Alex POV

It was time to leave to walk Baz and get the coffee with Jack. I was way too nervous for this. I had already spent like an hour on my looks and burst into tears once when my hair hadn’t wanted to look like I wanted it to look. I had accepted that it wouldn’t be okay and I really needed to leave.

I was in my car when my negative voice started talking again.

“Alex, do you really think this is a good idea? You will only embarrass yourself and Jack will laugh like crazy. You will do dumb things. You won’t have a nice time.”

I told it to shut up but it continued to plague me.

“You will mess this up, you will make Jack hate you. Because you are worthless.”

It went on like this until I reached the shelter. I went in quickly to shut up the voice. Jack looked up from some paperwork and smiled broadly when he saw me.

“Hey Alex!” he exclaimed happily.

“Hi Jack,” I greeted him shyly.

“Ready for Baz?”

“As ready as I can be,” I replied. The thought of Baz helped me to calm down a bit. Jack led me to him and soon I walked out the building into the green wood with the little puppy who was sniffing everything. We played with some cones we found, ran for a bit and play-fought. When it was time to return to the shelter, we both were tired but happy.

Jack was happy to see me and after we had brought Baz back, we left. The café was beautiful with nice pastel colours. It smelled of coffee, hot chocolate and home. We ordered and then it was time to converse.

“So… How are you doing today?” Jack asked.

“Thanks to Baz, wonderful,” I answered. It was true, since I had been out with Baz the voice had been gone or very quiet.

“Aw that’s nice,” Jack said. He looked like he genuinely meant it.

“How… How are you doing then?” I asked. Ugh, I had stuttered again.

“I’m fine. Work was pretty boring, mostly paper work today,” Jack answered.

“I’m sorry,” I replied.

“No, nothing to be sorry about,” Jack said. “I love my job.”

“That’s so nice! I wish I could say that,” I sighed.

“What job do you have?” Jack asked.

“I work as an accountant,” I said. I was such a boring person.

In that moment, before Jack could reply, the waitress arrived with our drinks. But she tripped over something and dropped the tray with the glasses. Directly onto me.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “I’ll get you some tissues,” she added. I was drenched in hot coffee and I tried really hard not to cry but all the nervousness took its toll. I started crying. Jack looked shocked but he tried to help.

“Alex, shh. It will be okay. Why are you crying?”

“I’m so sorry,” I replied. “I was just kind of nervous about this and now all the tension got too much, you will probably leave and think I’m an idiot,” I sobbed.

“No, shh. That is absolutely not true. I won’t leave and I don’t think you are an idiot,” he said soothingly, putting one hand on my shoulder. I calmed down a little bit and when the waitress brought back some teatowels to pat me dry, I had stopped crying. She told me our drinks would be on the house.

Jack and I slurped our new coffees and talked about some everyday things. He thought that my job wasn’t that bad (“at least you don’t work in the canals”), I learned that his family was from Lebanon and more about how much he loved his job at the shelter (“I wouldn’t trade it for gold”).

When I glanced at my clock for the first time, two hours had passed.

“This late already! I should get home, I got work early tomorrow,” I said, a little bit sad about having to leave. Jack nodded and we left. We walked to my car in silence and before I got in, there was a tiny moment of awkwardness. Finally, Jack pulled me in for a hug. His hug was light, not crushing but perfect. He smelled of pets and aftershave. He broke the hug and I could feel his lips touching my cheek like a feather. Was this a dream? I touched my cheek, not sure about what had just happened. I blushed and got in the car. I let my window down to say goodbye.

“Bye Jack! I had a great time today.”

“I did too, goodbye Alex,” he said. I already pulled out of my parking lot when he came to my car window again. “And by the way, your blushing is cute,” he added with a sly grin.

And of course, I blushed again.

Notes