Coffee Shop Soundtrack

Chapter Two

I left the shop around 1 and headed to my dorm. Tomorrow was the first day of my classes and I was hoping to use the rest of my day as a "treat yo self" sort of day to prep for the torture that was college. I stopped inside Lush a bought a little bath bomb for myself before continuing my short journey.

Without knowing it I unintentionally glanced inside shop windows or toward the quad, looking for the boy from earlier. I dug my nails into my hands, telling myself I was acting silly. So what if I was caught checking him out? He probably gets it all the time anyway, and this sort of situation was bound to happen at some point in my life.

I was just across the street from my dorm when I saw him. He was walking out the doors with his back pack slung over his shoulder and his eyes on the ground. It felt like my heart dropped right out my butt and was being dragged behind me as I crossed the street, hoping my fly-aways would conceal my face better. Thankfully no verbal or eye contact was made, and I made it to the other side. I walked through the glass doors and took a few steps before turning back to look. He was just stopping and turning his head around when I turned back to the elevator doors. I couldn't get caught by him again, not twice in one day.

When I arrived at my dorm, Elaine was sitting on the end of her bed, still in her pajamas, watching Netflix. Elaine and I had gone to high school together, being best friends since the very beginning. She was a short, curvy girl that had wavy hair that cascaded down the length of her back. On days were she's not at class or interning at one of the schools near by she holes herself in our room to work on her blog and catch up on Teen Wolf and whatever other shows she finds interest in. Also, her side of the room is lined with her old Chinese take out bins and to-go cups, while mine remained bare of much of anything. She had multiple posters of her favorite bands and of her and her brother thumbtacked to the wall while a solitary picture frame of my parents and sisters sat on my cluttered desk.

"Did you bring me my vanilla frap?" was the first thing out of her mouth once I shut the door, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"When do I ever bring you coffee, Elaine? And besides, wasn't today your turn to do the laundry?" I asked while eyeing the Mount Everest of clothes piled between our beds.

"Well I was, but I woke up late, then people started messaging me, then I started a new show online, and then you showed up, so..."

"Oh whatever, I should never expect you to do the laundry on a Sunday."

"Oh, Nora, you know you still love me."

I dropped my bags on the bed and threw all our clothes into a bin and ventured back into the hall. I brushed passed everyone in the now very tight packed building until I found the back entrance of the dorm and walked down to the laundromat,which was the bomb. This place kept your personal detergent under lock and key for you, as well as gave you free washing and drying if you showed your student ID. A generic ding dong signaled my entering, then I handed my ID to the little old lady behind the counter and then waited at a machine for my detergent.

Once the clothes were loaded and the cycle started, I pulled out my headphone and started listening to my Pandora. Songs from Imagine Dragons and Panic! At The Disco filled my ears while my eyes trained themselves on the rotation of water and fabric. I didn't even realize when another person walked in and had sat down a couple seats down from me.

I was taking the wet clothes and out throwing them into the dryer when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I whipped my head around, slightly annoyed, and saw it was him. Holding my sudsy underwear on an outstretched finger. His eyes were trained on the article in his hand while a smirk was plastered on his face.

"I think you dropped something."

I felt my blush run from the top of my head to the bottom my my feet. When I dind't move he raised his eyes to mine, revealing a beautiful set of hazel green eyes that were lined with dark lashes. As embarrassing as this whole thing was I could not for the life of me look away from his face. A bang of from the front door, another person entering the laundromat, brought me back to reality. I tore my gaze from him and to the underwear in his hand, snatching them up and throwing them into the dryer.

"Thanks," I grumbled, turning away and moving further down the aisle to sit down, trying to hide my face while I pretended to scroll through my phone.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, you know? It's not like your mom had found a random pair of boxers in you load," the boy laughed, making his way down towards me.

I continued to ignore him, hoping he would get the picture, but he dropped himself into the seat beside me and stretched out his long legs into the aisle.

"That happened to me once, not boxers though, girls underwear," he continued, folding his arms behind his head, "My mom threw the biggest fit about it, asking who she was, when she was over last, and if she knew her. It was a nightmare."

I laughed a little at his story, thinking he was over exaggerating just a bit.

"Yeah, well at least it was your mom and not a complete stranger," I mentioned, finally looking up at him. He was already looking at me, the smirk still ever present. I turned my eyes back to my phone.

"Well we're not really strangers, you were at the coffee shop earlier right?"

"Oh, um, no I think you have me mistaken for someone else," I fibbed. And honestly, I couldn't tell you why I lied just now. I know I came to terms with my little creeper moment this morning, but I guess my brain knew better than to actually fess up to it.

"Oh I could have sworn I saw you there," he replied, closing his eyes and settling back into his seat.

I turned my head slightly and watched him while he remained unaware. He had an eyebrow piercing I hadn't noticed before, and was wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. Good taste.

Soon my clothes were done and I set them on the counter and began folding them. I felt content that he had finally moved on from trying to bother me, at until he started bothering me again.

"So what's your name?" he asked, leaning against the counter with his chin in his hand. He looked like a little kid, looking up through his lashes and smiling widely.

"What's your name?" I replied back, refusing to look at him or else I'd end up blushing for some reason again.

"Well I asked you first, so I think you're obliged to answer first."

'What if I don't want to tell you my name?"

"Well..." I thought I had finally stumped him, "There are plenty of ways of finding out your name," I was wrong. I dropped the shirt that I had been trying to fold in defeat, and turned towards him.

"Do tell," and hummed sarcastically, placing hand my hip as I leaned against my other arm.

"Well, I could read the name that's written on your detergent," he laughed. Only then I realized that on my Tide bottle my and Elaine's names were scribbled on the side. "So which are you, Elaine or Nora?"

"Which do you think I am?" I asked turning back to my folding.

"Well Elaine is kind of an old fashioned name, you you seem kind of old fashioned, but you also have a kind of punkiness to you which would lead me to the name Nora."

"Punkiness?" I laughed, thankful that I had finally finished folding all the clothes. I piled everything into our bin and handed the detergent over to the manager.

"So which one is it?" He asked while following me to the door.

"I guess you'll just have to find out another time," I answered, sauntering back towards the dorms. I looked back to seem him hanging out the door, shaking his head with a smile stretched on his face.

When I got back to my room, Elaine had managed to clean up her side of the room and take a shower. She was reading from one of her texts books when I walked in, looking up from her page to watch me willingly put away her clothes in their proper place.

"What's put you in such a good mood?" she asked, a smile twitching into shape.

"No reason," I replied, grabbing my own book from the shelf, "People are just funny sometimes."