Finding Me Out

“God, not you again,” his voice wasn’t angry as it had once been, it was only good humoured and friendly.

“Love you too, Mr. Crankypants!” We both stepped the same way and I avoided facepalming. We brought this upon ourselves, we really did. Every day we both had work we’d take this exact route to our respective destinations, always meeting within twenty metres of the spot where we’d originally run into each other.

I’d started to suspect that he enjoyed our daily run-ins as much as I did. He certainly didn’t make any effort at all to avoid them, though he whined and complained about how annoying it was each time. I like to think he was just keeping me talking. His voice was adorable, low and a little rough in a way that made me suppress a smile whenever I heard it.

“Do you want to get some coffee?” he asked suddenly, an eyebrow raised at my spaced-out expression. Like a date? No. But if he wants to get coffee with me now maybe he’d want to go on an actual date later.

“Uh, sure,” I smiled. “Not like I have anything to do anyways cause my friends are plan-cancelling jerks.” It was true, I should have been half way to the movies by now but everyone cancelled a few hours ago, claiming they had ‘more important stuff to do’. Yea right!

“Okay then...” He looked a little taken aback, “well, shall we?” he asked nodding in the direction I’d come from.

If I was being honest, I’d always hated coffee. The only way I could stand it was mixed with something chocolatey, and even then the aftertaste made me feel a little sick. I don’t know why I agreed to get coffee with him but I guess I could just get a hot chocolate or something.

“So what’s your name?” Mr. Crankypants asked, making me lose my train of thought and leaving me feeling foolish, having to pause for a second to remember my own name.

“O-Oliver,” I finally managed to stutter it out, blushing profusely. I’d always been like this, so awkward around new people that I very rarely stepped out of my comfort zone to meet new people, preferring to stick with the four or five people that I’d been close to since the start of high school.

He nodded, smiling at my foolishness. “I’m Demitri. You’re gunna have to get creative with nicknames though cause if you call me Demi I won’t hesitate to punch you.” I couldn’t quite tell if he was joking or not, he seemed pretty serious.

“I like Mr. Crankypants better, I think.” I smirked a little as his smile fell and he pouted. “But Demi works too.”

He hit me. It wasn’t really hard, just enough to leave my arm a little pink and throbbing softly. The kid was violent! But I had to admit, it was kind of cute how mad he got. He was still pouting and had now folded his arms childishly. I rubbed my arm, frowning a little.

“Calm yo tits, dude.” I couldn’t stop myself saying it. Sure, forever alone popped into my head after the words came out but it was like the only good opportunity I’d ever have to say it and I wasn’t about to pass it up.

He burst out laughing. Like serious, ‘that’s fucking hilarious’ kind of laughter. I don’t think he had a clue what I was talking about but god, it was cute. I should make obscure Tumblr references more often.

“What the fuck?” He finally asked; when his laughter had died down enough to allow him to talk. Everyone walking by was stepping a little further away from us than necessary, eying us with strange expressions. They probably thought we were crazy; crazy, or on drugs.

“It’s a nerd thing, you wouldn’t understand.” I smiled, feeling kind of cool that I got it and he didn’t, though I wasn’t sure it was something to be proud of. Still, if I ever posted about this I’d be fucking tumblr famous! I doubt any of my followers would believe me though.

We stood in the middle of the walkway bit of the mall for a couple minutes longer, me in silence, waiting for him to shut up and him still giggling occasionally. It was a comfortable silence, apart from the uncomfortable strangers walking by who seemed to thing we had the plague or something.

“So, how ‘bout that coffee?” Demitri finally asked when he’d stopped giggling entirely and realised that we had just been standing there for about five minutes now.

“Coffee sounds nice. Actually, hot chocolate sounds nicer but whatever, let’s go.” I finally responded, shaking my head slightly to move my auburn fringe from my face before setting off towards Starbucks.