We only drove around for awhile with the music on and the windows down. It was nice in his classic car. I felt powerful and badass. Theo offered to go out and grab dinner. I thought it's best if we don't, so I went home. I'm sure Theo had much to think and or say about that but I wasn't going to hear it. Not today at least.

Jordan was working last night so I had the apartment to myself. I spent most of the night sipping on a glass of wine and watching romcoms. I made myself a microwaveable quesadilla for dinner. Those were always my favorite. My foster mom hated when I made them, she called them 'a poor mans Mexican food'. I just thought they were convent.

Jordan came home with a cheese burger for the both of us. I poured myself another glass of wine and one for Jordan. We watched A Cinderella Story together. It was always one of our favorites. Jordan was always a fan of the Duff sisters. I liked to stare at Chad Michael-Murray.

This morning I woke up earlier than her and made us breakfast. She made it yesterday, I'll make it today. Same same. Minus, the interrogation. She strolled in just as I was finishing the pancake stack.
"Ooo, pancakes!" She grabbed a plate from beside me, a few pancakes and sat at the table. I joined her. "Thanks for breakfast." She said with her mouth half full.
"You made breakfast yesterday." I shrugged.
"So I met a guy." For a split second I wondered why she didn't tell me last night, but I ignored that.
"Tell me more."
"Okay, It's not like new new, but kind of." She smiled awkwardly at me. "So this guys been coming in a lot and has been flirting with me. It was charming." Jordan stuck another quarter of a pancake in her cheek. "He's really cute and sweet. I think he's like in love with me." She laughed.

It was no surprise guys fawned over Jordan. She was beautiful. I'll be honest, I found all people beautiful, in their own way of course. Jordan was the human version of perfect. She cares about everyone, has a wonderful personality, is inclusive of everyone. She's 5'6", curvy with golden hair that makes the sun look dim. You'd be a fool not the fall in love with that.

I like a lot of things, and love very little. That's a casualty I've found of being a foster kid. I don't have to love anything, I have no family. I only loved things I deemed worthy of my affections. I never fell in love, only had boyfriends I liked. That's why none of them worked out; eventually, some where along the road, they fell in love. I never did.

The day was slow so I went out. There was a small make shift down town on the edge of town. That's where I was going. It was where a lot of students spent three weekends. There was a book store in an old church, it was beautiful. A grand staircase led you up to the doors. I loved it. Oddly enough, I haven't been there in awhile.

The street were packed with people, on the weekends it normally was. As I made my way to the book store I stopped at random shops here and there. I normally never bought anything but I loved to look. I was a window shopper.

The crowd of people engulfed me. I bounced my way through. I looked forward. Theo was walking towards me, a girl on his arm. She was terminally pretty. The kind of pretty that makes you weak. The looks a girl would kill for. She made Jordan look like a troll and Jordan is the prettiest girl I know. Unlike my faded red, she had perfectly ombré blonde hair. She had long legs and was tan. I was short and pale, not a chance in hell I could compete. The thing that bothered me the most was the way I felt. Envious. Why was I so bothered by the girl on his arm? I barely agreed to hang out with him every time he asked. Our eyes met and my heart dropped. He didn't flinch or even try to hide the girl. I ducked into a random shop.

The shop was a sea of color from floor to ceiling. I felt like I was lost in an acid trip.
"Pretty isn't it?" A guy behind the counter smiled.
"This is, just, wow." I was speechless. Looking around I realized I didn't know what they were. Just pieces of glass filled with color. "What are these?"
"Wind chimes. My sister makes them." They all had the same patterns but had different chunks of color.
"How does she make them?" He laughed at my amazement.
"Well, when we're out at the beach she collects beach glass-"
"What's that?" My eyes connected with his soft brown ones. I was so caught up in what was around me I never looked at him. He was cute. Older, but cute. Maybe in his late 20's, early 30's.
"Beach glass is glass that was in the lake or ocean. It can come from anything; a window, a lamp, a bottle, anything of glass. The water washes over it. It makes it smooth like a worry stone." I nodded. I had a worry stone when I was a kid. It was a regular stone that I rubbed smooth. "She collects all of that places it in a mold and pours clear glass over top and you'd got, these." He gestured around him.
"These are amazing. I'm far too clumsy to own one though." He laughed.
"Here," he reached under the counter. His hand came out closed. He gestured for my hand, without thought, I stuck it out, palm up. He dropped something cool into my hand. "take this one then. Lord knows my sister has a lot." Resting in my hand was a small shard of beach glass. It was pale blue with worn lettering.
"This is beautiful." I kept turning it in my fingers.
"Yeah, my sister thought so too." He stared at me for a moment. "I'm Ken by the way."
"Devin." He nodded with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Devin."
"You too." I put the glass in my back pocket and looked around me. They all were different. They told stories of around the world. Glass from everywhere. This glass could have been all over the world, I was honored enough to be staring at it in a little shop in Colorado.

After spending a lot of time in the wind chime store with Ken, I decided I should leave. A lady came in and that's when I slipped out. He was sweet, flirtatious. I wasn't looking for anyone. I started to walk up the steps when my eye caught on someone. A dark gray t-shirt and black jeans. My head dropped and I forged ahead, praying he didn't see me. I made it up a few more steps before Theo step in front of me. My toes tapped on the next stair up, I almost ran into him. He intensely stared down at me. My heart stopped at our eye contact. I slid to the hand rail of the stairs and went around him.
"Hang out with me." He called after me. I shook my head, ignoring him. "Devin Porter!" I stopped and spun on my heels to look at him.
"Why don't you hang out with your date? I told you, I'm not here for when you're bored." He smirked. My blood got hotter.
"I'm not bored. I want to show you something."
"I'm busy!" I stormed up the stairs.

Inside the book store it was cool. The a/c was set lower in here, it's better for the books. It was helping me cool my hot head. Although I had read hair, I wasn't angry often. I didn't anger easily because I didn't get attached. Another side affect of being a foster child.

I looked around on the shelves. In the 3rd isle a certain book caught my eye. The Great Gatby, which was next to Phantom of the Opera. John Green's Paper Towns sat next it. I believe in coincidences, but this was too much. I pulled the three books out. Each had a post-it note in it. Each note marked the page that the quotes Theo had written me were on. Holding the books, I looked around. At a table in view of the 3rd isle was Theo, back to me. My feet carried me swiftly to his table. The books tumbled from my arms to the fake wood table top. Theo's eyes connected with mine.
"You found them." He smiled. I started to walk away, he grabbed my wrist. "If you didn't want to, you wouldn't have found them. Even if on an odd chance you did, you wouldn't have brought them to me. That's if you didn't want to, of course." I stared at him, my wrist still in his hand. My jaw was clenched tightly when I wasn't looking at him, but every second of our eye contact my jaw loosened. To my surprise his hands were warm and soft against mine. Some how without me knowing, his hand found its way into mine. There was an electronic current flowing up my arm. I pulled away.
"What do you want with me?"
"Devin Porter, you are inserting. I want to be friends, is that a sin?"
"You say sin a lot." I point out.
"Is that a sin?" A smile picked at my lips.
"Whatever, I'm not done here." He jumped up from his seat.
"Is that a yes?" I rolled my eyes. "Are you getting these?" He pointed down at the three books I dropped ahead of him.
"No?" He sat back down and grabbed a lose pen from the table. First he circled each quote that he has written. Then, on each one he wrote;

'I wrote this quote on a napkin for a girl.'

I watched him write each one. My mind couldn't stop thinking. Why does he write book quotes? Does he do this to every girl or just me? Why did he pick those quotes? Has he read all these books? Why was he leaving the stickies in each book And why the semi romantic notes?
"You're making it out to be more romantic that it really is." I told him.
"The world is filled with hopeless romantics. I hope one of the finds these and it inspires them." He walked toward the shelves they were on when I found them. I'd never consider myself a hopeless romantic, but I might be becoming one.

After another half hour in the store and an ever growing pile of books I was done. The lady at the front scanned each one. I watched her. Every book I had picked out, but one. Hidden in the mix was a book I'd seen not never read before. Love: Poems by Pablo Neruda, it was a warn, pink cover. I didn't protest, for that was the first book I'd read. My favorite thing about talking about books is learning people. Whether he knew it or not, Theo Axel just shared a piece of himself with me.

Theo drove me back to my apartment so I could drop of my books. He pulled up at the curb side to the main entrance. Normally I'd take the stairs at the side door but these books were too heavy.
"Stay here." I gestured to his car. Theo nodded. The bag of books was heavy but I pretended not to struggle. Due to the weight of the books, it took my longer to get to the elevator than normal. Just as the door was about to close, a hand jotted in. When it slid open again, the door revealed a panting Theo. "How's the staying in the car working out for you?" She smiled widely.
"Great." He grabbed the strap of the bag. "I got this." As punishment, I let him take it. Then it hit me.
"You we're afraid I wouldn't come back, weren't you?" I smiled at him. He avoided my eyes and my question.
"How mad would you be if I hit every button?" I ignored him. The smug high I was on stopped me from answering that. I glanced at him again. He was slowly opening up to me, and the mystery unfolds.