The Magic Of Winter

Coffee Houses and Love

Maeve Landon hated a lot of things, but on her top 3, it would have to be 1. winter 2. avocados 3. the holidays. All of which are made worse when you're alone, during winter, Christmas approaching, and your best friend is making you try avocado toast.

"You know I hate avocado, Ellie" you say pushing away the plate she's placed in front of you. You're sitting in a bar stool in your best friend Olivia's cafe, and she's trying to make you taste her new products. "Come on Maeve!" She says with enthusiasm, pushing the plate back towards you, "Just one bite! For me?" She says the last part making puppy eyes, which she knows you can never resist. You sigh and look down at the avocado toast with egg and some weird seasoning. "Alright" and you grab up the food reluctantly, sniffing it before putting it in your mouth tentatively. Ellie squeals as you chew the piece, an inpatient smile on her face. You swallow the food and put down the rest. It wasn't bad... You still hated avocado, but the other flavours helped with this. You tell this to Olivia and she looks pleased by your reaction "So should I add it to the menu?" You shrug slightly "Go for it" at that moment the door opens behind you and a cold gust of air hits your back, making you shiver. "Dylan!" Ellie exclaims in front of you, running around the counter and into her boyfriend's arms. You turn around to face them but look instead at the clock on the wall, not wanting to focus on the couple infront of you. "I better go" you say getting up and reaching for your purse on the chair next to you "My shift starts in 20 minutes" Ellie and Dylan smile at you as you wave at them "Don't forget about tomorrow!", leaving the warm cafe out into the cold.

Tomorrow was Ellie's annual Christmas party, which you were not looking forward to, especially since she was sure Dylan would propose to her this year.

You worked at a Barnes and Noble down the street, infact you had been working there since your Freshman year of college. Which was 4 years ago. You were now a dropout, with only a part-time job, a crappy apartment you could barely afford, and single. You didn't want to drop out... But after your father died, you didn't have the money or energy to continue with your schooling. Which really messed up your plans, but what could you do? You couldn't be in debt for the rest of your life.

You enter the store and are immediately greeted with the warmness you always loved from this place. You took off your gloves and stepped towards the checkout desk where your manager was standing, "Good morning Howard" he turned towards you, he was wearing one of the mandatory Santa hats as well as an ugly Christmas sweater for the competition we were holding, he also had a sour look on his face "You're late" you look at the clock on your phone, and sure enough, it was 9:02. "Only by 2 minutes" you shrug, but Howard always makes a big deal about being on time, and he just grimaces in return. "I brought you coffee!" You say trying to brighten his mood. He looks at the cup you're holding out for a moment before grabbing it "Go clock in Maeve" you nod at him and give a smile before heading into the back room.

You set your purse and jacket in your locker, revealing the plain forrest green sweater you're wearing underneath. Everyone around you in the break room was wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters for the competition, but you couldn't bother buying or making one. Ever since your dad died you've only really had Ellie around you during the holidays, and even then since she met Dylan 2 years ago that hasn't been going too well either. And so you aren't too big of a fan of Christmas, or any holiday for that matter. Instead you'd rather pretend it didn't exist and just wait it out.

You grab your Santa hat and go back into the main shop. You head over to your normal station where you stock books and help any customers who ask. You're putting up romance books when you feel a tap on your shoulder. When you turn around there's a man standing there. The first thing you realize about him is that he's not unattractive, like most of the men around here. Instead he's actually really cute, with a head of brown hair, just sticking out of a dark blue stocking cap which brings out his stunning blue eyes, and a sharp jaw. "Excuse me" he says waving his hand and you snap out of it "Oh! Yes sorry, do you need something?" "Could you tell me where to find this book?" And he holds up his phone where Percy Jackson is displayed through an Amazon ad "Oh, sure" you say smiling slightly as you lead the boy through aisles and to the Mythology section "Here you go" you say pointing to the books "Do you need anything else?" "Thank you!" The boy says, grabbing the book up and looking at the back where the price is located "My cousin has been wanting this book for a while," he says smiling up at you "I've been trying to find it everywhere" you smile back at him, looking in those beautiful eyes. Surprisingly he looks back at you his smile faltering slightly, but only for a moment before he breaks the locked gaze by looking down "Thank you, again" he days slapping the book against his hand "I think this is all I need" and he looks back up at you again before walking away.

You stand there for a moment, stunned before Howard comes over and tells you to get back to work.

You sit the rest of the day stocking shelves, only getting your lousy 30 minute lunch break in between the 8 hour shift, where you eat alone in the bistro next door. Finally at the end of the day you're in the break room taking off your hat and grabbing up your other belongings, ready to take the long walk back to your apartment in the cold. That of course is when you realize you left your card to clock out back at the table in the back of the store. You sigh and walk back to the table.

When you get there your card is nowhere to be seen, and you end up spending 20 minutes trying to find it, when it finally appears under a book. You grab it up with a groan, but before you set the book back down you see something else under there. You grab out the dark blue fabric and look at it for only a moment before realizing what it was. The stocking cap with a pom pom on the end, the same one that boy had been wearing earlier... You smile to yourself, wondering how it got there. You feel the soft fabric through your fingers. Your finger swipes over something rough on the inner flap of the hat and you turn it over, looking closely at the embroidered name 'Oliver Kole' "So this is your name..." You say quietly to yourself, a smirk on your face. You're stunned out of your trance once again dropping the hat, but this time by another employee "Are you done here or...?" You look up at the girl before you and say a quick sorry and grab the hat on the table.

When you head out the door and into the cold evening you can't help but smile as it starts to snow around you, you're still holding the blue cap in your hands as you walk back to your apartment.