Three;

Blustery gusts of wind broke steadily past the grim set of my jawline as I made my way through town the next day. Waking even before the sun had risen, I hastily scrawled a messy note to Rosa letting her know I was planning on spending my first day in Westerly getting to know the landscape.

As far as I could tell, the town seemed like a pretty decent place to live. Rosa's cottage was located about twenty minutes outside of the main stretch of shops and such, so it didn't take me very long to journey there on foot. Nothing but blue skies and the impressive stature of oak trees decorated the short distance I walked, and the crisp air was light and refreshing as I made my way into town.

The narrow road I was traveling on opened up into what appeared to be the downtown area of Westerly. Historic looking buildings were pressed tightly together along the sides of a weathered cobble stoned street, and I noticed a gigantic clock tower looming in the distance, seeming to be situated right in the center of everything. I exhaled a deep breath, watching the transparent vapor float up into the air like a minuscule cloud on the horizon. Glancing up and down the narrow sidewalk I found myself standing on, I tried to decide which direction to turn. I felt a faint tug to turn left, and so I trudged onward.

Exploring this place should be...interesting.

"Fun" didn't seem like the best description at that time, seeing as how the only other townspeople milling about were elderly couples in obnoxiously colored jogging suits, wheezing around the square with flapping jowls and sweaty, beat red foreheads. I inwardly wondered if they had an ambulance on stand-by somewhere close. Jesus, I'm terrible.
But honestly, they all looked as if they could drop dead at any second.

A small shop that looked as if it sold things like coffee or books caught my attention soon after, and I hurriedly ducked inside to escape the chilly air. The room was pretty small, with only a couple of dark wood tables and a short bar to provide seating. I looked around vaguely, and the place was deserted. I shrugged off my jacket at the sudden warmth of being inside, and took a seat in the middle of the empty bar. There were a few worn looking, coffee stained menus resting in a plastic container just to my left, and I reached over to take one in the palm of my hand. "Zomba's" was printed in bolded, blocky letters at the top of the paper, with a short list of items offered just below it.

What a weird f*****g name for a coffee place.

After I had been sitting down for a few minutes, I heard a loud banging noise sound from somewhere in the back of the shop, and what sounded like an angered shout of "s**t!" followed soon after. I chuckled to myself lightly at the noise, imagining the clumsy f**k that must have tripped over something hurrying around to straighten up their mess. Quiet soon enveloped the small store once again, and I was beginning to grow impatient at the lack of service. I mean, really. I had been sitting there for like, ten minutes and no one had shown yet.

Don't open a shop if you can't f*****g staff it properly.

With that thought, I growled lowly under my breath and got up to leave. I hated when things like that happened.

Just as I was about to hit the exit, a voice rang out behind me.

"Uh, can I help you?"

I whirled around, completely startled at the sudden noise.

"Jesus, don't f*****g sneak up on people like that!" I snapped back angrily, briefly pausing my rant to look over the person who had spoken. A small smirk formed on my face as I took them in. A tall, rather thin blonde boy was staring up at me with that scared deer-in-headlights look on his pale face. He was completely covered in some type of white powder, and it made him look like a ridiculously anorexic snow-man. I couldn't stop myself from bursting out into a fit of laughter, and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself back down. The boy was still staring at me with wide eyes, and I just stared right back. He shuffled his feet nervously underneath my unwavering gaze, and I swore I saw the faint outlines of a blush tint his features.

I never backed down in a situation like this.

To me, breaking eye contact was a sign of weakness, and Alex f*****g Ramirez would never reveal that side to anyone.

God, I really needed to get the hell over myself.

"I, uh, tripped and broke the flower jar. It kind of got everywhere." The boy said, a sheepish grin flashing across his face.

I found myself grinning back in his direction, and walking slowly back to my previous seat.

"I can see that," I answered him, laughing a little bit to myself. "So, you got any coffee?"

He nodded and began darting around the small space behind the bar, gathering whatever he needed to brew my drink. He dropped the package of grounds the first time he went to pour them into the coffee machine, and cursed quietly under his breath. Another flush began to coat his flower-stained features, and I couldn't help but grin. After a few seconds, the delicious, warm smell enveloped the small restaurant, and the waiter started fiddling with his fingers. I frowned slightly at his action, as I had always found that habit to be extremely annoying. I think he noticed my distaste, as he quickly placed his hands in the pocket of his flower stained apron.

"So, uh, I haven't seen you around here before."

I narrowed my eyes slightly in reaction to his words; I didn't appreciate people prying into my life. Especially complete, awkward strangers that lacked any type of hand eye coordination whatsoever.

Yes, I'm aware that I'm an a*****e.

"So?" I shot back quickly, trying to prevent him from asking too many personal questions. "Just because I haven't come into this place before now doesn't mean anything."

The boy flinched with my sharp words, and I felt a small pang of regret shoot through my chest.

"S-sorry. It's just, you know, a small town. And usually...people just...yeah." His body seemed to deflate with his words, as if all of the oxygen occupying his form had suddenly evaporated. I watched him as he turned away and reached for a dish rag, wiping some of the white powder off of his face.

I frowned slightly, biting my lip in frustration. F**k, why was this kid suddenly making me feel like such a dick? I had always acted this way with new people, and he just seemed to be taking it personally or something. This reaction was definitely new.

"Just...uh...look. What's your name, anyway?" I asked the kid, my words coming out fast and awkward, with me having absolutely no idea where they had come from. I guess I was trying to form an apology of some sort, but I seriously had never uttered the words "I'm sorry" to anyone before in my entire life, unless it was to my mom or dad while they were spanking the s**t out of me for acting out at school or something.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise once again with my words--I was beginning to realize that was a habit of his--as I didn't think he was expecting me to suddenly strike up a conversation with him.

"Sean. My, uh, my name is Sean." He fiddled nervously with a lose thread hanging off of his dark green apron. "What's yours?"

I swallowed quickly before I answered him, hesitant to give away any personal information to someone I barely knew. I was a rather paranoid little f**k at that point in my life, as the whole growing up in Chino thing did absolutely nothing to strengthen my trusting skills.

"I'm Alex."

He nodded his head slightly, and turned around once more to retrieve my steaming drink from the coffee maker it was placed under. He handed the warm mug to me wordlessly, his long fingers barely brushing the skin of my outstretched right hand. Once more, a faint blush dusted across his face, and I rolled my eyes. (Not where he could see, of course. I'm not that mean).

I sipped from my cup as I stared out of the frosty window pane, surveying the activity outside. There were a few kids playing on the other side of the street, their nervous mothers huddled together tightly, keeping a close watch on them and the flow of traffic nearby. I smiled faintly as I recalled how my own mother used to do that with me back in Chino, although it wasn't traffic she was looking out for.

"Hey, Alex?" Sean asked me, keeping his eyes trained on the wood panel of the floor.

I grunted in reply, not really feeling much like talking again.

"Welcome to Westerly." He started shuffling his feet again, and looked to me briefly. "I hope you, uh, like it here."

I forced myself to smile at him in thanks, realizing how obvious my "new in town" attitude must be, and went back to sipping my drink quietly. As much as I hated to admit it, so far people in Westerly were a lot nicer than the ones in Chino. I just wasn't so sure if it would be enough to make me happy living there.

Reviews

[Chris]

Good read so far. Only a couple things. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the line: "There were a few worn looking, coffee stained menus resting in a plastic container..." should have hyphens between "worn" and "looking" and "coffee" and "stained". I'm not entirely sure, though. Also, it should be "blond," not "blonde" when used to describe Alex's hair color. Blonde is used for females, blond is used for males.

[Amber-The-Panda]

I love it so far. Please keep writing.
Sean is adorable :3

[chaffy]

Like where it is going.. good job! :)