Original Love

Jack’s POV:

The door to the coffee shop Jack had been in since noon opened once again and he held his breath as he watched the person walk in. But when he saw it wasn’t the person he was looking for, the frown seeming to be stuck on his face dropped a little more as he ran his finger around the rim of the coffee mug sitting on the table in front of him. His phone was positioned right next to the mug, screen up, so if he got a text he would know right away. But even then he was still checking the device every few minutes to see if he had accidently missed one. And even though he didn’t have any new messages he still found himself unlocking his phone and opening the text that had him sitting there in the coffee shop waiting in the first place.

From: Unknown Number
Hey Jack, it’s Erica. I just found your number in my bag and was wondering since you went through all that effort to give it to me if you wanted to meet up for coffee or something?

That was nearly a week ago. And now he was finally there waiting for her to show up. If she ever did show up that is. He’s been sitting there for what seemed like hours when in reality it was probably a half hour tops. Jack had even been early, and he is never early to anything. Among his friends he was known to be fashionably late and always made sure to give him a time to be at wherever it was they needed to be a half hour before they actually needed to be there because he was always so late. And all his friends would be shocked to see exactly how early he was now.

But that aside, the arranged time was creeping closer and closer until it was right on the dot and Jack started to get even more nervous that he had been before. His grip on his coffee mug tightened and he started to worry about every little detail.

Was this a stupid place to meet? It was a coffee shop but it was at the edge of town and might be hard to find. Especially since it’s a church turned coffee shop Jack just happened to stumble upon a few years ago by accident as he had been driving around for something good to do. On the outside it looked like any other old fashioned church with the steeple and stained glass windows and huge old wooden door. But as soon as you walk inside you find that it’s anything but a church. Completely gutted out with the only thing saved from the original place was the worn hard wood floors and a few of the scratched pews lined against the walls used as booths for customers to sit at. But that was it.

Everything else inside the strange café was new. Whole new counters and appliances and vintage looking table and chairs scattered around. There were bookshelves lining the walls with every sort of book you can imagine that you could either buy or borrow and strange local artwork lining the walls that weren’t already filled up. Songs from unknown local bands were the only music that played through the speakers and were encouraged to be dropped off so that the owners could play it and advertise it.

The dinging of the bell above the door made Jack look up from his coffee cup once again to check to see if it was the person he had been waiting for. And that time it seemed as if luck was on his side as he saw Erica walk in. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a pair of Chucks with a pretty printed sweater. Her hair hung down this time unlike the other times he had seen her where it had been pulled up in a messy style. Though, he was beginning to realize he preferred it when she had it down. The way it hung, framing her face and making him unable to take his eyes off her as she scanned through the café in search for him.

When their eyes met across the room, her cheeks turned pink and she walked across the room and gave him a shy smile. “Hey Jack, I’m not late am I?”

“No, I’m a little early actually,” he replied as he stood from his seat and held her chair out for her as she sat down.

“A little eager to see me are you?”

It was Jack’s turn to blush as he shook his head, “no. Just was bored sitting at home doing nothing all day. It’s nice to actually get out after catching up on sleep and doing nothing all the time while we’re off tour.”

She just smirked and he knew that she didn’t believe him but didn’t press the matter any further. “So, do they have anything good here?”

Jack just shrugged and listed off a few of the things he loved there and as Erica was just about to stand to go grab her drink, Jack stopped her and said he got it. After a little bit of protest she finally gave in and he smiled triumphantly as he made his way to the back of the café to the counter and place her order. It was kind of nice to have a moment to get all his thoughts together anyway. After all he was freaking out even more than usual about being with a girl in his favorite coffee shop with the possibility of a relationship hanging in the air. She was different and he had a feeling that something in her past was making her want to take this slow and keep her walls up until the last possible moment. But maybe, just maybe, he would be able to break them down one by one and teach her how to trust again.

“Here you go,” he said as he set her drink down in front of her a few minutes later after he paid and waited for them to be ready.

He took his seat once again as she gave him a quiet thank you and took the first sip. “So how did you find this place anyway?”

“Completely by chance, actually,” he replied with a small smile. “I’ve lived in Baltimore my whole life and never knew about this place until a few years ago and it’s almost as old as I am. I was on my phone looking for something to do one day and then suddenly found it and decided to check it out.”

Her laugh rang through the room making him smile more hoping he would get to hear it more often. When they first met she was sarcastic and uninterested but now he was seeing a different side of her and really liked it even more than her edgy side.

“I love it when things like that happen. Just yesterday I found this weird little record shop close to my place.” She replied. “I just moved here only a few weeks ago and wanted to explore and found it by chance and then I spent like four hours inside just looking at everything they had.”

“That’s awesome! You’ll have to tell me where the shop is, I’d love to check it out.” She nodded eagerly and leaned forward slightly before he continued. “So you said that you just moved here, where from?”

When he asked he noticed something change in her eyes and almost regretted asking. He was about to change the subject and say never mind when she gave a forced smile and took a deep breath before she answered. “Texas, Houston actually. Lived there my whole life and needed a change of scenery so decided to move.”

Jack could tell that there was more to the story but decided to drop it for now and went on to ask her about herself more, asking about her photography and what she exactly did for a job. He found that she had had an interest in photography since she was a teen and went to school for it and also liked to draw. She somehow got on the subject of her new apartment and noticed the huge smile on her face as she explained all the artsy ideas she had for her new place when she finally decided on the color paint she wanted and what exactly she wanted to do with the place. It was her first apartment on her own after all and really wanted it to reflect who she was as a person.

And from what he could tell from her ideas for the place, she seemed like she had a very bright personality underneath all the walls she put up and had a love for strange art. After all she did want to paint her kitchen lime green with black swirls painted in a random order around the room. She was quirky and weird and he really couldn’t wait to see the finish product of her apartment when she was done. Maybe if everything worked out he could possibly help her paint if it didn’t come off as too weird or awkward.

Then as if she was getting uncomfortable talking about herself, the subject turned to him and she began asking about his band and family and everything she could possibly think of to ask. And he answered them even though it made him feel weird talking about himself so much. He knew that he came off as cocky with a no care attitude, but that was all a front. An image that was created as their fame grew more and more. He really wasn’t all that sure of himself and often wondered why a girl would go out with him.

He was way too tall and lanky with a weird nose and hair styled as if he was gay. It was embarrassing sometimes and all he wanted to do was hide in his apartment and never come out. These thoughts had come to the surface even more after his last relationship and he was kind of glad that he found Erica since she seemed to want to take this, whatever this was, as slow as possible. Jack wasn’t sure if he was ready to have another serious relationship right yet since his heart was still mending from the last one.

As they continued talking, Jack’s phone rang, interrupting them as they laughed at what they had been talking about. He had put his phone back in his pocket after Erica had shown up since there was really no reason to stare at it now that the person he had been waiting for had finally shown. And when he did and read the caller id, he wanted to kill him for interrupting them while they were having such fun talking about random things.

“Yes Rian, what is it?”

The drummer sighed; obviously annoyed with the tone Jack used when he answered the phone. “Did you forget what day it is today? We have that band meeting about the next tour.”

“Shit,” Jack sighed as he glanced over to Erica and gave her an apologetic look. “Yeah I forgot about that. What time was it again?”

“2:30,”

Jack glanced to the right where a large clock hung on the wall across from them and cursed himself. It was nearly three and now he was going to get shit from the others because he forgot. Not to mention they were probably going to interrogate him as to why he forgot and he wasn’t really ready to mention that he possibly might be seeing someone again since they were all going to freak out at that. But he had to go anyway; they would kill him if he canceled the plans, late or not. This was their job after all and they needed to discuss a few things before they left in a couple of weeks.

Not to mention actually get Alex back in the state since he was still in Wisconsin with Charlie doing whatever he was doing. They hadn’t heard anything from him since he left and Jack was dying to know if they had finally gotten their crap together and his best friend actually grew the balls to ask her out. But that was a topic for discussion later since he needed to apologize to Erica and make sure Rian didn’t get even more upset with him.

He promised he would be there soon and hung up the phone giving Erica another apologetic look as he put his phone back in his pocket. He really didn’t want to cut this short but duty calls. But he still had a few weeks to see her again before they left for England after all so it wasn’t like this was the last he was going to see her before he left again after all.

“You have to go?” Erica asked as Jack saw the look of sadness in her eyes as if she didn’t want him to leave as much as he didn’t want to leave either.

Huh. Maybe she did like him as much as he did. Maybe this actually could all work out….