Chapter Text
It had been two weeks of you texting "MapleMatthew."
The morning sun hits your face as you shift out of the covers, sure its the weekend but you just can't resist! Matthew has been sending you nonstop of these gorgeous photos of birds and views. He knows you love the hills and waterfalls and has been teasing you nonstop about them!
Its 07:00 as you start heading out of your apartment, climbing down from the 3rd floor, feeling the rush of walking down the steps as fast you can. You turn onto the second, the first, and then out onto the steps to your car. Pressing the key the car clicks, you open the passenger to shove your bag onto the seat, looping back to open the driver side door. Since your car is a bit of a dinosaur you have to work the old key fob mechanism. Shoving the key into the lock and twisting it against the handle.
Crap, wait its the other way.
You never understood that, why would a lock "unlock" when the key goes toward it? Its the opposite of any door [and logic] for that matter. Despite having the car for a few months you'll always forget that.
Swinging the door open and throwing yourself into the hot box of the car you drive off into the morning sun, according to your phone maps you have to drive in the direction of the city and then take the highway from there. This country is so damn big the gas should be free to compensate.
As you head down the road further, you spot that cafe again.
It wouldn't hurt to grab another coffee, maybe see that nice barista and tip him…
Yeah it wouldn't hurt to take a small pit stop, grab some breakfast and all. As you convinced yourself you pushed the signal down and headed into the empty 15 minute street parking in front of the building. Heading out your car and going inside.
You open and let the familiar AC hit your face, there's not many people here, well its not even 07:30 on a Saturday, oh there is a person!
An man with thick eyebrows sits in the corner reading a small novel, he's sitting with a small green satchel next to him, in front of him is a small cup, seeming to be coffee, or tea? The man looks familiar but you can't place why.
"Oh hey what's up dude!" Your thoughts were quickly interrupted by that familiar American accent, you turn your head to the kind barista from 2 weeks ago, holding a coffee pot in hand.
"Wanna order anything!" He smiles at you.
Caught off guard, you head up to the counter, skimming the menu in front of you, you didn't want to get coffee because you're about to hike, so maybe a fruity drink and a snack maybe-
"Oh hey I remember you!" Looking up at him, he's now directly behind the counter looking right at you.
"You're the pretty one that was in a rush two weeks ago!"
Your face grows hot, the 'pretty one!?'
"Hey stop interrupting them and actually take their order you bloke!" The thick eyebrow man shouted through a thick accent. He looked visible annoyed and rolled his eyes looking at the American.
That's why you recognized him! That thick British accent isn't something you see around often.
"Im going to! It's called having a conversation dude!" The barista snapped back.
"Do you're god damn job!" His book now on his lap.
"Maybe I wont give you anymore free refills old man!?"
The man in the corner gets up, shoving his book down in his seat, speeding over and entering behind the counter, rushing to the American and pinching his ear.
"You brat I swear Ill give you a taste of what for?!"
"At least its not those stupid pastries again, they tasted so stale!"
"How dare you those scones were a recipe passed down from my mummsie!?"
You stood there very silently, to your suspicions were confirmed that they know each other, you feel kind of awkward as their fighting quickly stopped when you noticed that you were staring.
They look at you, they look back at each other, then they shove each other brushing each other off.
"Sorry," The American spoke up, "That was kind of childish and lame of me." He put his arm around his neck and looked at the floor a little flustered.
"Hey no fair-" Making ye contact with you and then quickly shutting himself up. Looking to the American, and rolling his eyes, mumbling, "forget it" grumbling his way back to his seat, opening up the book in a smooth motion and continuing to sip on his tea.
You and the barista look at the man, and look at each other at the same time.
He cracked a smile, kind of making yourself hold your laugh back from under your breath.
He chuckles holding his hand over his mouth snickering, "Sorry! Sorry, the old man and I do that often." You can see out of the corner of your eyes that the man shoves the book covering his face.
You smile, you don't get it, but they definitely are close.
"Soooooooo," The barista taps his fingers emphasizing his words, "What can I get cha today!"
"I'll have a small lemonade."
"Alright!" He started to hum, not being able to hide the smile on his face, "That'll be 2 bucks!" He turned the paypad in front of you and launched himself to grab a yellow carton and a blender."
You walk over to the cute "Pick your Pick Me Up Here!" sign and look back at as he pours the liquid in, "You mean twoonies right?"
"What was that?" He looks at you for a second before looking his eyes back to the blender, filling the line exactly to where he needs with the yellow liquid in the carton.
"You said two bucks, you mean twoonies right?" You tilt your head looking around at the empty cafe.
"Dude," the man said looking at you with a smug but enthusiast face. "If the accent didn't tell you anything, Im not calling them that." He smiles as he sets the blender down. I mean it made sense so-
"You want any flavors?"
"Flavors?" Him interrupting the flow of your thoughts is part of a routine now.
"Yeah! There's strawberry, dragon fruit, peach, pineapple, uhhh, yeah all those! Take your pick!
VOTE HERE: https://www.tumblr.com/n00tuz/822052622501642240/voting-for-ur-fav-lemonade-combo
"Huh fair enough!" He whips around dropping in the flavored sugar syrup and in motion placing it and clicking the blender on.
You didn't even notice until the dished clanked together, the British man was right next to you. His satchel now on shoulder as he clears his throat,
"I apologize for mine and Alfred's behavior, it was very immature of us." He glared over your shoulder, presumably to make sure that the barista, Alfred, wasn't listening.
"You should swing by here more often," He continues on, he face stoic, "Alfred seems to like when you come in."
You thought of it-
"And here's your lemonade!" Alfred placed the drink on the counter next to you, interrupting the flow of your thoughts once more.
"I'll see you later Alfred, I'm going to head out."
"Bye Arthur! See ya around dude!" Alfred cheerfully waved him off as the door closed.
He looked like he wanted to say more but he turned his attention towards you, cocking up a finger gun, "Come on tell me how it tastes!" Leaning onto the counter and looking up at you with a shine in his eye!
You slowly pick the drink up, the cold plastic container already starting the build up condensation. Pressing to your lips and taking a small sip out of the tiny hole. The slight sour lemon taste hits your tongue before your greeted with the sugary flavor, its exactly as sweet and flavorful as you wanted!
"This tastes great! Thank you so much!"
He chuckles and pushed himself off the counter into a standing position, "Of course its great, I made it!"
The oven beeped behind him, "Wait one sec!" He looked like he put something in there, he body blocking the view as he got tongs to put whatever food in the bag, whipping it around and handing it to you.
"Our daily muffin!" He smiled and winked, "On the house!"
Your face goes hot again, first the sauce packets and now the free muffin, man this guy was the definition of "A way to the heart is through the stomach." You feel your stomach grumble, and he smirks when you realize it.
"Just in the nick of time!" He tries not to giggle, "Im a hero like no other!"
You smile, taking the bag, "Thanks Alfred!" as you start heading for the door.
You exit the cool store air, you thought you heard him say goodbye but he didn't seem to respond? Is he okay calling him his first name? I mean the Alfred guy was okay with it too, but they know each other? You'll find out next time, you shrug as you head to the car and settle in again, it may have been 10 minutes over there but its an old hot box again.
Shoving your lemonade into the cup holder next to your still cold water bottle, you shove the keys in and start it up, rolling the windows down you pull away and start on the road once more.
You snap another photo
The trail is steeper than you like but you can handle it, texting it to Matthew
You smile and put your phone back in your pocket, looking out from the next trees to the steep downhill. Jesus, you really should be careful.
Trudging further uphill, the shine of the trees pouring in as the leaves dance in the wind. The sound of birds chatter among the hidden sky, the rustle of bushes rattle below. Your headphones play your usual playlist as you continue on lugging your small backpack, you pack light:
Your water bottle, some snacks, your wallet, sunglasses, sunscreen, deodorant, and all the usual stuff you need to survive. [or ya know just make it through your hike]
As you wander up and through the trail you brush off leaves as you reach the steep point of the hill. You look up the bird calls increased, up on a small tree was a raven, what caught your eye was the bright red and green maple leaf in its beak.
I know Matthew said to get off the phone and enjoy the view…but he loves birds right? Your pretty sure he loves maple trees even more.
You whip out your phone and- it was too late, the bird started flying away! Darn it, well you can at least text MapleMatthew about this funny occasion. You swipe to your Instagram DMs and click on Matthews name, although on cue it looks like he sent a text first.
MapleMatthew: Hey look!
[sends photo of the exact bird]
MapleMatthew: Its a cute raven right! Cant believe it has that red of a leaf, its not even autumn yet!
Wait a minute, no way that was a different bird? Could it be?…
You: Hey Matthew?
MapleMatthew: yeah what's up?
You: What forest are you hiking in?
MapleMatthew: the ____!
You: no way.
MapleMatthew: what's up!
MapleMatthew: What happened?
You: Im also here!
MapleMatthew: in the forest preserve?!
You: yeah what section are you in!
MapleMatthew:Wait how do you know!
You:I just saw that same raven, with that exact same leaf! I just tried getting a photo of it!
MapleMatthew: huh really! What trail are you on?
You: Oh im on the Y trail! U?
MapleMatthew: Same!?
You: Omg thats so insane!
MapleMatthew: wanna meet up?
Your face heats up and all of a sudden a pump of adrenaline surges thought you finally meeting the sweet man behind the messages, you don't know what he looks like though…hmmm.
MapleMatthew: There's this bench at the near end of the trail, we can meet up there and hike down together!
MapleMatthew: It'll be better because id rather you not be on the steep parts of the trail alone
MapleMatthew: Caring about your safety of course!
You: Hey Mathew?
MapleMatthew: What's up?
You: What do you look like so I know what to look out for?
MapleMatthew: Oh! um… I don't have any photos of me on my phone
MapleMatthew: and my front camera is broken
Odd. That's pretty suspicious right? I mean at least a guy has to have some selfies on his phone, maybe a mirror pic? I mean anything identifiable. Right?
MapleMatthew: I have blond hair and I have a small polar bear keychain on my belt if that helps!
…
He's been nothing but sweet to you, but precautions alone, hell even common sense would have you say no to the guy. Wait.
You: okay! meet at the bench!!!
MapleMatthew: Awesome!
Dropping the bag down, some dust scatters around the dry part of the trail. You rummage through the small front pocket of your bag and pulled out a small container of pepper spray, hooking it in the small pocket of your pants. Easily assessable, and the trail goes two ways so there's some exits. There's not much people though, its 9 in the morning on a steep hot trail.
Despite your fears your kind of excited, he's such a sweet guy over text, honestly little confident too. He says he loved hockey and ice skating, making pancakes and recently got into making his own syrup…
You go red at the slight thought.
Is it wrong of you to automatically think he has good muscles from that or-
"Hey WATCH IT." You come to a halt as a man with sunglasses rudely gets up in your face, despite bumping into you.
"Oh! Sorry?" Your not sure if you want to apologize to a man as rude as he was but honestly its better than escalating the situation immediately.
"Yeah you better be." He whips around and continues down the trail.
What the hell.
You shake it off, its better to just move on than think about a random guy who shoved you on the trail. Maybe he was just irritated from the heat? Yeah that's a valid reason…
After a few minutes you finally find the bench Matthew mentioned, the bright yellow "END OF TRAIL Y" sign confirming your thoughts.
You simply walk over and sit down, your legs finally giving out from a break on the hike, reaching into the bag and sipping the cool water and audibly sighing. As the morning hit even further it was hotter than you expected, you were already wearing shorts and a shirt, but man the heat doesn't get beat.
You start sipping the water, letting it sit in your mouth before you swallow, looking around. Matthew isn't here yet.
You grab the muffin from the bag and open it from its little brown bag, a small grease stain had ended up forming towards the side that the muffin was laying, but finally the small sweet treat was yours.
A stick broke.
You look up, your attention away from your muffin up to the forest facing you. Looking around, nothing made it.
It doesn't feel that way though.
You look again around you, putting the muffin down on the bench, pulling out your phone to check the messages.
your/username: Hey Matthew?
your/username: any eta?
MapleMatthew: what r you talkin about ey?
your/username:where r you rn? I forgot to text but in at the bench!
MapleMatthew:oh! Im right in front of you.
Right in front of me?
You look up to your phone to a man just as described.
Blonde hair.
And a polar bear keychain on his belt.