His face reddened.

“Not exactly.” He stuttered, “On Your Page. You are on my friends list. She must have caught me reading it.”

“Read anything good?” I asked.

“Just the things you like.”

His face was still a red color.

“Like what?” I asked.

He probably read one of those stupid surveys that Maggie is always sending me.

“You know? Silly things like, you like puppies over kittens. Things like that.”

“Yeah, I told you I’m deep.” I smirked

“Well, your favorite color is purple.” He smirked back.

“Ha Ha. Deep Purple. I get it.”

“ I have a million of them.”

“But that is not fair” I said, “ You know my favorite color, but I don’t know yours.”

“Its red.” he said.

It took all I had to not say, “Like your face!?” God, I hang out with Maggie too much. She is starting to rub off on me.

I went to take another sip of my coffee and I realized it was empty. I ended up getting a mouth full of syrup. He watched my face contort into disgust.

“Well, that was gross,” I said

“Want to go anywhere else?” He asked, “I’m out of coffee too.”
“I guess.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know, the book store?” I asked, “You read at all?”

“Yeah, sure. I read when I get a chance.”

We both got up from the table and threw out our cups. When we stepped outside, we looked up to the sky to see that it had started to rain, and me with out a jacket. Well that was okay. I put my arms out and began to welcome it, in this heat. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The air smelled dewy. Thats when I opened my eyes to see Daniel watching me. My face reddened a little.

“What?” I asked trying to stay cool.

“Nothing.” He said, “Just watching you.”

I started to feel anxious again. I wanted to keep this ball rolling. I didn’t want to ruin this by looking like an odd ball in the rain. Especially, when things seem to be going pretty well.

“Shall, we start walking?” I asked.

“yeah.” he said holding his hand out to let me lead the way.

As we walked, I couldn’t help but wonder what he said to his sister.

“So, what did you end up telling your sister?” I asked.

“What?” I caught him off guard.
“What did you tell your sister about me?”

“Oh, that I was meeting with a colleague.”

I stopped walking and just stared at him. A colleague, I wanted to ask? I didn’t know if I should be offended or worried that I didn’t even make the friend zone yet. He suddenly stopped when he realized I was no longer beside him. He turned and must have seen the look on my face, because it began to redden again. Well, this is turning out to be perfect, I thought.

“A colleague?” I asked slowly.

“What?! I panicked!” he said.

“But a colleague?” I said laughing nervously as I started walking over to him again.

“I know,” he said, “It was a ridiculous response, which made it worse. Because she really started to dig into me then.”

“What did you say then?” naturally curious.

“That you were a girl I knew from school. Some one I want to get to know. Maybe become actual friends with” He said, “And that I wanted to see where this could go.”

It was my turn to blush this time. “Perfect response. That is what I wanted to hear.” I thought.

“So, you said you read a little.” changing the subject.

“When I have the time.” he laughed a little catching my drift.

“I read everything.” I said.

“So, you read a lot.”

“Yes, it is my escape, like my music.” I smiled, “I can’t function with out either one.”

“Who is you favorite author?”

“Right now, I love Poppy Z Brite. She’s incredible. She knows just how to immerse you right into the story. She makes you see, feel, even smell everything. I want to be able to write like that someday.”

“You write too?”

“Nothing great.” I said, “But with practice I’ll get there. I have a few ideas up my sleeve. What about you?”

“I only draw,” He said,

“Well you're great at it. I enjoy your work in class.”

“Thanks.” he replied.

We walked a few more block, when we reached the reflection pool beside the mall. The rain began to stop, and the sun was trying to come out again. The heat was beginning to creep back as well. It made me want to jump in so bad, but it was so peaceful you didn't want to disturb the water. It really was like a mirror. And Im sure I would have been removed from the pool immediately considering, you are not allowed to swim in it. They usually had a few security guards that circled the area too. That didn't stop me from walking a long the edge of it though to stop and take a picture of it and the beautiful church behind it. Daniel came up beside me. He held his hand up to block out the sun that was now beaming down on us, when I noticed the strings around his wrist.

“Did he have those before?” I wondered.

“Those are neat.” I said

“Oh yeah.” noticing what I was looking at. He put his hand down and covered them back up. His face had an expression I couldn't quite read yet. I couldn't help myself but say “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He asked starting to walk to the mall again.

“For pointing out something that makes you feel uncomfortable to talk about.”

He stopped and just looked at me a moment. Trying to read the expression on my face now. “why did I go there?” I thought. Sometimes I find myself in these situation, where I say exactly how and what I feel, with out thinking about how it would make the other person feel. Especially, when I point something out about them. The only person that seemed to understand that about me was Maggie. She always said, “You always just seemed to know shit about people, whether they want you to or not.”

It’s a curse.

“I’m sorry, I do that sometimes. I seem to point out the awkward when I get certain vibes from people. Call it a gift.” I tried to smile.

He actually smiled back, “It’s cool, but seriously they aren't important anymore. To be honest I don't know why I still have them.”

I reminded myself to take it slow with this one. He’s been hurt before, and it wasn't that long ago. I let him tell me when and if he wants to tell me about it.