A Nightmare in Red

Chapter 3

My morning hangover was no joke, but I had to get up, go back to my loft, and continue writing the piece about the best articles of clothing to transition from day wear to date wear. I couldn't stop thinking about Travis, but I had shit to do and I needed to get a grip. Breakfast first, though, before I die from this hangover, so I checked out of the hotel and took a cab to Coffee Waves, my favorite coffee shop, for a bagel and a large mocha.

Coffee Waves was a small coffee shop where businesspeople come for meetings or just to relax. It had floor to ceiling shelves that were adorned with pottery and artwork done by the locals, all of them ranging in different colors to brighten up the mood of the space. The large picturesque windows offered a view of all the passersby, rushing to hail cabs to get to their next destination. I loved living in New York because there was always something going on and Coffee Waves offered front row seats into the action.

I placed my order and went to sit at my favorite spot by the window, a booth with turquoise velvet retro seats and the brown butcher block table. It was an odd combination, yet I felt most comfortable here.

Time to check Twitter to see what kind of bullshit was ready to greet me on my newsfeed. That's when I saw it. Angelica. The woman who was competing against me for the editor-in-chief spot was posting tweets about the hottest new beauty trends and the number of retweets and likes was unbelievable! I was so sick of her posting about her wonderful life, and her wonderful love life, yada yada. How is she even my competition for the editor in chief position? She kisses ass and

gets it from every guy she meets. Aside from her loose behavior, unfortunately, she also has the best ideas for tweets. Damn it!

I really need to get my shit together and drum out better content. It was on! I was so caught up in my Twitter feed, that I didn't hear Melissa, my favorite barista, who knows how to toast my bagel just right and adds the perfect amount of strawberry cream cheese, call my name. She said it a bit louder, and I walked up quickly to get my bagel and coffee, but I didn't see that someone was approaching in the same direction and I bumped into him. Hard.