ψ(。。)

You felt like such an idiot, the first time you had been on a date in months and you trusted a blind date set up by a friend. In typical blind date fashion, he didn't show up. You just wish you'd expected it and not sat there for almost an hour, probably looking like a desperate idiot. You sighed and wiped at your face, your makeup badly run from the angry tears that were streaming down your cheeks. This day had been one of the worst. You’d woken up to a phone call from your boss, screaming at you for no apparent reason and firing you, for also, no apparent reason. Walking outside and finding your car stolen, with no one around being able to tell you anything. But of course things tend to come in threes, so of course the date flopped. So there you were walking home, heels in hand and tear smudged makeup all over your face, scolding yourself for even trying.

You were so busy chastising yourself that you didn't notice the screaming tires and the vehicle that was on a collision course with you until the last possible second. Suddenly someone yelled "Watch out!", tackled and rolled you out of the way. The car drove directly into a fire hydrant and a spray of water filled the air.

Breathing heavily, you looked down at the person who saved you. A man in a nice suit with sandy blonde hair and ice blue eyes was looking back at you.

"Thank you... for saving me" You say in a breathless whisper.

"Well it looked like you were already having a bad night, getting hit by a car would have only made it worse." He smiled at you and you were dazzled by how warm and bright his smile was.

You couldn't help but smile back at him. What a good looking man. You thought to yourself.

He stood up and then helped you up, his hand still holding onto yours he shook it gently. "My name is Ryan.”

“Well Ryan, thank you again for the save. I probably would have died if it weren’t for you.”

"No problem. I wasn't going to let such a pretty face get destroyed." He smiled at you again and then made his way over the the car to see if the driver was okay.

His words brought heat to your cheeks and you turned away for a moment running your hands through your hair. You turned back around and checked him out. He had a nice build, fit but not overly muscular. But it looked like it he would have no problem- You bite your lip to stifle the thought and smile that pops up when you think about him holding his body against you. He glanced back over at you and you give a small smile, feeling the heat rise again to your cheeks. He was speaking in low tones so you couldn't hear him but it looked like the driver must have been okay. Sirens filled the air suddenly and a look of fear crossed your face, you'd never liked cops and having to give a statement did not seem like the best way to spend the rest of your shitty evening.

While Ryan was still talking to the driver you quickly looked around for the heels you must have dropped. Spotting them near the curb, you quickly stepped over towards them, grabbed them and quietly tried to disappear into the shadows of nearby buildings. You felt a twinge of guilt and regret at leaving the scene like that and not getting Ryan's number, but adding the police onto this already shitty night was not something you could stomach.

You had just gotten around a corner when a hand grabbed you by the shoulder, without even thinking your self-defense training kicked in and he was on the ground. It was Ryan.

Gasping in several deep breaths from having the wind knocked out of him he attempted to speak. "S-sorry." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" You quickly helped him up. "I wasn't expecting you to be following me. Actually, why were you following me?"

Ryan cleared his throat a couple times and flashed you another dazzling smile. "I never got your name...or your number for that matter."

"Oh! Whoops. I'm not normally like this. My name is (Y/N)." You sighed and ran your fingers through your hair again. "First I get stood up, then I almost get hit by a car, and then I pretty much run from the cops. The only good thing that happened today was-" You cut yourself off before you make a fool of yourself, heat already rising to your cheeks.

"Only good thing was what?" He cocked an eyebrow at you, a knowing glint in his eye.

Dammit he caught that...You bite your lip and look down at your feet. "Uh well, meeting you."

His fingers gently trace your jaw and lift your chin, he looks you in the eye and whispers "It was nice to meet you too." before leaning in to kiss you.

Your lips connect and your body suddenly feels electrified. It feels like every cell of your entire being is being hit by lightning, but in a good way. You kiss him back and the kiss begins to deepen, Ryan's hands encircling you, bringing you closer. Flush with his chest, your arms snake around his neck. He brakes the kiss only to move it down your neck, kissing and sucking down to your collarbone. You can't help the moan that slips out from how good his mouth feels. Ryan groans into your neck, giving you a teasing nip before pulling away leaving you lightheaded and giddy. His eyes seem to darken for a moment as a thought crosses his mind but he covers it up with a grin, squeezes around your midsection and hums.

You cock your head and smirk. “What?”

“Nothing...It's just that-” He sighs for a moment and looks skyward. “This is probably going to sound weird seeing as we just met but-” He looks back down at you and his eyes are an ocean of blue even in street lamp light. “You are amazing.”

Heat immediately rises to your cheeks and you pray that there isn't enough light to show how red your face is. You bite your lip and look away. “I'm not that amazing...”

“Don't sell yourself short.” He pulls your chin up so you have to look at him. “You're gorgeous and whoever had you so upset before...They don't even deserve to know you.”

You pulled yourself out of his grip and took a couple steps away, running your fingers through your hair again. It had barely been 10 minutes and this guy had completely turned your night around. What was he? Some kind of superhero?

Without turning towards him you say “You know you're not so bad yourself.” Suddenly his arms are around your waist and his mouth is against your neck.

“Why do you say that?”

“My night, no my whole day has been complete and utter shit and this is going to probably sound super cliche.” You smile and lean your head back against his shoulder. “But just meeting you has made it all seem so far away.“

You can feel his smile against your neck and he kisses the same spot. “Well I'd like to continue being this amazing guy and escort you home if that's alright with you.”

You just nod a reply and he grabs your hand. The two of you walking back towards your place. You unlocked the front door and walked in, he waited on the threshold as though he was asking permission. You gestured around your apartment. Not overly large but still bigger then you would need, a gift from your parents when you moved out. “This is me casa.” You noticed where he was standing and gave him a quizzical look.

“Even though every fiber of my being is begging me to stay with you, I have to go. I have work early in the morning.” The tone of his voice and the look on his face told you that he wasn't lying to you.

You padded over to him and wrapped your arms around his neck. “That's okay I understand...It was nice to meet you and thanks for the millionth time for the save.”

He looked into your eyes and kissed you gently and then he was gone. You watched him walk down the hall and he gave a small wave back at you as he rounded the corner.

Sitting in your favorite coffee shop, you slowly sip your drink and look out the window as the leaves of autumn slowly drift to the ground. You brush your hair back behind your ear and sit back enjoying the small amounts of chatter and the overall warmth of the place. You open your eyes as you hear the bell ring and the door open as a couple of guys come in. One of them, tall, brown cheerful eyes and a little bit of scruff glances over at you and makes eye contact, you give him a warm smile as the two head to the counter to order their drinks. You pretend not to notice as the one with the scruffy beard continually looks back at you and you especially pretend not to notice as his friend also looks back towards your corner. Smiling into your drink, you absorb yourself in the suddenly very interesting forgotten book in front of you and soon you hear the barista call their names. 

“Miles? And…Kerry?”  

The two stride over and collect their drinks, quickly glancing up you notice that the tall one is looking towards you again.

Is he biting his lip? You think to yourself and can’t hold back the grin that spreads over your face as he takes a deep breath and walks over to your table.

“Is this seat taken?” He asks gesturing to the seat across from you.

“Be my guest!” You smile and nod.

He sticks out his hand towards you, “Miles, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Miles, I’m (Y/N).” You set your drink down and take his hand and shake it. It seems to you that he’s reluctant to let go of your hand.

“So what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” A contagious grin spreads over his face

You catch it and a wide grin spreads over your face as well “Uh this is a nice coffee shop, and I actually come here all the time.”

He laughs “It is a nice place! It’s especially nice being my first visit and all.” You smile at him under your lashes as you sip your drink again.

“And what makes this first visit so special?” You raise your eyebrow and try to cover the shit eating grin that’s spread over your face from showing.

His eyes widen for a second and the hints of a blush start to show. “Well, it’s nicely lit and the barista was really nice and…I..I got to meet you.” He stammers.

“Well, I’ve also had a better time here since meeting you.” You say, giving him a warm smile.

Another grin covers Miles’ face and he seems to be steeling himself to say something, but his friend comes back and taps his shoulder. “I know you’re with a pretty girl, Miles, but we’ve gotta go. The podcast starts in 20 and broadcast’s getting antsy.”

“Alright alright, I’m coming.” He waves his friend off and turns back to you. “Well it was lovely meeting you (Y/N), but it seems I’m being summoned. “ He stands up to leave.

“Wait!” You reach out and grab his arm. He looks down at your hand on his arm as you let go and back up to you, a small smile and a questioning look on his face.

“Uh here.” You rip a piece of paper off of a newspaper on the rack next to you and quickly dig in your purse for a pen. Once found, you scribble your phone number down and hand it to him with a smile. “Here’s my number. It was nice meeting you too.”

You didn’t know what was harder about going away for school. Having to leave all your friends and family or having to leave your boyfriend. Really all of it was hard but the tear filled conversation you two shared before you got on the plane was heart breaking. You had decided that it would be better to break up, even though the thought of being apart from him tore you up inside. You didn’t know if you could handle long distance. Or at least you highly doubted you would be able to. The two of you continued to talk every now and then, but it made you miserable and you could tell there was sadness in his words. But you had to go on. The overall busyness of school life distracted you from missing him and it was only on the nights you couldn’t sleep that you cried over him.

Time went by, 4 months in fact, and the semester was coming to a close. You got to go home for Christmas break, see your family and your friends. Jon was the one to pick you up from the airport and drive you to your apartment, you could tell he missed you in the way he hugged you. You could also tell that he had gotten over you, and the thought of that brought tears to your eyes. But you ignored them and Jon didn’t notice them either. Christmas comes and goes mostly uneventfully. You got to hang out with your immediate and extended family, and even got to attend a Christmas party hosted by one of your close friends. One evening you get a text from Jon asking if you’re busy on New Year’s Eve.

You reply back, “Uh, no I’m not…Why?” You hadn’t heard from him since he brought you home from the airport.

“Oh, well I’m going to be having a New Year’s party with some friends and I wanted to know if you’d want to come.”

“Oh! Uh sure I’d love to! ” A little bubble of excitement fills you as you start to subconsciously count down the days till New Years Eve.

The day of arrives and towards late afternoon you begin to busy yourself with looking amazing for tonight. A thought pops into your head and a sly smile crosses your face as you dig in your closet to find the new outfit you’d bought for a special occasion, and this was a special occasion. Dressed and made up to the nines, you knew that you probably had looks that could kill and that was exactly what you wanted.

At about 10 minutes or so after you should have been there, you hopped in an uber and drove over to his place.

You walked up and smoothed your dress down, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The door opened and it was Barbara “(Y/N)?! Oh my god! Hi!” She hugs you and pulls you into the house. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good, schools been good. How about you?” You smile and hug her back. You had always enjoyed how easy it was to talk to Barbara.

Jon came in the room and Barbara’s eyes slid over to you to gauge your reaction. With a smile that could outshine the sun he came over to you and wrapped his arms around you. The smell of him, laced with traces of alcohol, reminded you of fond memories. Memories that would make your eyes sting soon enough if you continued to think about them.

Barbara gave you a sly smile as you and he let go and she skipped away, upon returning she gave you a glass filled with your favorite alcoholic drink and you were ready to start the evening.

A few drinks later, someone realized it was almost midnight and the countdown had started. 5. Couples were pairing up as the countdown continued. 4. Soon it was just you and Jon left. 3. He turned to you (2) and he grabbed your waist, pulling you chest to chest with him. 1. 0! Happy New Year! Suddenly his lips were on yours, and in your slightly drunken haze your hands tangled into his hair and pulled him closer.

“Woo yeah! (Y/N), Jon! Get some!” Barbara cheered from across the room and some people started clapping. A deep red blush covered your cheeks as you broke the kiss but Jon’s arm never left your waist. You squirmed out of his arms and snuck away into the kitchen to be alone. He joked with his friends and got them all to settle down, a few of them were packing up to leave but quite a few were going to crash at Jon’s. You wanted to do the latter but your body was moving for you, soon you were at the door, hand on the handle. An arm appeared on your arm.

“Are you leaving too?” His soft voice was laced with sadness.

You turned and looked at him, a small smile trying to hide sad eyes.

“I think it might be best.” You say as you look at the floor.

“Was it the kiss? I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. Please stay?”

“It wasn’t the kiss…it’s just…”

His hand cups your chin and lifts your head to look at him.

“Please stay. I don’t want to lose your friendship. You’re my best friend, (Y/N).”

Tears spring to your eyes and you work to blink them back.

“Fine, fine.” You shift so Jon’s hand leaves your face and you throw your arms above your head. “I’ll stay. But someone get me another drink!”

You hear Barbara cheer and you glance behind Jon to see that she was creeping around the corner. She skips over to you and nudges Jon out of the way to wrap her arms around you.

“I didn’t want you to go yet either!” She giggles, obviously much more drunk then you were and she grabs your hand and pulls you towards the couch “Come onnnnnn, (Y/N)! We’re gonna play Drawful!”

You let yourself get dragged into the game and you soon you are fully immersed in the playful attitudes of everyone around you, but you do notice the fact that Jon sits farther away from you. You notice the sad glances now and then and when you make eye contact with him, he forces a smile and you return it. The night continues to wear on and some of the company starts to nod off and soon you too are yawning. Jon offers his bed since the couch is filled and when you begin to decline when he interjects.

“We’re friends, you can sleep in my bed, since there’s no room there, and there won’t be any funny business.” He crosses his heart with a finger and holds two fingers up. “Scouts honor.”