the man had smacked his head on the glass door, almost spilling the hot cup of coffee on himself, scrolling through his phone.

"People just can't get themselves together these days," she said under her breath, only seconds before she got-out of nowhere-ambushed by her best friend, Tahani.

"What was that for, Hani?" Kaycee asked, as the curly-haired girl slung an arm around her best friend's shoulder, a smirk on her lips.

Tahani wiggled her eyebrows at her, pulling her best friend closer to her, her cheek pressed against hers. "Oh, come on. You know why."

Kaycee rolled her eyes, pulling away from the shorter girl. "I actually don't."

"I'm talking about the cute guy that you were talking to," Tahani said, smugly. "How'd it go?"

The taller brunette blushed ever-so-slightly, briskly walking over to the other end of the counter to hide her blush, rising to her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about, T."

With a smirk written all over her face, Tahani chirped, "Oh, you know. You couldn't have missed how he was staring at you like you were the one thing he wanted off of the menu."

"Tahani!" Kaycee gasped, glancing around the room to see if anyone had heard.

Her best friend put her hands up defensively, walking a few steps back. "What? I'm just telling the truth."

"Shut up."

Kaycee's eyes moved to the door when she heard the small bell.

It was Sean. He was leaving.

She noticed how he had looked around the coffee shop before catching her eye, his lips curling into a smile-dimples and all-and giving her a small wave.

Her face lighting up and her smile growing wider as she waved back at him, she watched him walk off before walking over to his table, wiping it down.

As she was picking up the paper cup and tissues he had left, she noticed something that was scribbled on them.

'Words can't espresso how beautiful I think you are.'

Kaycee was blushing. Hard.

She couldn't believe she was actually blushing at a pick-up line-one that was written on a piece of tissue, at that. She then turned the cup around.

'Oh, it's Sean, by the way.'

A giggle escaped her lips, getting a few confused looks from the old people silently sipping their tea at the next table.

Kaycee put the two on the tray and then carried them over to the counter, and as soon as the tray met the counter, her best friend had snatched it right off.

"Hani," she warned.

Reading what was written on the cup, the shorter, curly-haired girl looked up at her, smirking. "So, this is why you were giggling."

"Tahani," she scolded, her skin a soft shade of pink. "S-Shut up."

Tahani shook her head, a playful look all over her face. Taking a look at the tissue, she teased, "Man, this guy is smooth!"

Kaycee groaned, grabbing the piece of tissue out of her hands. "Just shut up and do your job like you're supposed to."

Tahani paid a quick glance behind her and got on her feet as soon as she saw what looked to be a middle-aged woman, waiting at the other end of the counter, and boy, she did not look happy. She assumed she was one of those people that wouldn't be in a good mood if not for their daily dose of caffeine.

"Oh, sorry, ma'am!" Tahani quickly apologized, talking to the older woman and taking her order.

Kaycee smiled to herself as she slid her phone out of her back pocket, snapping a quick photo of both the cup and the tissue before shoving it back into her pocket.

"I don't see why I can't keep this," she shrugged, smiling to herself as she slipped the piece of tissue into her pocket.

She then threw the paper cup into the trash. "I don't think I'll be needing this, though."

Kaycee knew she wasn't ever, ever going to spell his name right.

If he smiled like that when she spelled his name wrong, then she was going to do it again-and again, and again.

All for his smile.

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘