Be My Forever

Chapter 3

Two years ago

The navy shirt fitted just right. Kristen nodded, satisfied. My nerves were already overstimulated, and I felt like jumping around, or fainting. I wasn’t sure what would happen first. Kristen’s dark eyes softened as she put a hand on my forearm.

“The uniform suits you.”

“At least I know that if I fuck things up, I still look cute in it.”

Chloe, another college student who had been working here a year already, snorted, then choked on her coffee. Kristen shook her head before handing her some napkins.

“Don’t worry, Evy. Chloe and I are here to help you.”

“We are,” Chloe agreed.

It still felt like a small miracle that Kristen, the owner of the Hot Stuff café, had accepted me as her newest crew member. I had worked in a restaurant as a student before. It had never been more than cleaning tables or doing the dishes. So when I had applied to be a barista at Hot Stuff, I hadn’t expected the owner of the café to let me bake a cake to prove I could work there. Literally. It had taken an okay latte macchiato and an excellent lemon cake with icing to get me in. And the cherry on top, I got to work shifts with Chloe, a law student with a big mouth, a passion for bright make-up, and a passive-aggressive personality. Things had immediately clicked between us when she fawned over my red lipstick, and when I had fallen in love with the gorgeous colour of her eyeshadow and the glass beads in her African braids.

Kristen went back to the kitchen to continue baking some of the cakes and cookies that she sold. I followed Chloe to the counter, where she showed me how to make a chai latte, my favourite. And the perk of the demonstration was that I got the drink afterwards.

A familiar blond head sat in a booth near the window. There were many books and papers on his table, and he was leafing through a magazine.

“He comes here every few days to grab a drink and study,” Chloe told me. “A very nice fella.”

“I know.”

Chloe arched an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “He’s my neighbour.”

“What a lucky girl you are.”

Danté and I hadn’t really spoken since the whole hospital and cut flesh episode. I had wanted to talk to him again, had stood in front of his door to ask him if he wanted to go out with me for a drink, but had walked back to my own apartment as I heard the voice of a girl on the other side of a door. Some liked to call me a bit na?ve, as I hadn’t dated anyone, ever, even though I was eighteen, but I could take a hint. And I had already bothered him once when he had a girl over. There was only so much a girl could do before it became a problem, right?

Chloe gave me a notepad and gently pushed me towards him. The beads in her hair clinked together in a melodious way.

“Go ahead and help him instead of staring.”

My cheeks grew red. Just great. If I had wanted to be subtle, that had been a total failure. I breathed in, pushed up my glasses, and went over. Danté was so lost in his magazine that he didn’t hear me come. It was a travel guide about South America.

“Going anywhere?”

The magazine went flying, and I had to jump back to avoid being hit in the face by Machu Picchu. I cackled while my very lovely neighbour pressed a hand down on his heart.

“Oh jeez! Evelyn?”

I made a curtsy. It hadn’t been the plan to startle him, though it certainly was funny. I picked the booklet from the floor and gave it back to him.

“Sorry I scared you. Those are some nice pictures.”

He nodded, smiling at the scenery.

“Yeah, they make me want to travel.”

“Where would you like to go?”

Danté rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

“Is it cliché to say I want to travel the world?”

Was it though? To me, it felt way more cliché to want to visit New York or Paris than to visit everything. I lifted my palms.

“Maybe, but I’d admire you if you did it for real.”

I had never really travelled outside of Belgium or Morocco; the only reason I had ended up in Morocco in the first place was because Jasmine had family there. Her parents had been kind enough to take me with them during the summer. Seeing other countries was something that was on my bucket list, but that would have to wait until after I graduated. The whole point of working here was so that I could give Uncle Nadim and Auntie Aswaa my part of the rent. Her parents hadn’t wanted Jasmine and me to be in the centre of the student part of the city, where there was a lot of noise and a lot of alcohol flowing in the streets. So they had chosen a fancy little apartment with two bedrooms for us, and a higher rent. But because I paid everything myself, they had only accepted for me to contribute to thirty-five per cent of the rent. So money for travelling would have to wait just a tad bit longer. It would at least give me the time to think about where I’d like to go first, and what I’d like to do.

“Anywhere you would like to go?” Danté asked.

He seemed really interested in what my answer would be. Well, since he had already pulled the card of seeing the whole world, I couldn’t say the same. It would only make me look like a girl without opinions. And quite frankly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see everything .

“Japan.”

“Anime fan?”

I shook my head. My sister was the bigger fan of anime in the family. She had forced me to watch the whole first season of Dragon Ball with her. When she finally accepted the fact that I could not be bothered by it, she finally gave up. And Naruto was better anyway.

“More like a matcha and udon fan.”

Danté hummed. “That makes more sense.”

“Though I like some shōjos here and there.” But I was getting side-tracked. I clicked my pen a few times. “Anyway, can I get you anything?”

“The sound of matcha is rather nice.”

A boy who loves matcha can only be a good match-a, right? I felt myself smiling.

“We don’t have that here, but I can make you some at home.”

Evy, you smooth girl . Smooth like a smoothie. From the corner of my vision, I could see Chloe, who was pretending not to listen to us while she definitely was. Danté flashed me his golden retriever smile where his eyes turned into crescent moons. It was unfair to be that charming.

“I’d love that.”

“Then it’s a date.”

In the way his eyes went wide and he was unable to say anything coherent back, I knew I’d fucked up. I shook my hands in front of me. No wonder I had been single my whole life. Smoothie who?

“It was a joke. Please don’t look at me as if I asked you to marry me.”

His face relaxed, and I let out a long breath. Catastrophe averted. For now.

“You are one peculiar girl.”

I pouted. I was well aware of it, but if it was that clear from the start, I was pretty much doomed. Especially if someone like him saw it.

“Is that a good or a bad thing?”

“Until now, good.”

Maybe I could make peculiar look cool. I squared my shoulders and flipped my notebook open.

“Perfect. If I were you, I’d get the lemon cake. Something tells me it’s delicious.”

Danté bowed his head. Apparently, I wasn’t the only peculiar one. There was a playful twinkle in his blue eyes.

“Then I trust Your Highness’s opinion.”

“Dork,” I muttered. “I’ll bring the cake right away.”

“Thanks.”

When I went back to the counter and took a slice of the lemon cake, Chloe came back.

“Is there something I need to know about you two?”

I bit back a grin. “No.”

At least not yet, I hoped.

***

The back courtyard of our building was already flooded with people when Jasmine, Theo and I got there. From what Jasmine had said, they would do a test of the fire alarms and an evacuating simulation at the beginning of every academic year. A familiar blond head appeared, followed by a few other guys. When Danté spotted us, he walked up to us.

“Hey guys, did you settle in alright?”

Jasmine shot me a quick look. As I stayed silent, she flashed him her world-winning smile.

“Yes, we did!”

They both chatted a bit. From what I heard, Danté was telling her about a nice bar he recommended, but I zoned out. I recognized one of the guys next to Danté as Jared, his roommate. Only because I had seen him open their front door with a key. And Jasmine in her full curious, social butterfly glory, had asked him who he was. The poor guy had looked a second away from combusting at the sudden attention. He had shot me a grateful look when I yanked my best friend inside our own place under the excuse that I needed her help in the kitchen. Other than that, we never really saw him. The other guy was Alex. The first time I had seen him, I thought he was another roommate. He was just a close friend, from what Jasmine had told me. For a reason I couldn’t pinpoint, he made me uncomfortable. Yes, Alex was very nice to look at: perfect jawline, tall, dark-haired, and mysterious. It was his aloofness that made me pause. The guy seemed so cold and cocky. It was a bit weird that he would be such a good friend with someone who had such a sunny vibe. But maybe I was judging Alex too harshly. After all, first impressions weren’t always the right ones.

I tuned back in to my friends and Danté at the worst moment.

“Thank you once again for bringing Evy to the ER. We were lucky you were there.”

A strangled noise came out of my throat, my cheeks growing red. Danté turned his attention to me, his eyebrows going slightly up, probably realizing that I was still there.

“How is the wound?”

That made Alex tune in as well. Why did he suddenly look so interested when he had been so bored just seconds before? I showed him the small scar on my finger. You didn’t even see the pink line if you didn’t know it was there.

“It healed well. Makes me look pretty badass, doesn’t it?”

The skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “A badass scar for a badass girl.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smile as well. People streamed out of the courtyard and back to their apartments now that the evacuation was over. I opened my mouth to say something else, but before I could, Danté gave us a sign before heading back to his place, followed by Jared. Alex lingered a second longer, his attention solely fixed on me. A cold shiver ran down my spine. The way the corner of his mouth lifted, it looked like he had me figured out. Then he disappeared as well. I just hoped I wouldn’t see that one too often.