Be My Forever

Chapter 4

Now

I watched Chloe fill the coffee machine, nibbling on a piece of apple. Wednesdays were always calmer than Tuesdays. The little bell at the door chimed as Danté walked inside the café. His eyes were unfocused and his hair completely tousled, as if he had jumped out of his bed straight into his jeans before getting here. A small smile tugged at my lips, but I forced it away when Chloe shot me a knowing look. Danté let himself fall on one of the tall stools with a loud sigh. It was unusual for him to be so dishevelled, or to come here on a Wednesday.

“Give me something sweet,” he said by way of greeting us.

“Well, well, someone's got their panties in a twist today,” I teased.

“My panties aren’t in a twist,” Danté shot back.

“So you admit that you are wearing panties. Is that a kink of yours?”

A spark lit up inside his eyes. “Would you like to see?”

“I got to admit, I am curious.” Without thinking, I put my hand against his forehead. There was no fever, just exhaustion. The most surprising was that Danté slightly leaned into the touch. And maybe my fingers lingered a moment longer than they should’ve. I cleared my throat. “You don’t look so fresh.”

“Don’t ask…”

“I wasn’t going to.”

He let his head drop in his hand, almost falling back asleep. I shook his shoulder from over the counter. This man truly was something. Would he even be able to get back home in his current state? I shook my head. He’s a grown man, Evy. He doesn’t need you.

“I was with a person last night. She was insatiable.”

My stomach churned as an image of him and a blonde going at it all night flashed before my eyes. Chloe disappeared inside the kitchen. Coward . I cleared my throat, making sure my face was neutral.

“And that’s why I didn’t ask.”

Danté’s eyebrows shot up as he realized what he had just shared. Or was it my reaction that made him straighten on his chair? It didn’t matter.

“Right.”

I waited for him to say something. Anything to get that filthy image out of my head. He stayed silent.

“So, can I get you anything or do you want me to coddle you?”

My sharp tone surprised me as much as it surprised a customer who was sitting a few stools further from my neighbour. Danté huffed out a laugh, not even impressed.

“Your customer service is atrocious in the morning. I’ll take a double espresso. With extra sugar. And a croissant.”

I clicked my tongue before I could stop myself. “You know, that’s a terrible order. It’s not good for you.”

Danté clasped his hands together, and I felt my gaze stopping on them. Unlike some guys, he had long and slender fingers. His hands were pretty . Shame that I now knew what those pretty hands had been up to these last few hours.

“If you’re going to tell me coffee dehydrates, I am aware.”

My head shot back up. Stop staring at his hands, you weirdo!

“Oh no. Coffee does dehydrate you, that is true. But if you drink enough water and just one or two cups a day, it won’t affect you that much. It’s bad for your cortisol levels.”

“Jesus, Evy!” Chloe shot, tossing a wet kitchen towel at my face. “Don’t say that to our customers! Plus, I’m sure he doesn’t need all that information this early on.”

She had been eavesdropping, huh? I scowled at my colleague, who scowled right back at me. I sighed and showed my palms as a sign of surrender. A petty part of me wanted to tell her that Danté wasn’t a regular customer, and that if he shared what happened in his bedroom, I could share facts about food. Except that he was, in fact, our customer, and most people didn’t care about the facts that I shared. I stared at my baby blue sneakers. Chloe patted my shoulder before helping out another customer who had just walked in.

“Sorry, she’s right. I shouldn’t be bothering you with all this food stuff,” I said, cleaning the wet streaks from Chloe’s towel on my glasses.

“So, what were you saying about my cortisol levels?”

I looked back at him, expecting to see a bored face, but found attentive eyes instead. I rubbed my neck. Jasmine would smack me for being so bad at socializing. I waved my hands in front of me.

“It’s okay if you don’t care. I just get too excited sometimes.”

“No, I’d like to know.”

He was never playing fair. Danté knew how to make people feel special; he had the ability to give someone all his attention, as if what one had to say actually mattered. When I met him two years ago, I thought he was faking interest. But Danté wasn’t fake; he was curious, and a social butterfly.

“Oh. Well, coffee increases our cortisol levels, but when we wake up, our body produces those hormones on its own. Drinking coffee during the first hours after you wake up imbalances that. So you should wait two hours to let your body do its thing. When you drink your coffee later – which you usually do – there’s no issue.”

Danté nodded as if he was really listening to what I had just said. And it didn’t feel like he would forget the interaction once he moved on to another person.

“Alright. I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

“Enjoy your breakfast,” I said while I gave him his order.

Instead of taking his food and sitting at his usual table, he stayed and chitchatted with Chloe and me. Probably because he would fall asleep on his own. After a while, Danté fell quiet, and Chloe went back to the kitchen. I took out my notebook and looked at everything I had to get done. In all fairness, I had been a bit lazy these last few days. It didn’t happen often, but I had spent many hours on TikTok, looking at way too many Taylor Swift videos. It was time to stop fooling around and to get things done. From where he sat, I could feel Danté’s focus weighing on me.

“What is it?”

“I always wondered why you have such intricate to-do lists.” Danté rested his elbows on the counter, reading my list upside-down. I didn’t understand how he was able to do so, especially since my handwriting tended to be rather messy, but he was. He let out a whistle. “Surely, you don’t do all that?”

“No, I do.”

“Doesn’t it get boring to know every single detail of every day?”

The question was genuine; there was no judgement to his words. I hummed. “Not really. It keeps me prepared for when something unexpected happens.”

Danté locked his gaze to mine. I could almost hear the cogwheels turn inside his head. There was an intensity burning in his eyes. That could only mean one thing: he had an opinion. He let out a long breath, but made no further comment. It was nice that he didn’t feel the need to impose his thoughts. I huffed. “Go ahead, say what you have to say.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I just think you miss out on a lot of things by knowing everything in advance.”

I didn’t expect him to understand. We were opposites here. I liked stability. Control , as Jasmine would call it. Danté, on the other hand, saw life as an adventure, and secretly, I admired him for his openness to change. It just wasn’t me. “I don’t like surprises. Life is easier when it is predictable.”

Life had been everything but predictable the day the doctor said that my sister had to go to the hospital because she had become so unhealthy. Difficult times with a lot of emotional rollercoasters were bad surprises, and there had been nothing I could do. And I hated every second of it.

“But it is the imperfections that make it worth living,” he said quietly.

There was no use in telling him that having a sister who almost died because of an eating disorder, and parents who had gotten PTSD from it and were now overbearing, was what made it worth living. Knowing Danté, he would probably say something along the lines: “Sure, life is hard, but it makes you appreciate the time you have together now even more.” Which was also fair, I suppose.

For a few long, awkward and silent seconds, Danté’s attention was on my face. Almost like he was searching for something. I just didn’t know what he wanted to find.

“Do you think you could ever stray from the life you’ve planned?”

“What do you mean?”

He took his time to answer. This whole conversation was becoming too serious. Too heavy.

“How would you feel if you didn’t go through with all those steps? Could you still be happy?”

His question made a pinch of anxiety bubble in my chest. Straying from my plan had never been an option. Not because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want to. I loved the path that I was walking. This was what I wanted.

“I think I would feel lost. This is my calling, so I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t go through with it.”

Danté’s expression turned blank, like he wasn’t with me here anymore, but lost somewhere in his own head. I bit at the skin of my thumb, unsure of what to do. Then in the blink of an eye, he was his old self again. It was as if Danté sensed where my thoughts were at because he gave me a sweet smile.

“Don’t worry, Squirrel. I’m not here to convert you.”

I almost sighed in relief. Seriousness wasn’t part of how we communicated.

“Good, because you wouldn’t be able to,” I laughed, crossing my arms.

“I’m pretty sure I could.”

Now that was a bold statement. He most definitely could. If there was one person who was able to get me out of my comfort zone, it was him. I leaned towards him, the counter still between us.

“Give me an adventure, and we’ll see.”

His face lit up like a Christmas tree, and gosh, did that smile do something to me. Dimples appeared, ones I knew by heart, but still loved to see as much. His expression turned playful.

“Honey, I am the adventure. Didn’t you know?”

I coughed from embarrassment. Well, he sure was. I was pretty certain that my face had become the twin of a tomato. Danté winked at me, and I let my head fall in the crook of my elbow.

“I didn’t know you could be so corny,” I muttered.

Danté patted my head. When I looked back up, I knew he wasn’t done. Danté gave me a terrible wink.

“See, now that was a surprise.”

A laugh bubbled out of my throat, and he just ended up laughing with me. It wasn’t the adventure I had hoped for, but Danté making fun of himself for me had certainly made my day, just like it had erased the panic his earlier questions had given me.

“Alright, you won this one.”

For a brief moment, Danté’s lips parted, as if he wanted to add something. Whatever it was mustn’t have been that important. He merely shook his head.

“See you later, Evy.”

“Bye.”

In the blink of an eye, Danté had grabbed his jacket, and then he was gone. From behind me, Chloe was cackling. I held up my hand.

“Don’t say anything.”

She gave me a pat on my shoulder. “Oh, I don’t need to.”