"Don’t be just everything she wants

Be everything she needs"

    The third time she saw him was coincidentally the night before her third final, the music theory final, at the very end of the first semester. She was sitting in a different coffee shop, the one across the street. The atmosphere was drastically different than her old one. Instead of being loud and bright, it was quieter and more modest, almost classier. Honestly, she prefered the other one: it was rather like a breath of fresh air -- kind of like her spontaneous solo dance parties on Saturdays. Regardless, the calmness of the place was comforting (especially the smooth jazz playing in the background). Even though most of her friends couldn’t focus with music, she found it calming, and she always felt more productive in public settings: When she didn’t work, others would judge her. She took it as an extra incentive to study.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After studying for four hours until around eight in the evening, the girl was starting to doze off. Lazily, her eyes scanned the menu on the far wall, debating if she wanted water or caffeine. Water was free, cold, and refreshing, but espresso had actual chemicals that would be sure to wake her up. Still, she was on the fence. After not having caffeine for a while, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to sleep that night. Finally, she decided. She called a waiter over — just as a side note, she preferred the flirty barista over having to wait for a server — and ordered a hefty load of caffeine (she trusted scientific evidence more).

“Can I just have… a venti Americano?” she asked the waiter.

“Actually, she’ll take a water and an apple,” another voice intercepted. The server looked confused and a bit apprehensious, but when he looked up from his little writing pad and noticed the boy pointedly making eye contact, he bashfully left and decided on the water.

    The girl glared at the unwelcomed boy. “Who are you to decide what I order?” she questioned.

He retorted, “I’m pretty sure you want to sleep before your final,” before plopping himself in the chair across from her and taking out his laptop.

“Why are you even talking to me? Shouldn’t you feel a little weird, considering you barged into my apartment?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I thought getting your purse back was enough payment.”

It was a shame that she agreed. “But why did you do that?”

“I’m a nice person, for your information,” he replied. “I also don’t like being in debt,” he added.

Now, as nice as he was, she was still going to retaliate against him just sitting there, interrupting her studies. She chose to be passive aggressive (she liked a little of herself to show in everything. Even her aggression.). She tried stare at him until he was uncomfortable, but he didn’t really care. Legitimately, even though she leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and fixed her eyes on him, he was truly fine with it.

“You know, my mom always said I was good looking and all, but you don’t have to confirm it,” he said with a smile. Did he always smile as if he couldn’t stop?

    All the girl could do was roll her eyes and plug in her earphones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next three hours, he wasn’t a huge bother. There were only two times he really annoyed her: when he didn’t let her pay for the apple and when he took a bite out of it.

She had excused herself to the restroom, and the boy was very hungry. Well, she wouldn’t be too mad if he took a bite of her apple, right? Looking around furtively, he slowly picked up the apple and rubbed the edge of it on his shirt before quickly taking a bite. The girl thought it was just coincidence (she didn’t believe in fate) that she walked out of the restroom as soon as he already ate her fruit.

“Did you take a bite out of my apple because you were dying of hunger?” she asked as she sat back down across from him.

“If I said yes,” he tried, “would you be okay with it?”

Scowling, she picked up the pillow that was supporting her back and hit him over the head with it. “No!” Well, it was worth a shot, he thought, wincing as the pillow’s tassel hit his temple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At eleven, when she was awake and he was dozing on the table, she started to pack up. Being sure not wake him, she slid her laptop as quietly as she could into her backpack and stood up, straightening her clothes. Reaching over the table to pick up her iPhone, she accidentally bumped his head with her arm, and she flinched. Shoot, she thought. He mumbled something quietly and rolled his head to the side, opening his eyes and looking at her.

    Her hand reached out to fluff his hair. “Up to you if you want to wake up, sleepyhead.” He simply shut his eyes again, amusing her. He wasn’t that bad. “You’re like a kid.”

    “I’m older than you,” he pouted, looking up at her again. “Don’t call me a kid.”

    “I’ll stop calling you a kid when you can prove you’re an adult. And when you can prove you’re older than me.”

    “What happened to respect your elders?” he grumbled.

She didn’t reply and only got up to grab the receipt from the counter. He stayed at the table. His legs were feeling a little too much like jelly at the moment for him to trust his walking skills. Sighing heavily, she walked back to their little table and grabbed his jacket, placing it over his shoulders. “That’s for the apple.”

“You didn’t need to pay me back,” he told her.

“I don’t like debt, either,” she said back, walking away.

As she walked out the door, she glanced over her shoulder to see him once again dozing peacefully against the wood table. He was lucky the coffee shop was always open for 24 hours. Contrary to what most people would assume, she didn’t think he was flirting. He just needed a friend. Also contrary to others’ thoughts, she wasn’t a cold person. Unless she was with close friends, she preferred silence over conversation, and she was thankful that the boy (who was still unnamed) didn’t push her to talk.

She stopped at a trashcan outside to quickly scan over the receipt. Two things were written at the bottom: “Apples keep you more awake than caffeine does,” and his name. She raised an eyebrow and threw the receipt away (but she had to admit that apples were more effective than caffeine). Well played...Jungkook, she thought.

Special Message: May you rest in peace, Christina Grimmie. My deepest condolences go to her family, friends, and all of the fans who loved her so much. 

AN: Third chapter!! So I probably won’t be able to update like this for the rest of the summer because I have camps, but in no way am I going on hiatus or anything! I’ll still update -- just maybe not one chapter a day or anything like that.

This chapter is for MatokiDream and KenSara -- two of the subscribers who have left encouraging comments and given me feedback. Thank you so much! (But thank you to all of my subscribers. All four of you -- I still can't believe there are four people who actually want to read this haha. Each of you really mean a lot.)  

BTW: MatokiDream -- I tried to put in more dialogue :)

I am fully aware that I use a LOT of parentheses, but that’s just the way I think, so I write like that too.

Please subscribe + leave me feedback! Thank you so much for reading up until here (if you have) and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)