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~New people and butterflies?
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Amalia sat in the same booth she had sat in yesterday morning, her order was placed in front of her and she scrolled through her phone uneasily — debating whether she should look through the images she had of her father or text her best friend, who has already moved to New York for college, unlike her.

But the sudden ping that came from her phone made her eyes widen and her finger click on the text that suddenly popped up.

Laura - Hey girl! How are you?
Amalia - Fine, how about you? How's school?

A frown tugged on Amalia's lips as she thought of her best friend going to class without her, learning new things and furthering her education — something she could never do.

Laura - Same girl, but its hard here .. especially without you!

Amalia sighed and shook her head, licking her lips and thinking of what to say next.

Amalia - It's hard here too, without you, I miss you.
Laura - I miss you more.

Amalia felt a tug in her chest and left Laura on read before placing the phone next to the crisp, white plate that held a huge chocolate chip cookie.

Suddenly the sound of the door opening, and the small bell ringing made Amalia look up from her plate to curiously see who came in — she felt her throat dry up.

It was the guy from yesterday, his green eyes were bright, his hair was still shaggy but today he looked a bit more tired, nevertheless he had a huge smile on his lips.

He wore a light colored shirt, with worn out denim jeans that he managed to pull off greatly — his hand ran through his hair and for some reason butterflies flew in Amalia's stomach making her fist her hands.

"Hey, Darling!" He greeted in his perfectly husky voice, making Amalia swoon even more then she already did and she clearly couldn't remove her gaze from him — even when he turned his head to the side to give her a quick glance.

Her cheeks warmed up, and she quickly looked away, making him chuckle lowly — she sighed, while nervously rubbing the back of her neck.

Her phone vibrated against the table, and she picked it up right away, wanting to act as if she had something to do and not embarrass herself even more.

Laura - So, I'm coming to Hazelnut next week! I can't wait to see you!
Amalia - omg! That's great, I can't wait to see you!

A wide smile was on Amalia's face as she read over Laura's text, she couldn't help but sigh in relief — completely excited to see her best friend next week.

"Hey?" A familiar deep, male voice broke her from her happy state and made her head fly up, her eyes were wide when she gazed into the green orbs of the guy who caught her watching him shamelessly before.

He gave her a subtle wink before sliding into the seat in front of her, her brows furrowed in confusion before she placed her phone beside her plate once again.

"Um? Excuse me, but I'm sitting here." Amalia stated angrily, her head shaking curiously as she watched him with narrowed eyes. He chuckled in amusement.

"Clearly, but I'm just joining you." He replied cooly, while leaning back against the seat and intertwining his hands over the desk.

"Why? Wait, no — I never asked you to." Amalia caught herself from embarrassment, and sent him a confused look, he shook his head.

"Why? Well because I want to, and I don't care if you never asked me to. I just want to talk to you — you looked lonely." He explained slowly, his brows furrowed as he spoke but his explanation only made Amalia angrier.

"First of all, I don't want you to sit here and I am not lonely! I'm perfectly occupied." Amalia retorted in frustration, her hand gripping her phone so she could emphasize her point — the guy before her raised his hands in mock surrender, a wide smile still on his lips as his eyes twinkled in amusement.

"Relax, no need to get so defensive." He said, running a hand through his hair making butterflies swarm Amalia's stomach but she fought the annoying feeling and scoffed.

"Are you mocking me?" She asked him with a raised brow, her hand tightly gripping her phone because not only is the boy annoying her, he's making her feel odd things and he is sitting somewhere that is reserved for only her father and her.

"No — no, promise. Now, can we act civilized? What's your name?" He changed the topic casually, and leaned back against the seat making Amalia sigh while rolling her eyes, this time instead of arguing she complied.

"Okay, my name is Amalia." She answered hostly while leaning her head against the cool window, her gaze on the way too happy boy in front of her with sparking green eyes.

"My name is Zachary Willson, nice to meet you Amalia." He told her sweetly, his lips — if possible — tugged up even more and it made her cheeks warm up, so she quickly averted her gaze, he noticed how shy she got and licked his lips in amusement.

"Why are you here? Really?" She asked him curiously, her gaze once again finding his, he rolled his eyes sarcastically and pushed his body closer towards Amalia making her stomach churn.

"Because I saw a lonely, pretty girl, that looked like she could use some company and I've just moved here so I could use a friend — or two." He explained seriously, his gaze roaming her face to see her reaction but she held back, she wanted to smile to show how she felt but instead her cheeks just warmed up shyly at the compliment.

"Thanks ... When did you move here?" She asked him, because it just occurred to her — thanks to him mentioning it — that she has never seen him around here, and that he was different then everyone else in this town.

"Well, I moved here three days ago, this is a very small town — filled with very, nosy people; if I may add." He answered honestly, and for some reason it was very true in Amalia's point of view but what was weird was that a loud laugh echoed from her.

It not only captured Zachary's attention but Darlings too as she made way to their table with Zachary's order — she froze in her spot and watched her with a soft, yet proud look as a wide smile spread on her lips.

"That is so true." Amalia stated when she finished laughing, her cheeks were flushed and she felt weird — for some reason she wanted to run away from both the booth and from Zachary because he made her feel things, that she didn't want to feel.

Zachary nodded but he had this look in his eyes that made Amalia look away from him — her gaze caught Darling's and she felt her stomach churn.

"Well, how're you liking your food, dolly? Here's your order Zachary." Darling said as she placed a mug in front of Zachary with a similar plate to Amalia's but with a donut on it.

"It's good." Amalia whispered, she no longer had a small smile on her lips — and her mood fell right away, Zachary noticed but Darling was used to it, she just wiped her hands over the apron that was covering her long purple dress while her bracelets swayed carelessly.

"That's good, well enjoy children and if you need anything, just call me." Darling said with a wide smile, Amalia just nodded curtly and turned to gaze at her uneaten cookie, Zachary watched her in confusion and she could feel his eyes burning holes into her skin.

"Thanks, Darling." Zachary said, his deep voice shook her to the core and made her cheeks warm up once again, but this time she wasn't smiling.

Instead of speaking, they both ate in peace — but that didn't stop them from looking at one another, both in confusion and curiosity because they both wanted to figure one another out.

                                                    ...

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Amalia." Zachary said as he held the door open for Amalia to leave, she nodded thankfully before walking out of the small café.

"You too." She whispered softly, her gaze was locked with his and for some reason those butterflies from before continued flying around in her stomach.

"You know what? You might get lonely again, but I have a solution — give me your phone please." He suddenly said, his lips in a full blown smirk making her brows furrow, she didn't ask questions but she did give him her phone.

He turned it on and to his surprise there was no password, the phone turned on to a picture of a small little girl that looked a lot like Amalia, and a middle-aged man that held her tightly in his embrace; both with very, wide smiles, which was something she now lacked.

He typed away on her phone making her eyes widen in confusion, before she could ask anything he raised his head to look at her and gave her the phone back.

"Well that's my solution, bye Amalia." He stated before swiftly walking away, not forgetting to send her his infamous wink which made her swoon all over again.

She held her phone in her hand and with furrowed brows she looked down at the screen. When she faced the glowing screen, she bit her inner-cheek and raised her brows in amusement.

There was his name and his number in her contacts, but not only that — there was a message right next to his name that almost made her do it.

Zachary Willson — smile