Honey

That’s where they met for a while, in that coffee shop. Sometimes Max would buy a slice of cake and they’d share it. He’d listen to the clank of her fork on the plate as she scraped chunks of chocolate cake. She always took small bites and licked her lips when finished. They exchanged books and while Max had to borrow from the library or visit second hand stores, Millie had a library of stories. Max wondered if she lived in a home made from books. When he started paying for her hot chocolates, the frown that plastered her face instead lifted his own. She didn't approve of him paying for her drink but he wanted to be a gentleman, like the men in the old novels Millie had given him.

When he arrived home one day he found a ten dollar bill tucked into his bag. Millie, he thought. She must have slipped it in there when he wasn't looking. He smiled and made a note to slip it between the pages of The Book Thief when he returned it to her.

Then, as Max slid the book and the cheeky money across the table, he realised that after watching her lift her mug to her lips, her nibbling of the cake and the frown as he paid for her drink, that he desperately wanted to kiss her. Sadly Max’s heart wobbled and pounded too quickly for him to make a move. He was strangely shy, or at least around girls he liked. Millie was the first.