Chapter One - It's A Date

Four Years Later

You're a big girl, Rebekah. You've got this.

I tossed my phone and purse on the backseat of my car and started fetching the spare tire from the back. Why did I have to get a tire blowout in the middle of the day, right before my class? All I wanted was some coffee from my favourite coffee place.

Misjudging its weight, I dragged the tire out of the trunk and squeaked in surprise when it slipped out of my hands, dangerously close to my foot.

Saved by an inch.

"Oh God!" Sighing out loud, I wiped the sweat beads off my forehead with the back of my dirty hands, careful to not touch my new jacket with them as I started rolling the tire to the front.

"You need help with that, babe?"

I looked over my shoulder with a frown. Mason was leaning against a pole, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched me with amusement.

"Thanks, but I'm good," I replied, weirded out. How long had he been standing there watching me struggle?

"Come on. It's okay to ask your boyfriend for help."

"Boyfriend?" My brows pulled together. "We broke up last week, Mason."

He deadpanned, clearly not liking me reminding him of that. "Do you need my help or not?"

"Not if I have to sleep with you for it."

He chuckled lowly. "For now, a cup of coffee will do."

"Okay done. Come on now. We haven't got all day."

"Right away, baby."

I pressed my lips together, choosing not to argue over that nickname.

It took us about ten minutes to change the tire and I breathed in relief once it was all done and we'd put the busted one in the back.

"Thank you," I said while walking to the driver's side.

"Hey! What about that coffee?"

"I've got my class right now."

"So do I. So what?"

I blew out a breath.

Why did he have to be in my class this semester? Why did I have to meet him and develop a crush? Why did I have to drop so many hints and make him ask me out?

"Well, I take my classes seriously. So, if you're free this evening, I'll see you at that cafe near our campus, or else goodbye. Thank you for your help."

I got inside my car and he quickly ran over to my window, leaning down to cross his arms over it, a spark sitting in his cute brown eyes. Okay, now I remembered what I'd seen in him. His eyes were really beautiful.

He ran a hand through his brown hair and grinned at me. "I'll be at the cafe. 7 p.m. Can I get a goodbye kiss now?"

"God, Mason! You are not my boyfriend anymore. Stop it."

He chuckled and I rolled the window up before driving away.

Shaking my head, I made my way towards the campus. The middle-aged professor frowned at me when I entered the class but continued teaching nonetheless without a remark. It wasn't my first time arriving late in her class but, in my defense, I'd tried to be on time today until the universe had decided to give me a flat tire to make sure I maintained my record. I quickly settled down right next to my roommate who was busy taking down notes.

"Late again." She shook her head at me.

"I had a busted tire, mom. Chill."

"Oh!" She frowned. "Are you okay? Tell me you weren't driving like a maniac when that tire busted."

"I'm okay and I wasn't. Relax. What have I missed here?"

"A lot but it's a good thing I took down notes. I'll send them to you."

"What would I do without you, Care?" I smiled at her and pulled my notebook out. Since I'd missed most of the lesson, I didn't bother listening to the rest and just doodled in the margin of the page.

"Oh, before I forget." I pulled a packed muffin out of my bag and slid it towards her. "Your favourite."

She beamed at it. "Thank you, Reb."

"No problem. What time is your shift at the coffeeshop today?" I asked her.

"6. Why?"

"I'm meeting with Mason at 7."

"Mason?" Her brows pulled together. "Didn't you guys break up last week?"

"Yes, but he helped me change the tire and wanted to have a coffee so..." I trailed off with a shrug. "I'm just happy I don't have to sleep with him for it."

Someone cleared their throat behind us. "Can you both shut up? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Hey, Liam." I turned around and grinned at him. "Then stop eavesdropping?"

"You're loud, Reb. Maybe even the professor can hear you." He gave me a quick, forced smile before going back to focusing. With a roll of my eyes, I turned ahead and tried to pay attention.

After endlessly long classes, we carried our exhausted forms back to our dorms.

Caroline got to studying right away. She'd been my roommate for almost three years now and I still couldn't figure out where she got so much motivation from.

I laid on my bed face down and decided to take a really short nap but ended up being awoken by Caroline shaking me by the shoulder sometime before 6. "Hey, Reb. I'm gonna go for my shift. You're meeting Mason, right?"

"Right." I rubbed my eyes, sitting up. "Thanks for waking me up. How long was I out?"

"Two hours."

I groaned. "God! What am I gonna do with my sleep schedule? Now I'm gonna lay awake till 3 a.m. and be late for class again in the morning."

She chuckled. "Don't worry. We'll start working on it tomorrow. Instead of sleeping, you'll study with me at noon."

I pointed finger guns at her. "Great plan. Watch me totally sleep on it tomorrow."

She shook her head at me and collected her phone from the table, leaving me alone in the dorm.

I picked up my books and did some reading for a while. At 6:30, I washed my face and without bothering to change my clothes, I left for the coffeeshop.

Mason was already seated in the corner booth. I sighed, eyes searching for Caroline. She waved at me from behind the counter and gave me a thumbs up, cutting a glance at Mason.

I pouted slightly and started making my way towards his booth.

"Rebekah." He grinned at me. "I thought you weren't gonna show up."

"Oh, trust me, I had half a mind to not but I killed the urge. I'm nice like that."

With a look of amusement, he leaned forward and grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his lips. "You know, your wit is your greatest attraction."

"Thanks. I'll try to tone it down around you then."

He chuckled, brown eyes lighting up and for a moment, I just stared, then pushed any unwanted thoughts at the back of my mind as I slowly withdrew my hand from his.

He took in a deep breath. "How are you doing?"

"Same as this morning, Mason. Good."

"No, I mean, after our breakup. I know it must be hard on you."

I pressed my lips together and nodded. "Sure."

"What are we doing, Rebekah? You and I have so much potential. You gotta admit that breakup was a mistake."

"Mason, it wasn't. We need to focus on our lives and move on—"

"Come on, Rebekah. Are you telling me you don't wanna get back with me? Our relationship was too good to give up on so easily. I mean, you were serious enough to get my initial tattooed over your heart. That's beautiful. Why do you wanna throw it all away like that?"

I swallowed, feeling the weight of that tattoo on my chest once again.

Whenever I felt like I was going to get lucky, I covered it up with lots and lots of makeup because I'd rather hide it than tell anyone for what—who—I got that. I hit it off with Mason thrice. Only the third time, it was unexpected and I forgot to conceal it.

He nearly lost it the moment he saw it, believing I'd just gotten it for him. That's when I knew it was time to end things and walk away from him.

I sighed. "Mason, for the last time, that tattoo was a drunken mistake. I didn't even have you on mind while getting it done."

He scoffed. "You got that while dating me. Say what you want but I'm still gonna believe that M stands for Mason. You love me, Becks."

"Don't call me that." I scowled.

He raised his hands slightly. "Okay. Rebekah."

I couldn't pluck up the courage to tell him I'd hidden the tattoo the first two times, especially now that he believed it was for him.

I looked away, shaking my head. "I'm gonna get us coffee."

"I already ordered. Hope you don't mind. I knew your order anyway."

Just then, Caroline showed up at our table with a bright smile, balancing two coffees on a tray.

"Hey, Caroline," Mason greeted her.

"Hey, Mason." She set our coffees in front of us. "Enjoy. And let me know if I can get you guys something else."

"Thank you, Care," I said, eyeing up her co-worker behind her who was throwing her a glare. "What's up with Cashy over there? She's not giving you trouble again, is she?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "She tried to spill caramel on me but ended up dropping it on herself. So, she's pissed."

I burst out laughing. "Served her right. But what the hell is her problem?"

"I have no idea."

"Let me know if she does anything again, okay? I get these annoying vibes from her."

"Yeah, tell me about it," she scoffed before walking away.

"So?" Mason caught my attention again. He was smiling brightly. "What do you think?"

"About what?" I confusedly took a sip of my amazing coffee.

"About us." He deadpanned.

"Yeah, about that. Sorry. I still think it's best we go our separate ways. I'm gonna focus on getting my grades back up and you can focus on...showing up for classes."

"Do you miss me in class?" he asked hopefully.

"Mason, please stop before I have to start avoiding you. What is wrong with you? This is not what you were like when we started dating."

"It's all you, babe. You drive me crazy, you know that." He winked.

I kept a straight face, silently begging the universe for some patience to deal with him.

He sighed. "Fine. We're really done, huh?"

"We are."

"And I still don't know what I did wrong."

"Nothing, as I've told you before. I just think I should focus on studying, you know? It's my final year of college, our final year of college, the exams are coming up and I cannot afford any distractions."

He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "I get it. I understand."

"Thank you!"

We finished our coffees and while he insisted on paying for me one last time, I was determined to pay for myself, reasoning that he'd already helped me with my tire in the morning. He agreed reluctantly and left while I decided to hang around until Caroline finished her shift.

I was on my third cup of coffee, high on caffeine when the cafe door opened and a familiar face walked inside.

He saw me, did a double take and held it for a couple of seconds, maybe trying to place me like I was trying to place him. He finally looked away and settled down in a booth.

Where have I seen him?

My eyes grew wide once I remembered and shouted his name, "Brett."

I lowered myself in my seat in embarrassment when a few other people turned around but he turned at the voice too and walked up to me instantly. Yes, it was him. I knew I recognized that curly blonde hair from somewhere.

"Yeah, that's me." He smiled in confusion. "I feel like I know you too."

"I'm Rebekah. We met at a gig four years ago."

His eyes grew wide for a second as he finally remembered me. "Right! Rebekah! I remember you. That gig. Matt Williams was performing. You're his girlfriend."

My smiled vanished and I muttered, "was."

"Oh! Shit sorry! That was a long time ago. I'm such an idiot."

"It's fine. You can sit down if you want."

"Sure! Thanks."

I wondered if he was still a fan of Matt and followed him on Instagram, even after Matt had stopped making music years ago. The YouTube channel was dead. I didn't even know what Will and Parker were up to now.

"So how are you?" he asked me.

"I've been great. And you? Did you finally make more friends?"

"Wow you have a really nice memory." He chuckled. "Yes, I did make more friends. And I never saw any of them after high school."

"Tell me about it." I chuckled lowly.

After Meera left, I was all alone at school, except the few times I hung out with Aiden. But being with him reminded me of someone I didn't wanna be reminded of, even though he did his best to not bring him up even once.

Meera and I stayed in touch for the first few weeks over the phone, then we started talking once in a week, then once in a month and then, eventually stopped. I still missed her. I was going to call her up some day.

"Do you want coffee?" I asked Brett.

"Sure. I'll order. You want something?"

"No but I'll get it for you. My friend's having a really busy evening and this is my third cup. Not gonna bother her again." I chuckled.

As I neared the counter, Caroline looked up from the cash register and wiggled her brows at me. "Who's that?"

"Just an old friend. Not even a friend. Just someone I met once. He's cute, isn't he?"

She nodded with a soft smile, eyeing him for a second. "Go for him."

"Oh no. Not for me. For you. Come on up and I'll introduce you."

She blushed slightly. "Oh I-I don't know, Reb. You know I don't wanna get into any of that at the moment. I'm just focusing on the exams."

I sighed out loud. "Would it kill you to have fun once in a while?"

She appeared to be considering it for a moment before she shrugged. "He does seem kinda nice but I'll pass. I have busy shifts and I'm starting my internship at your brother's company next week so I'll have no time anyway. Go for him."

"I'm not going for him, Care. I broke up with Mason a week ago and just told him I don't need any distractions. I'm gonna give it at least a month before I start dating again. Can you get me a coffee now? I've been standing here for way too long. He's probably becoming suspicious."

"Go back then. I'll bring it over."

"Sure?"

"Yep."

I went back to the booth and found Brett scrolling on his phone. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

He looked up from the screen. "What?"

"I just remembered how you slammed it on the table at that gig."

"Oh!" He laughed, recalling. "I was such an idiot back then. I got into so much trouble with my parents for that. It was a new phone."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Forget about it. What are you doing here?"

"I go to college here. It's a five-minute drive from this coffeeshop."

"Hey! That's my college, too."

"What?" I spat ridiculously. "You're telling me we've been going to the same college for three years and I've never seen you?"

"No." He chuckled as Caroline brought over his order.

"Thank you." He received it with a smile, then turned back to me. "I'm here on a student exchange program. I moved to UK after high school. Who would've known I'd end up right back here and meet you?"

"Oh!"

"Maybe it's because we never got to exchange numbers back then. Maybe it's another chance." He shrugged innocently while sipping his coffee.

I narrowed my eyes playfully, unlocked my phone and extended it across the table. He took it with a grin, added his number and gave himself a call so he could have mine too.

"There. Finally." He gave me my phone back.

"So, for how long are you here? Semester or whole year?" I asked.

"Why? Wondering how long our fling can last?" He winked, trying to seem confident but I saw right through it. He was hopeful and a little nervous too.

"Wow!" I nodded, impressed. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

He gave a little shrug, understanding it was a rhetorical question and that maybe he'd pushed his luck as he decided to change the subject. He put his phone back in his pocket and started sipping on his coffee again, nodding at it in approval. "Wow this is good."

"I know. This is my second most favourite coffee place around here."

"What's your first?"

"Oh..." I waved my hand dismissively and leaned back in my seat. "It's this place a few blocks away. I went there this morning but I don't go there that often."

Brings back a lot of memories.

Sometimes I wished I'd moved far, far away like everyone else did. At least they had a new beginning. I had to stay back and come across the places where I once made such good memories with all those people who probably didn't even remember me anymore.

"Maybe you could take me there sometime?" he asked.

I thought over it, then shrugged. "Sure. How about tomorrow?"

"It's a date."

I chuckled. "Okay then."

So much for waiting at least a month.