Wilmington
The sky was cloudy, and the dry air had a certain crispness to it you had undeniably missed since this time last year.
It was the type of crisp reminiscent of the first bite into a cold apple.
It was November in Wilmington, North Carolina. The charming little town that you had moved to for college some odd years ago. Autumn had been quickly approaching, and the leaves had already begun to change color.
You loved the seasons changing, the wind getting caught in your hair and the pleasantly brisk change in the weather. You could finally pull your coat and scarf out of the back of your closet and wear a pair of jeans without sweltering.
Walking through the streets of downtown, the closest coffee shop was still three blocks down and you were already running late. But the thought of having to endure your internship with no coffee made you wince.
You knew you'd be running around all day doing insane errands and trying to please everyone. It was hard enough to tolerate their nitpicking and extremely detailed requests with caffeine, and you certainly could not handle it without your daily pick me up.
You opened your purse to grab your phone and were bombarded with three missed calls from work. Completely distracted by your impending doom, you failed to pay attention to the uneven sidewalk.
Of course, you fell.
The contents of your purse were spilled all over the concrete and the wind started to carry your papers away.
The ones you were supposed to file as soon as you got in to work for the day.
"No, no!" you whined, pulling yourself off the ground and trying to catch them before they were halfway across town.
A man with his hands in his pockets walked calmly into the road and grabbed the papers from midair as they floated across the street.
All twenty of your papers to be precise.
Unbelievably grateful, you were too relieved to notice the miraculous nature of this occurrence. He finished walking across the road and came up to you after you had gathered the rest of your things.
"I believe these are yours?" he asked softly with the hint of an accent.
Getting an up-close look at him, you cleared your throat nervously when realizing how attractive he was.
"I can't believe how clumsy I am sometimes!" you laughed awkwardly. "Thank you so much for catching these."
You grabbed the papers from him, and his fingertips brushed yours just slightly, making you blush considerably.
"Just watch where you walk next time," he replied with a smile resting on his lips.
You nodded your head with another dry chuckle, and regained clarity as to the job you had fifteen minutes to make it to. After thanking him again politely, you had a sigh of relief that your boss wouldn't have your ass for losing them and started walking again.
You put your papers back into your bag safely and brushed yourself off. The wind blew harder this time and you grasped onto your coat, pulling it tighter around you with a shiver. Thinking practically that buttoning it would likely keep you warmer, you fiddled with the buttons on your coat for an embarrassing amount of time before giving up. Your stupid fingers just couldn't get the little buttons through the slits.
Oh, to have nimble fingers...
You were too frustrated and just let it go, annoyingly pulling the coat tighter around you again. Assuming that the man had left long ago by this point, you were hoping no one had seen that embarrassing attempt to button your coat. But when you turned your head back around, out of the corner of your eye, you could see that he was still there.
Back against a tree and hands in his leather jacket, he smirked at you once you made eye contact, and you cringed once you realized he had watched you making a fool of yourself the entire time.
Only you would make such an idiot out of yourself with an attractive guy a few feet away.
But the man was so intriguing. He had such a quiet draw to him, and his energy was so welcoming. You couldn't help but be lured in, perhaps even feeling invited to spark up a conversation.
"Spying on me?" you joked. Even from a few feet away, his blue eyes were incredibly piercing.
"I thought you would've given up at least a minute into it, but wow you were determined to make it work," he said almost mocking you. "It was hilarious really, I truly envy the kind of determination you have."
His accent was very noticeable this time and you tried to hide how even more attracted to him it made you.
The man came off the tree and walked over quite confidently to you, until you were face to face. The height difference was surprisingly staggering, which he used to his advantage.
You noticed that all of his clothes were black, and he wore thick combat boots that complemented his leather jacket quite nicely. You couldn't help but admire his style, the type of "cool" he exuded so easily. He was incredibly handsome, with an angular face and short black hair.
But why was he still talking to you? He had done the polite thing already, purposeless small talk after helping you, but he was still wanting to talk further.
How peculiar...
The stare he was holding you in was strangely intense, and you found yourself having to break the eye contact and stifle out an awkward laugh. He noticed that you were uncomfortable and swiftly turned on his heel to walk with you to relieve some of the tension.
"So, are you from around here?" he questioned.
"Moved here a few years ago, but I like it here," you responded shyly, continuing the conversation with the handsome man. "What about you?"
"Family is on a little trip. I chose not to join them, and I figured some time away wouldn't hurt."
The more you read into it, the more unclear his responses were. He was weirdly vague, and not really answering your question.
"So, you're just on vacation then?" you asked for him to clarify.
"Hmm. Something like that," he responded after a pause. "So, what were those papers so important for?"
"Oh, I have an internship down at the Hemingway Office a few blocks from here. It's really important that I stay on my boss' good side and-"
"Continue just being their slave?" he interrupted cockily.
Offended, you stopped in your tracks and scoffed. Even if he was right, it was still incredibly distasteful for him to say that to your face. You were shocked that he was being so blunt with you, ignoring any social rule of society. If the encounter couldn't have gotten any weirder, he huffed and stopped with you, crossing his arms and mimicking you being so dramatic.
If you weren't so offended at his brazen nature, you might have actual found his mocking to be cute.
"Look it's really just none of your business. Thanks again for helping me though," you said with a fake smile before walking away from him, immediately irked that he turned out to be a dick.
The last thing you needed was another arrogant, cocky man around who talked over you and acted like he knew everything. It was always the ones who didn't look it, that ended up having a God complex and somehow thought the world revolves around them.
"I don't really think the 'world' revolves around me," he yelled over to you. "That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?"
You turned around slowly, in a sort of shock and confusion as to how he was able to read your thoughts.
'I didn't say that aloud, right? No, I know I didn't! I was only thinking it, I would never say something like that aloud. But it makes no sense, how would he have been able to know that was what I was thinking? It's not possible, no there's no way.'
You weren't even near him; he was still thirty feet back from you.
Isn't this the stuff out of books? Like Twilight?
"Respectfully love, I'm offended you'd compare me to Edward Cullen," he smirked, confirming once again that he was actually in your head. He had already managed to catch up to you again as you stood there completely bewildered.
As weirded out as you should have felt, you were calmed almost immediately once he was by you again and any prior confusion or negative thoughts had vanished entirely.
Now more than ever, were you completely fascinated by him.
"Well, I would like a name to call you, if it's not Edward. What would your name be?" you asked the mysterious man.
"Druig."