Untitled

The woman and her coffee

Theo folded his hands together and stretched his arms above his head, moving left and right to crack his shoulders that felt glued together due to his extensive typing and hunched posture. He scanned the student café for some familiar faces but retreated his eyes to his laptop when he was unable to find any. He opened a file, closed it, opened the next file, and closed it. This wasn't going to work, he thought to himself. He pursed his lips and checked his watch for any incoming notifications that would hopefully distract him even more than the noise in the café. No notifications, the watch screen read. It was five twenty-three p.m. and Theo felt exhausted. It wasn't necessarily due to his attempt at studying in a social environment or his lack of sleep, it was something else. Was it his poor diet and lifestyle choices that made him yawn? It certainly was not the steaming mug of coffee sitting in front of him.

When he was about to shut his laptop and go home, the bell above the door rang, indicating someone entered the café. Theo felt as if time had halted when she walked in, he couldn't quite believe it. The moment felt like one out of a rom com movie that he watched last year. Revolting yet lovely, although he would never admit that. He sat down again and watched her interact with the barista. ''...with oat milk, please.'' she asked, looking around while twiddling with her necklace. Her floppy hair was a pleasant mixture of ashy blonde and brown undertones that fell just above her shoulders. The contour of her face was round, scarlet hinting across her cheeks. He thought she looked enigmatic with her melancholic expression and frail posture that was visible through her thin cardigan. He could not quite pinpoint what drew his attention to her.

She turned around and sat down at the table at the window, diagonally opposite of Theo. It was funny to him why she would wear a cardigan when it was obviously forecasted that today's weather would be mopish and chilly. She stirred her drink with a teaspoon she took outside of her tote bag. Artwork was printed on the canvas, the name Matisse in bold letters above it. Theo wondered if she was an art student perhaps or simply liked the design of it. Was she French? Perhaps an expert in art history? All these questions continuously kept him distracted. It didn't matter much to Theo if he was not able to finish his work today, it wasn't necce- She looked up. Their eyes met. She looked down, as if nothing had happened. As if Theo wasn't there. Did she notice his continuous and intense stare?

He started to get more and more frustrated by the thought of why she was so infuriating. She was just another human, drinking coffee. Extremely attractive though. Theo desperately wanted to get up, sit next to her and get to know her. What is her favorite band? Does she have pets? Is she even a student? Okay, no doubt about her not being a student. The eye bags, messy hair, jug of coffee and the tote bag overflowing with what seemed like books and other rectangular-shaped objects kind of gave it away to him. But that's just an assumption and Theo is trying not to make them anymore.

He was disrupted from his thoughts by the drizzling rain on the foggy windows. Fifteen minutes had passed, and he still couldn't muster up the courage to go up to her. He looked down again, checked the battery icon in the top right corner of his screen and then noticed that his coffee had gone cold. Theo rested his head on his hand and sighed. He tilted his head to the left and bit the inside of his cheek lightly. He was pondering whether to leave the café and start prepping for dinner when he gets home or get takeaway somewhere. After gulping his coffee down, he got up.

Finally, he packed up all his belongings and shimmied into his raincoat whilst adjusting his beanie. With one last glimpse of the woman and her coffee, he stepped outside and into the cold.