8 Chapter 8

Relaxing on that Wednesday afternoon, all that Tia did was play with her dog and text with both her old friends and new friends.

A text message arrived on Tia's phone.

"Yo. About meeting on Friday, can I suggest meeting in my aunt's cafe? It's called Marie's Gold."

Her eyes lit up.

It was from none other than her very own partner, Theo. A suggestion, huh? She didn't know her way around Orlando yet, so this was fortunate for her.

At the very least, she knew that she had a serious partner and not one who enjoys slacking off on project works.

Was this really why she got excited the moment Theo's message notification arrived? How was she sure it wasn't because of, well, Theo?

Ah, not again, she started thinking of strange, nostalgic things. It had only been a few damn days with him in her life. A few days...right? She recalled perfectly that she had just entered and studied in this school on Monday, where she met her new friends.

Yeah, she wasn't hallucinating, then why were there so many missing pieces her heart wanted to patch up? Such as the uncomfortable yet cozy feeling whenever she was with Theo. A part of her wanted to stay far far away where no one could ever find her, but the other wanted to latch onto her classmate.

These thoughts (and perhaps memories) overwhelmed Tia and big fat tears welled up in her eyes.

Huh? What on Earth was she crying over?

Tia quickly wiped the tears away. They weren't much but they felt warm. She started thinking about how strange it is because even when you're feeling cold, tears are always warm.

Ice cold on the outside, so warm on the inside. Those were Tia's impression on Theo. Somehow, she knew that somewhere deep down in her heart were buried perceptions of the boy.

It pained her sometimes how people would occasionally make fun of how anti-social Theo can be, when they didn't give him a chance to show how nice he could be.

"Oh goodness gracious, Tia. Why do you, out of all people, care?" She softly mumbled to herself.

After successfully putting these messy ideas of hers away and sorting her brain out, Tia felt like time passed by so quickly and suddenly it's Friday.

The day where she needs to meet with a certain male with sharp amber eyes that she would occasionally find herself staring at.

She was used to going home with Reggy and Mia because she would probably get dragged every time the school bell rang, telling all teachers and students that the day was over. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to walk home with them so during lunch, Tia told the other girls that she needed to go with Theo for the pair's project work.

So now she managed to walk beside him to wherever their meeting place might be. The first few minutes of the walk were all so silent, no words exchanged. It made Tia realize that her feet were way smaller than Theo's.

The awkwardness ended after the taller started a conversation, stopping Tia from spacing out any further.

"I never got to really know you, but I guess we'll need to work together. Do you have any ideas, currently? We can try to discuss it now so we at least know what we're starting off with."

Right, that made Tia rack her brain for a base for this project.

"Well, we can always start off with the layout of the base first, like how are we going to design the board?" No matter what situation she was ever in, Tia never failed to think of a good amount of ideas and usually, her decisions are right off the bat.

A decision maker, really. Theo was impressed by how prepared Tia is, not knowing she came up with it on the spot. He just nodded along, happy that they had something properly planned.

Upon arriving in the promised spot, Tia was caught off guard by the immediate reaction of the cafe's owner when her eyes landed on her project partner.

"Oh my goodness, it's the handsome young boy with my brother's genes!" She exclaimed.

Huh, what a description.

The redhead unconsciously let out a small laugh at it.

That embarrassed the living hell out of Theo. Everyone could literally see how red the boy was, even Tia, who was literally behind him, could see his ears being redder than any skin tone she had ever seen.

As the ruckus stopped, the two skimmed through the provided menu. Personally, Theo already decided on his drink, as he was a regular in the first place. The nephew of the owner, even.

Tia, on the other hand, took some time looking because she had no knowledge about the cafe whatsoever. A drink caught her eyes.

"I would like-" The two synchronically uttered, their fingers pointing at the exact same drink listed, touching.

Fazed for less than a second, Tia withdrew her hand quickly. Her heartbeat raced, getting faster and faster every second now.

Theo looked at her, "It looks like we have the same taste?" He chuckled.

In a desperate attempt to calm herself, Tia slightly nodded and finally came back to her senses.

"Hope I can trust our tastes, then." She gave a smile, then ordered what they both wanted.

That very event helped the two high schoolers learn a little bit more about each other. It was nice to see that they had something in common.

As expected, Aunt Marie's cafe had a lot of customers. Some were talking with each other, and some were just quiet and doing their own business. It had good vibes.

Knowing the whole layout of the cafe, Theo led Tia to his favorite table which at the time wasn't occupied, thankfully.

Discussions about the project went on all so smoothly as they both easily complied with each other's ideas. It didn't take as long for them to complete the base planning.

It barely took them an hour.

Suddenly, Tia's phone rang.

"Excuse me for a minute, I'll be back as quickly as possible!" She said before picking up the phone and stepping out of the building.