A Stooge's Teacher

Ch. 1 - Meet Cute at the Coffee House

Chapter One – Meet Cute at the Coffee House

With the sound of the bell ringing in her ears and the smell of coffee tickling her nose, all the stress from that morning washed away and she felt her body relax. She made her way through the moderately crowded café and arrived at the counter where the barista smiled at her warmly. "Your usual?" He asked. "Please. And make it the largest cup you've got." She grinned, holding out her credit card. Her order came through quickly and she dropped a bill into the tip jar. From there she scanned her surroundings and tried to find an open seat: where she sat always depended on what she wanted to do. Today she needed a space to set out her laptop, and the bar-like tables along the windows facing the street promised the right volume of white noise. Once seated she got out her computer and booted it up. While she waited, she breathed in the delicious aroma of her hot beverage and chuckled – as per usual – at the fact that she came to a coffee shop and drank tea or hot white chocolate. In her teens, her aunt had kept a close watch on their sugar intake, and these days the older woman kept berating Rachel that she could also go right ahead and get an infusion of sugar water instead of drinking artificial drinks. It had taken her a long time to rid herself of her aunt's voice in her head. Now, Rachel chuckled at her aunt's comments. She loved her and was grateful that she had stepped up when the trauma of losing their mother took its toll on Rachel and her older brothers. Her dad, Raymond, had tried his best to manage the family when Michelle died but grief had made it an impossible task for him to tackle on his own. That's when his sister Karen came through. She had been a mother to Rachel in more ways than one.

The notification ping of her laptop got Rachel back to the present and she now focused on the tasks at hand: savoring the delicious hot white chocolate – which wasn't made with powder, but a high-quality white chocolate stick as she had told her aunt indignantly on many occasions – and answering emails and planning for the week ahead. It was Shopping Week at school, and her Juniors would either participate in college classes at Southern Connecticut State and Yale or intern at local businesses. She loved the concept of Shopping Week, but it meant a lot of organization and preparation. It had been a long road to get this implemented, but now she and the team were proud to be running it for the third consecutive year. 

It was hard to believe that she had started teaching at Chilton almost five years ago. Rachel smiled at the memory: She had just been 27 when she received her contract from Headmaster Charleston in August 2013. Since then she devoted her life to her students. She loved every minute and most of all aspects of being a teacher, though she would happily skip the parent-teacher meetings. Despite having been raised in high society circles in Montréal and Boston, Rachel found that Hartford-society parents were tough nuts to crack. It was their blatant, superficial interest in appearance and family traditions of where their kids would go to college that made Rachel work even harder for her students to realize that they were their own persons. She credited her dad with her intolerance for intolerance: He had always encouraged his kids to follow their dreams and find what made them happy. Raymond Hollister hadn't even been mad or upset when Rachel had chosen Boston University over Harvard. She had been head-over-heels in love with her high school boyfriend and couldn't be reasoned with. As was very much predictable, however, Tim had soon realized that his feelings for Rachel hadn't been as strong as his wish of "learning to fly" – a very colorful expression Rachel still remembered from the talk. And suddenly Harvard was back in the picture. Luckily, her dad was a well-known Boston businessman and Ivy League alumnus, so the transfer was arranged without much hassle. Even though he loved his daughter greatly, Raymond had a heart-to-heart with her about basing important decisions on anybody else but her own aspirations and dreams.

Rachel didn't pay much attention to her surroundings and let her mind wander while she typed out an email and ticked off another to-do. She didn't notice that a man had sat down next to her and was glancing her way ever so often while sipping on his coffee. He was intrigued by how focused the young woman was albeit the chaos that had ensued just moments ago: An older woman had made a point of jumping the line and ignoring the angry outcries of the other waiting customers. A huge argument had erupted but the brunette didn't seem to notice any of it. He watched her put her laptop in her bag and drain her cup while he was leading his own to his mouth. At that moment Rachel stood up trying to jump off her stool gracefully. She lost balance and fell forward butting shoulders with Colin whose coffee then spilled all over his dress shirt. He cried out in shock rather than pain while Rachel turned red and started apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry, sir. This is so typical of me. I was thinking about what to do back at work and didn't see you when I got up. I'm really ever so sorry, sir!" Colin smiled. Her rambling made her even more interesting. "Oh, please don't worry about it! This happens to me many more times than I'd care to admit really – I mean, the spilling coffee part, not the bumping into a beautiful woman part." He smiled again, and even more when he saw her turn red once again. "It really isn't a big deal. I keep two or three shirts at the office for exactly these kinds of emergencies." Now Rachel smiled too. His features and the small dents around his mouth when it formed into a smile made her weak in the knees. "Thank you so much, sir! I am such a klutz. Can I get you a new coffee? I was just heading to the counter. It's the least I can do." Colin shook his head. "No, that won't do. My nanny wouldn't forgive me if she were to learn I let a woman buy me coffee. This is my treat." Rachel interrupted him. "Oh, please. No. I was-" Colin held up a hand and smiled. "You won't win this argument with me. So please, tell me what you'd like, and I'll be right back." She hesitated. She had meant to get a muffin but wasn't comfortable asking for one, and also didn't want to be rude since he was so insistent. "Fine. I give." She conceded. "I'll have their homemade lemon iced tea, please." Colin nodded and moved away towards the counter. Meanwhile, Rachel got out some tissues and cleaned off the remains of the man's coffee that were spilled on the table and the floor below. When Colin returned, she was smiling and he couldn't help but smile, too. He was carrying a tray and she saw he'd gotten himself a muffin and a brownie. The look of, well, jealousy on her face didn't go unnoticed and he grinned. "I thought maybe you'd like a snack, so I got a blueberry muffin and a brownie. If you're comfortable with it, I would share." His eyes gleamed when he sensed her stunned reaction. "Well, usually I don't share my food, especially not with nameless strangers but since you're offering so nicely, I don't think I can refuse." Colin had sat down while she spoke. "Sorry – again my nanny would be so angry with me if she knew of my behavior. I'm Colin McCrea." Colin. Colin McCrea. That sure rolled off her tongue nicely... She shook herself and replied. "It's nice to meet you, Colin. My name is Rachel Hollister. And, don't worry, I won't rat you out to your nanny!" "Aw, thank you, Rachel. That's so kind." Colin said, his voice dripping with irony. "Though why should I trust you? I don't know anything about you." He took the knife he'd brought and cut the baked goods in half. He moved the plate between them while Rachel replied: "Well far be it from me to not be trustworthy. What would you like to know?" Picking up one of the forks, she started on her part of the brownie. "Let's see. – Hm. I think I'd like to know what you were doing on your laptop before. You were so immersed in whatever it was." He grabbed the second fork and went for the muffin. "Oh. Well, I was answering emails and checking off a few other items on my to-do list. I'm heading into a busy week at work and I usually use my lunch break or a free period for a change of scenery. I get loads done that way." Rachel sipped on her iced tea and went on. "What brought you here?" "I had a meeting around the corner which left me yearning for coffee and some time to clear my head before my court appointment this afternoon. A friend told me so much about this coffee shop that I took advantage of being in the vicinity and check it out. Never would I have hoped, however, to run into such good company." He just had to go for it. Flirting and bantering came so easily with her. There was no awkwardness and the effect his words seemed to have on her was reward enough for putting himself out there.

Since he and Stephanie had ended their attempt at a relationship before Thanksgiving last year, he hadn't felt like going on any dates but now he was contemplating whether Rachel would give him her number. "Uh, such compliments. Or should I call it overt flattery?" She quipped. "I hope the court issue isn't too serious, if I may say so." Colin laughed a small but hearty laugh. "That's very nice of you to say. And, well it isn't too serious for me, but I hope that it will be for the opposing party." He took a sip of his coffee and continued. "I'm a lawyer, specializing in corporate and tax law. Today the verdict is being announced for a case I've been working on for the last year." Rachel couldn't hide her surprise. In addition to being funny and, yes, easy on the eyes, he was smart and successful, too. "Sounds exciting and boring at the same time." Rachel retorted. "My brother is a lawyer, too, but he works in insurance and medical law. Although I can't see why he would be excited about his cases, whenever he talks about one, his eyes just light up. We have the same one-sided argument every time I talk about my students." On mentioning her students, Colin noticed that her smile grew wider and the expression of her eyes got a little softer. "So, I gather you're a teacher?" He concluded. She nodded. "Yes, I am a high school teacher. I work at Chilton Prep." Colin's attention peaked. "Chilton? That's one of my best friends' alma mater. She sings such praises about that school, though I guess things would be vastly different there now from when she was a student. I think she graduated in 2003." "Well, yes, I think things have changed quite a bit in the education sector since then." Rachel smiled at the thought of Headmaster Charleston's first reaction to her proposal for shopping week back in the day. Then she suddenly jolted her head and looked at her watch. "Man, I completely lost track of time. I am going to have to head back to school. Afternoon classes are starting in twenty minutes and I still need to copy a few handouts." Colin considered the woman in front of him for a second, trying to gauge how she would react if he asked her for her number. To his surprise, after some initial confusion, she answered his request by simply writing her number and name on one of the spare napkins. "Thanks for the snack." And with a wave and a beaming smile on her face, Rachel rushed out of the coffee shop.