I grip the steering wheel, rehearsing over and over in my head what I plan on saying to Will. " I have a crush on this guy... no that sounds weird, ummmm I'm particularly interested in someone... nope, too wordy..." This is not going well, I'm fifteen minutes from the theater where I'm meeting him, and I still haven't figured out what I'm going to say. Maybe I should just wing it, after all, I am good at improv, every theater kid is. I think to myself, trying to calm my nerves. I wonder what he has to say about himself though, and why would he want to tell me?

All too soon I'm pulling into the parking lot. As soon as I get there I see Will's car parked right in the front. I try to steady my breathing, it doesn't work. Pretending I'm capable and confident, I pull into the parking space next to him. I park a tad crooked, but I'm too stressed to fix it. After pulling the key out of the ignition, I quickly open the door and step out. Will gets out of his car at the same time I'm getting out of mine. " Good morning!" He says in that accent of his.

" Hey!" I reply, waving. I grab my messenger bag out of the back seat and walk over to him. While I'm walking I check myself out in the reflection of Harpers' Subaru windows. I look okay in the outfit they picked out for me. After many hours last night, Harper and Letti finally decided on having my hair half up and half down. I never tried that look before, but they said it looked good, and I trust their judgment.

To my surprise, Will opens the passenger door for me. I smile and say an awkward thank you as I climb in. Thankfully, it's clean inside his car. I hate messy cars, and I'm always after Harper to vacuum hers out.

" So, where to?" Will asks as he puts the car in reverse.

" Anywhere with coffee," I say honestly.

He chuckles and says, " Good choice, I could also use a good cup, have you ever been to The Cosmic Cup?"

" Never heard of it, have you been there?" I'm impressed by his knowledge of coffee shops.

" Yep, their coffee is delicious, especially their milk lattes, it was one of the first places I went to when I got here in Pennsylvania."

" Then let's go, how far is it?"

" About twenty minutes." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and fiddles with it for a bit. Suddenly I hear, " BLUETOOTH CONNECTED." Very loudly. " Goodness gracious, how loud was I listening to music?" Will laughs.

" Apparently very loud," I say.

Then to my delight, he hands his phone to me. " You can play whatever you like."

I get an evil grin on my face. " I hope you like show tunes."

    " I've only seen a few Musicals, but I've always liked Newsies."

    I do what I call a fangirl scream and bounce in my seat. Will takes his eyes off the road for a second to raise one of his iconic eyebrows at me. " I adore Newsies, you have no idea."

" I think I might have a slight idea." He chuckles, looking at me again.

" What's your favorite song?" I ask.

" From Newsies? Probably King of New York. What's yours?"

" Watch What Happens," I say right away.

" Every girl likes that one the most." Will sighs.

" What's wrong with that?" I challenge.

" Nothing." He waves it off.

I frown, but just for him, I play King of New York first. He bobs his head to the song and leans back in his seat. While we aren't talking, my stressful thoughts come flooding back into my head. How is he so chill? Does he even remember why we're going to get coffee in the first place? I try to calm myself down by staring out the window at the morning sky. I rarely ever see sunrises, simply because I hate mornings. But this particular one is beautiful, it tints the clouds light pink. I like how it makes the sky look like cotton candy.

The time flies past and soon, we are at The Cosmic Cup. We have to park along the street since we're in a small town. Will and I hop out of his car and start walking down the sidewalk. It's a really cute town, there are little shops all along the street, each one having its own quaint style. When we reach the small coffee place, Will opens the door for me and I walk inside. It's tiny inside. The only places to sit are at two small tables, each positioned at a large window overlooking the street.

Will walks up to the counter where you order. He orders a milk latte and I order a small cup of their strongest coffee. The person who takes our orders is a short, rather grumpy teenage boy. He tells us to take a seat, and they'll come out with our drinks.

We sit down at one of the small tables. Will picks up a small piece of paper advertising some pumpkin spice latte. Considering that it's in the middle of summer, it's outdated.

He looks up at me and smile's jovially. " I've always liked this place, reminds me of my mum."

I laugh out loud. The fact that he calls his mom his 'mum' is just way too funny. " Mum?" I ask. " Sorry, that's the most British thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth, why does this place remind you of your mom?"

He chuckles lightly and answers, " My mum always goes to this certain coffee shop, she refuses to go to any others, I guess she's very particular about her coffee, and her tea for that matter."

" That's right! You guys drink tea, do all British people drink as much tea as they say they do?" I ask.

" Even more than they say, though we still like our cuppa," Will says.

" Your what?"

" Coffee, we call it cuppa." He explains.

I giggle, " It sounds ridiculous."

The waiter shows up with our drinks. He clunks Will's latte down in front of him, some of the hot liquid spilling on the table. But when the young teenage boy sets my coffee down he does it gently with extra care. " Ummm thanks," I say. The waiter just looks at me out of the corner of his eyes and nods.

When he leaves Will takes some napkins from a napkin holder that's sitting on the table and mops up the coffee that was spilled. " He was strange," Will says lowly. I just nod in response. Then he looks me straight in the eye and says, "Skye we can't just keep avoiding the subject."

I sigh, " I know it's just... I thought that maybe you forgot or something."

" Trust me, I haven't forgotten, it's the only thing that's been on my mind." Will runs his hands through his hair.

" Really? Same." Then there's an awkward silence. I take a sip of my coffee, it's delicious but I don't say anything about it.

" Do you want to go first?" Will asks nervously.

Will is rarely ever nervous, and honestly, it melts my heart. So I give in. " Umm, okay, but promise you won't laugh."

Suddenly Will isn't nervous anymore, and he smile's confidently, " I promise I won't even think of it."

" Okay so," Will looks at me expectantly so I keep going, " So really, the reason why I was kinda distant yesterday, or whatever you called it, was because I sort of started having a crush on someone, and it was bothering me." I take a deep breath and continue, " And my sister and best friend were kind of forcing me into the relationship, and I didn't like it, and I felt like I had to be someone I'm not." It all comes spilling out of me and things that I wasn't even realizing that I'm feeling come to the surface. " I don't usually have crushes, I mean, I find some men attractive, but never anything serious. Also, I've never dated or have been in any type of relationship. Shucks, I don't even know how to flirt!" I throw my hands up in the air and plop back against the seat rest. " So yesterday I guess all those things were bothering me at once and it sort of showed." I decide to end it there. I'm surprised at myself for actually opening up like that. I never open up to anyone, except for Harper, but she doesn't count because she's my sister.

" I see," Will says and he takes a slow, contemplating sip out of his mug. " So do you like this guy? Or are you just doing this for Harper and your friend?"

    It's a good question. I never really thought of it that way before. " I do have feelings, but like, only the beginnings of feelings. Do you know what I mean?"

    Will nods and takes another sip. " Do you want some advice?" He asks.

    " If it's good advice," I say nervously.

    " It's what my dad always tells me when the public, fans, and reporters keep asking if I have a girlfriend or if I'm interested in anyone. He always says to take some time to tune out what the world is screaming at me, and only focus on what my heart is telling me." Will explains.

    I look at him in shock, " What is your dad, a poet?"

    Will smiles a little, " No just a very intelligent man."

    " I like that, stop listening to what the world wants, start listening to what your heart wants." I muse. " But, enough about me, what about you?"

    Will suddenly snaps back into nervous mode. " Well, it's sort of a long story."

    " That's okay we still have time," I say.

" Okay then. Well, I'm not sure how to start so I'm just going to say it bluntly. I have anxiety. I've known it since two years ago. It all started when I realized I was freaking out over what I should say to one of my co-stars when he asked me a very simple question. from there it just got worse, I found myself hiding in corners at social events, trying to make all conversations shorter, blocking out family and friends, and tons more. Then one day my mum came up to me and asked why I haven't spoken to her in two days. I lived with her back then. We were in the same house and I didn't say a single word to my own mother in two days." Will takes a pause to take a drink of his latte and then keeps going, " I told her what was going on and she told me that I had anxiety. At first, I didn't want to believe it, I didn't even want to think of it. Then my mum told me that I didn't have to let anxiety control my life. That I needed to take control of it. So that's what I began to do. I forced myself to go to events and talk to actual people. I began having more deep talks with my mum, and eventually my dad. Things got better over time, but it's always been there, nagging at the back of my mind. I cover it up by being upbeat and consistently sociable and friendly. But some days I just crack at random times, that happened yesterday, as you well know. I suddenly became scared that you hated me because I'm freaking bad at ballet. It's things like that, tiny things. Then I just got mad, and then I was concerned that since I was mad, you would most definitely hate me then... then you told me you didn't want to argue with me. It may seem small to you Skye, but that's huge in my mind." Will stops there and simply looks at me. But now, I can tell that he's scared of how I'm going to react. It's something in his eyes, something tiny, but still, there that tells me.

    " Wow. And here I am simply having boy problems, while your here..." tears are forming in my eyes and I hastily blink them away, " Wait, that day with the brownies, when you left-."

    " I thought you were mad." He finishes for me, " And before I made a fool of myself I decided to leave."

    " I'm so sorry if I ever made you think that I hated you." By now I can't hide the tears that are streaming down my face.

" Don't apologize, Skye, it's not your fault that I am the way that I am. And Skye, you have no idea how much it means to me that you simply accept me. That you don't look at me and see all my flaws, but look at me as another human." Now tears are clouding his eyes. He wipes them away and continues, " So, I have a question, I don't know how you're going to respond, but, I just need to know," he pauses and takes a deep breath, "Will you be willing to be my best friend?"

At that point, I simply burst into tears. Yes, Letti is my best friend, but do best friends force you into a relationship? No. I still love Letti, but I need to be honest with myself. And yes, I have a crush on Will, but my feelings are still not certain yet. So, through my tears, I choke out,

" Yes."

Authors note

This is officially my favorite chapter.

I know it's super slow burn, but bear with me!

Comment what you think!

-heavengrace55