Cophee

It was a cold day. Snow had just fallen on the ground the night before, coating the streets with a white cloak of frigid powder. Cars drove cautiously as they tried to get to work without stalling their car or getting it stuck in the snow. People, like me, were scrambling as fast as they could into the nearest shops just as a new wave of snow began to fall from the sky. Everything was quiet and peaceful as the red rays of the sun reflected upon the new layers of white that were just starting to coat the tips and tops of all the skyscrapers and small shops.

Little did I know that my life was going to change that day. I met the one girl that I never imagined to be out there. I guess the reason I never thought she was out there was because I never looked for her. I never really cared much for anything life altering. All I was trying to do was get though each day one at a time. Life was already stressful enough. I was in my senior year of college, art major. I had this huge project due in a week that I hadn’t even started on. To top it off, finals were coming up right after that.

One Tuesday morning, I decided to take a walk. I needed something to clear my mind, and walking seemed the most sensible. It was going great too, I woke up at six that morning just so I could give myself more time to get dressed for the bitter cold I knew I was about to go out into. My roommates didn’t even question me, they were equally as stressed as I was. One of them didn’t even go to bed last night because of how late he was up working on his own stuff. My other roommate didn't come home last night, I assume he fell asleep at the library or something. I gave up on all my work and just went to bed last night. I spent my entire weekend trying to think of how to approach my project that I mentally couldn’t even bring myself to work on that night. 

I probably spent an hour walking around New York before the snow began to fall. At first, it was just a light flurry but as it began to pick up I knew I had to get inside somewhere before I possibly froze. What a bummer on my walk, right?

I pulled my jacket around me tighter and pulled my beanie down lower onto my head. I spent five minutes walking until I found a quaint little coffee shop at the corner of a brightly lit street. It was around mid December and Christmas lights were strung everywhere, giving this shop a more festive feel. I gave myself one glance at the sign before I hurried inside. The place was named “Cophee Shop”. I rolled my eyes at how cliche of a title that was and prepared myself for the type of people I would find inside. 

As I walked, the scent of cocoa filled my senses while the sound of coffee grinding reached my ears. I took a second to take in the marvelous scent before I began to look around. The place wasn’t too packed except for a few couples and some individuals sitting alone, typing away on their computers or quietly reading a book as they gently sipped the hot coffee that was sitting on the table in front of them.

That’s when I noticed her. She was sitting at a table on my left near the window of the shop. She had long brown hair which she had tucked under a dark grey hat. Her eyes were a subtle green. I watched her eyes flicker across the page of the book in front of her. She was so absorbed in what she was reading, it was almost as if she was the only one in the shop. To her, that could have been how it felt. A few of the people in the shop looked up from what they were doing to look at me as the door behind me shut the cold out, but she never once strayed away from her reading. She read like nothing could ever disturb her. 

“Excuse me, sir. Sir. Sir. Sir!” I looked up at the barista at the counter staring at me.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked her with the most dumbfounded look on my face. I had been so absorbed with that girl, that I forgot where I was and I didn’t even hear the barista talking to me.

“Are you ready to order?” She asked me with a smile laced with annoyance.

“Oh! Yeah, I’m so sorry.” I hurriedly apologized, “Just give me anything and make it quick.” 

She took a second to stare at me before responding, “Okay…” I paid and went to sit on one of their benches that was reserved for waiting. 

While waiting for my coffee, I examined that girl some more. What could her name be? For some reason, I was driven with the urge to find out. I just wanted to find out everything I could ever possibly know about that girl. I wanted to know her dislikes, her likes, her fears, her obsessions. I wanted to know this girl more than I knew myself, but most of all I wanted to know what she was reading.

“Sir, your coffee is done.” I looked up to see the same barista standing in front of me with a look of annoyance on her face.

“Thank you.” I said as I clumsily grabbed it from her hand and started moving towards the girl. I heard the barista scoff as she turned around and went back behind the counter.

Those few steps I took towards that girl felt like the longest moments of my life. In those few steps, a million thoughts flooded my head. How would I talk to her? What would I talk about? How would I go about asking her if I could sit down? What kind of coffee do I have?

I looked down into my cup before taking a scalding sip; something with chocolate in it. I hate chocolate. I brought my cup back down and started walking towards the girl again. Her eyes began to look up as I neared her table when, suddenly, my coffee went flying. 

I heard her gasp as the I stood stock still in embarrassment, “Watch where you're going man!” a middle aged man yelled at me and then proceeded to open the door and leave the shop welcoming a gust of cold air into the shop.

The barista from earlier came up to me with a mop, finally not masking her annoyance with me, “Just leave it, I’ll take care of it.” She said as she grabbed the empty cup from me and practically pushed me out of the way. I looked up as I stood back up from my attempt at cleaning the coffee and the girl was back to her reading again, almost as if nothing had just happened. 

I gathered up my confidence and continued walking towards her. When I finally got to her table, any courage I had had disappeared in that instant. I found myself staring at her in an almost deer in the headlights type of way. I had no idea what to say! At first, she didn't even notice me standing there, but when she finally did; she looked up at me. She gave me a couple of seconds before she set her book down. 

She gave me a questioning look just as I blurted out, “Can I sit here?” I covered my mouth with just one glance at her startled expression, “I’m sorry, may I sit here?” I corrected myself.

“Yeah, of course!” She said as she moved her stuff from the other side of the table. She looked up at me as she waited for me to sit down. I still had the same shocked look on my face as I stared down at her. Why was I not sitting down?! She told me I could, so why was I hesitating? I tried to will myself to sit down, but I couldn’t get my legs to even move. She noticed how nervous I was, so she spoke up; “My name is Amelia.” She said with a smile on her face.

I smiled as I began to finally sit down, “I’m Derrek.”