january 16, 2019
Where is she?
Cyrus’s fingers drummed impatiently on the table as his eyes scanned the coffee shop once more. The place was quiet, filled with the familiar aroma of brewing coffee and murmured conversations.
It was her usual time, so why wasn’t she here yet?
He tapped his cup, his mind growing restless. She always arrived right about now. Just as his frustration began to mount, the bell above the door jingled, and in walked Sophia, her smile as bright as ever.
“Frappuccino with whipped cream, please!” she chirped to Elle behind the counter, completely at ease.
As Sophia waited for her drink, she glanced in Cyrus’s direction. He immediately shifted his gaze away, pretending to be completely engrossed in his cup.
Act natural, he told himself, even though the quickening of his heartbeat betrayed him.
Sophia shrugged off his strange behavior, grabbing her drink and making her way over to their usual spot. As she sat down, her smile never wavered.
“Hi,” she greeted cheerfully, settling into her seat. “Sorry I’m late.”
Cyrus shrugged, trying to act indifferent. “I don’t care.”
Sophia sighed softly, glancing around the café with a hint of discomfort before finally blurting out, “I, uh... I might not be coming here in the mornings anymore.”
That got his attention. Cyrus frowned and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
She squirmed a little, fumbling with the cup in her hands and avoiding his gaze. “It’s... it’s nothing. I just can’t come here anymore, that’s all.” Her voice was light, but her tone hinted at something she wasn’t saying.
Sensing the awkwardness, Sophia quickly tried to shift the mood back to something more playful. She took a long sip of her drink, flashing a forced grin. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive without my sweet drink.” She sighed dramatically, holding up the cup. “I’ll miss you.”
Cyrus coughed abruptly, his cheeks flushing with unexpected heat. His mind momentarily raced—was she talking about him?
Sophia’s eyes twinkled with amusement as she watched his reaction, and she burst into a giggle. “I was talking to the drink.”
Cyrus exhaled, trying to calm his suddenly racing thoughts as she continued to laugh softly, unaware of how much her words had affected him.
---
Later that day, Cyrus walked through the school hallways alone, his footsteps echoing softly against the tiled floors. That was how it had always been—just him, by himself. He liked it that way, preferred it even. People only ever seemed to want him for shallow reasons—his looks, his brains—but never because they genuinely wanted to know him. So he kept his distance, content with being on his own.
Or at least, he used to be.
Lately, no matter how hard he tried, his mind kept drifting back to one person: Sophia. The ever-cheerful girl with sparkling brown eyes and a smile that could warm up the coldest room. No matter how much he tried to focus on anything else, she always managed to sneak her way into his thoughts.
I wonder what class Sophia’s heading to right now, he thought absently as he approached his locker. His lips twitched into a barely-there smile as he pictured her struggling through math class. She’s probably lost already; she hates that class.
As he opened his locker, a realization struck him: he had been thinking about her—again. It wasn’t the first time. Over the past few weeks, thoughts of her seemed to invade his mind more and more frequently, and it was becoming impossible to ignore.
Stop it, Cyrus, he scolded himself, mentally shaking the thoughts away. She doesn’t matter.
But just as he tried to push her from his mind, he heard it—Sophia’s familiar, lighthearted giggle. The sound reached him from down the hall, lifting his head in reflex.
Speak of the devil.
There she was, walking with Leo by her side, her laughter floating through the air as if she had no care in the world.
“Stop worrying about me so much, Leo,” Sophia was saying, her tone playful but firm.
“How can I not worry?” Leo retorted, his voice thick with concern. “You work yourself too hard every morning. What’s so important about that park that you feel the need to clean it every day?”
Sophia sighed, clearly used to his questions by now. She didn’t bother explaining, knowing Leo wouldn’t fully understand even if she did. Instead, she flashed him one of her trademark grins and closed her locker with a soft thud. “It’s good for the environment,” she said simply, as if that explanation was enough.
Cyrus watched as they walked away, his eyes lingering on Sophia as Leo draped a lazy arm over her shoulder. Something unfamiliar stirred in his chest—jealousy, perhaps? He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be that close to her, to share that kind of ease and closeness.
What would it be like to laugh with her like Leo did? To hold her in that casual, familiar way?
Cyrus groaned inwardly, resting his forehead against the cool metal of his locker door. His thoughts were getting away from him again, drifting into dangerous territory. These thoughts were his worst enemy—they made him hope.
And hope? Hope was a cruel, unrelenting thing.
Hope meant wanting something he couldn’t have. It meant letting his guard down, allowing himself to imagine a life where Sophia cared about him the way he secretly cared about her. But he knew that wasn’t possible.
Hope only led to heartache in the end.
And Cyrus couldn’t afford to feel heartache—not over her.