Who Would've Known?

It all seemed like slow motion as I stood frozen in the spot where my feet seemed to be nailed into the sidewalk.

He ran across the street with his hands in the pockets of his pea coat.

His long legs were striding along to the rhythm of my breathing.

His shoulder length hair was swaying back and forth as if it had a mind of its own.

I almost dropped my phone when I noticed he was smiling that warm grin that instantly relieved my aching bones.

"Hey." He breathed in my direction as he touched my arm in a friendly manner.

"Well look at this." I replied, trying to seem calm and composed. "I didn't think I would see you again."

"Yet here we are!" He smiled flinging his hands up and twirling around.

"In beautiful New York!"

I laughed and snaked my hands into my pockets. "I'm guessing you've never been here before?"

"Oh I have. Plenty of times. I just love the rush of it all."

We stood facing each other not knowing what to say next.

"Loraine?"

"Just Lori."

"Lori I mean, would you fancy a coffee? I'm already late for something, and there isn't much point in going right now."

I smiled as sweetly as I could, and replied, "It was nice meeting you Ben."

I let my hand hover in the space between us.

He pursed his lips in defeat, and took my hand and kissed my knuckles.

The warmth from his lips shot an electric current through my body, which caused me to sigh. I really did want to go get coffee with him, but I remembered what Ross said earlier that morning. He's so much older than me. It all seems so wrong, but so real.

He looked back up to my eyes and furrowed his eyebrows.

He reached out and touched my half bare shoulders with both of his soft hands.

"You're shivering." He cooed with concern.

My eyes grew wide from his hands covering my bare shoulders and I pulled the collar of my sweater up as high as possible to cover up all the way.

"Please let me buy you a coffee." He insisted touching my elbow. "Let me keep you warm."

"Maybe some other time." I said anxiously looking around us. "I need to tell my brother that I'm done with my audition."

His eyes shifted to a glaze of surprise.

"Audition? For what?"

"It's just a little audition for this movie in London I think. Nothing big." I replied trying to shake the subject off.

"No way."

I just looked at him in a confused manner and shrugged my shoulders trying to visually convey to him that I wanted to drop the subject.

He just stared at me in shock and amazement.

"I've got to go Ben." I said slowly backing away from him.

"Maybe we'll bump into each other again." I added, pretending to shoot him with my index finger.

I turned my back on the shocked man and continued walking while pulling out my phone to call Ross.

"Hey! How did it go?"

"It was great. Hey can you pick me up now? I'm freezing."

"Sure. Where do you want me to pick you up?" I looked ahead of me and saw a Starbucks about 10 feet away.

"I'll be at the Starbucks."

"Okay. I'll be there. Go ahead and get something for the ride back home. I might be a while. I'm getting all of our stuff from the hotel."

"Alright, thanks. Bye."

I shoved my phone into my pocket and slowly turned around to see Ben still standing where he was before I called Ross.

"Well are you coming?" I called to him with a small smile.

He blinked his eyes as if he were just waking up, smiled a large toothy grin, and ran to my side.

He slipped out of his pea coat and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Oh I couldn't." I calmly protested spreading my arms out so he couldn't rest it on me.

"Why must you refuse chivalry whenever I offer it?" He laughed.

I looked down and clasped my hands together signaling that it was okay to warm me with his pea coat, which he did. His scent was so lovely. I felt like I was floating.

He kept his arm around my shoulders so the large pea coat wouldn't fall off.

"So this whole chivalry thing." I started.

"Yes?" He replied insisting me to finish.

"Can we just drop it when it comes to paying for coffee? I'd rather pay for my own."

"Absolutely not!" He laughed squeezing my shoulder lightly.

"Oh come on Ben! Please?"

"Are you seriously begging me to pay for your own coffee? I refuse to watch you pay for your own heated beverage."

"Then close your eyes!"

There was a short pause with scattered giggles.

"You really want to pay for your own coffee don't you?"

"I do." I nodded.

"Well, as a chivalrous man, I must respect your decisions." He said in an even richer British accent.

"Thank you Benjamin." I replied with a British accent coated with a giggle.

"You sound sexy with an accent. Oh my God..." Ben covered his face in embarrassment.

My eyes fluttered to an even wider state, and I bit my lip, lowering my eyes to the sidewalk ahead of us.

"Sexy?" I asked looking at the sky, silently thanking God for letting Ben's tongue slip.

"Sorry. I'm not very good at filtering my thoughts. God..."

I laughed loudly and stopped him by taking both his hands that were presently on his face, and stripped them from his beautiful face.

"Me neither." I smiled.

I let go and slipped my arms through the sleeves of his pea coat and slipped my hand between his arm and torso.

"Come on now. We've got some coffee to catch. And if you're filter fails again, I might let you buy me a piece of cake."

He beamed and walked along side me towards the cafe, keeping my hand secure in the crook of his arm.

Coffee is such a great excuse to stay with him a bit longer.