A Touch
Grant sat there at the coffee shop watching vendors setting up for another festival day. His father asked him to bring some coupons for free exams and pass them out to people. They didn't have an official booth. The coupons sat there on the table.
"We can pass those out for you Grant," Valarie Compton told him, as she brought his coffee and sat it on the table in front of him. The table was near the big front window. 'Prying Eyes' was not nearly as busy as it had been for the ghost walk but they still had plenty of customers getting coffee and pastries before heading to church or setting up their booths.
"No that's okay Miss Compton," Grant replied. "I told my dad I would do it. He'd be mad if I wasn't."
"Okay," she said smiling at him. "Did you want something else besides coffee? I have some of those cinnamon scones you like. They just came out of the oven."
"No that's okay. Thank you," he said.
"Okay. Well let me know if you need anything."
"I will. Thanks," Grant said. He opened a small book that he had with him and began to look at the pictures. He wasn't really reading it. It was a guidebook for Hong Kong that he had bought recently. There was a small picture he was using as a bookmark. It was a very attractive Asian lady. Grant sighed while looking at it. It was with mom, Meili Yu-Ravensdale.
The morning was quite overcast today. But it was fairly warm already. People were not wearing jackets like yesterday. Grant overheard someone saying there was a chance of rain this afternoon. He didn't mind a warm rain as much as a cold one.
"Valarie!" Carl Benton yelled. "Valarie, do you have any pumpkin scones in yet?"
"No Carl," she said, slightly annoyed. "I told you they don't come in until Tuesday."
"I know but I was hoping you'd get them in sooner."
Valarie shook her head. "You sure like pumpkin."
"Yep," he told her. Grant looked up to see Carl standing at the counter, talking loudly enough for Valarie to hear him from the back.
"I don't know why they can't just have pumpkin all year long," he complained.
"It's a seasonal thing," she told him.
"Yeah that's their excuse but, it doesn't make sense. There's a lot of people who would eat it all year."
"I'm sure you're right Carl," she admitted.
Grant caught something out of the corner of his eye and looked up. It was Mendalie and Runa. They came into the store laughing and talking excitedly. He couldn't make out what they were saying exactly. All he heard was, "I would just die!" and "Does she always act like that?"
Runa was wearing a pretty green top and jeans. Grant couldn't help but to keep looking at her.
The girls went to the counter and Valarie came out, smiling at them.
"Good morning girls," she said. "All ready for the festival today?"
"Nope," Mendalie said. "We're going shopping."
"Oh? That's sounds like fun. What can I get for you?"
"I'll just have a caramel espresso and a cheese danish," Mendalie told her.
"And I'll get a regular espresso and a cinnamon scone," Runa said.
"Alright," Valarie told them. "If you want to have a seat I'll bring them out when their ready. I'm assuming it's 'to go'."
Mendalie nodded and they turned around. Grant averted his eyes.
He heard them walking his way.
"Well Grant Ravensdale!" Mendalie said.
Grant looked up at them. "Hi," he said smiling. "How are you?"
"Great," Mendalie told him. "I saw you last week at school. You ignored me."
"Ignored you? I didn't see you," he said.
"I was standing right beside you in the bookstore."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I must have been preoccupied." He looked at Runa who was trying to act like she wasn't interested.
"Can we sit?" Mendalie asked.
"Sure," he told her, pointing at the chairs opposite to him, "please."
Runa gave Mendalie a look, or tried to but, Mendalie wasn't paying attention. She pulled out a chair and sat down. Runa reluctantly did the same.
They sat there quietly for like half a second.
"So, isn't your dad a Chiropractor?" Mendalie asked him.
"Oh yeah; Here," he said, picking up a stack of papers on the table. "Would either of you want a free exam? My dad asked me to hand them out today."
The girls looked at the papers. "Really; free?" Mendalie asked.
"What's the catch?" Runa asked.
"Runa," Mendalie said. "They're free."
"Well the catch is that you get a free exam and x-ray and then he tells you if you could benefit from treatments. Then you decide if you want to," Grant said. "My dad's really good at it. He studied in China for a year."
"Wow!" Mendalie said. "I would like to go there."
"You would?" he asked.
"Yeah; I think it would be cool to see where that bomb went off. All those poor people," Mendalie said sadly.
Grant looked confused.
"Mendalie," Runa said, "That's Japan."
"Oh that's right. Sorry. My bad," Mendalie said. "So Grant, What are you going to school for? I'm gonna be going into the Theater Arts."
"Well I'm not sure exactly yet, maybe communication," he said, reluctantly.
"Oh wow!" Mendalie said, "What kind of Communication? You mean like a translator?"
"Not exactly," Grant said. "More like Radio or TV Journalism"
"Anchorman," Runa said laughing.
"Oh yeah, like an Anchorman," Mendalie said. That's funny.
Grant laughed. "Yeah I suppose."
He looked at Runa laughing and something happened. Time itself seemed to stand still in that moment. She was beautiful. He was hooked. How did he not really know how he felt before? He knew she was nice but he never saw this side of her.
"Here you go girls," Valarie said as she handed them their coffees and bags.
"Well we better get going," Mendalie said standing up. "Don't be a stranger." She smiled at Grant.
"Nice to meet you," Runa said politely as she pushed in her chair. Grant stood up.
"You too," he said. "Did you want this?" He handed one of the papers to her.
"Oh yeah, sure," Runa said taking the paper. Their hands touched and Grant looked right into her eyes. She quickly bowed her head and turned away.
"See you later," Mendalie said as the girls left.
Grant stood there for a minute watching them go.
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