The smell of coffee surrounds the customers in the small shop. A young woman types away on her laptop with books scattered before her on an old marble table. Time is her enemy as she rushes to complete a procrastinated assignment due within the hour. The noise of people mingling, the pouring of coffee and orders being called are tuned out as the assignment becomes her sole concentration. A bell chimes signaling a new customer, but she pays no attention. Absentmindedly, she twirls her hair and bites her lip in frustration when her mind comes to a blank as she tries to determine the next sentence of the paper.
When the girl finally looked up, her eyes locked gazes with bright blue ones of the newcomer. She heard him chuckle and shake his head in amusement when he noticed the amount of books she had piled beside her. The young woman smiled shyly at the man, who returned a more confident smile that caused her to turn a light shade of pink and look away back at her assignment. Determination flashed in her eyes as she returned to her prior task, before the beautiful young man strolled in.
A few minutes later, she was on the last paragraph of her essay when the same man from moments before made a sudden appearance in the seat across from her. She stopped typing, yet again, to stare curiously at the stranger.
"May I help you?" She quietly asked.
The man pointed under the table at her sneakers. "Your shoelaces are untied." She followed the direction of his finger, where indeed, her shoe strings were not in the neat tie she had made before going on her run earlier that day. Embarrassed, she quickly reaches down and ties her shoes and pops back up. She lets out a short 'thanks' before returning back to her work. The woman tried to ignore the man's continuous gaze, but being stared at was not a pleasant feeling. She met his curious gaze and noticed a crooked smirk appearing on his face.
"What?" She asked bringing a hand up to cover her mouth, afraid something was stuck in her teeth.
The man just chuckles in response. He stretches out his hand and introduces himself as Blair. The woman tilts her head in confusion, but nonetheless, goes along with Blair's bizarre introduction, and reaches out and shakes his hand "Kassie." She responds. Blair beams at her and stands when an order for him is called out.
"If you'll excuse me." He trots off to receive his refreshment.
Kassie quickly finishes her paper and submits it with five minutes to spare and sighs in relief. She closes her laptop and slides it off to the side and lays her cheek on the cool marble table and closes her eyes. A few moments later she heard a pair of footsteps approaching her that belonged to a certain brunette. Blair reclaims his spot across from her once again, but now with a drink. Kassie lifts her head, despite her exhaustion, to investigate the ice-cold liquid Blair holds in his hands. He lifts the drink to his lips and sips it. Kassie gives him a puzzling look. He notices her expression and mirrors it.
"What?" He asked.
Kassie remains silent for a few seconds, before finding her voice. "You got a cup of tea in a coffee shop?" She says with amusement laced in her voice. Blair shrugs "I don't like coffee, and this shop serves tea." Kassie turns to look at the menu a few feet away, and sure enough, the shop served an armament of flavored tea to just plain sweet tea.
"You should get a cup." Kassie shifts her gaze back to Blair and shakes her head "I only like sweet tea."
Blair smiles at her knowingly "You're not much of a coffee drinker, are you?" She nods in response.
"I've tried it once and have hated it ever since." She begins to neatly place all her scattered books into one pile. Blair smiles as he watches her continue to build her tower of books "Well then, you can at least try their flavored tea." Kassie doesn't meet his gaze as she places the last book on top, finishing her tower.
"I doubt I'll like it." Blair slams his hands on the table, startling Kassie "Nonsense! Flavored tea is the best thing ever!" Kassie stares wide-eyed at his passionate outburst. Without saying another word, Blair stands from his seat and walks off, once again towards the ordering line.
A bemused Kassie replays the scene in her head, concluding that Blair was the most bizarre, strange and craziest person she has ever met. He returns minutes later with another cup and thrust it towards Kassie. He takes his seat and stares at her expectantly.
"Try it." Kassie hesitantly takes the cup in her hands and inhales the smell that this certain tea carried. Kassie snaps her head back and wrinkles her nose.
"It smells disgusting." She comments and pushes it back towards Blair. He only smiles back at her "Ah, yes. It may have an unpleasant smell, but the taste it worth it." He mirrors her action by pushing the cup back in her direction, encouraging her to drink it.
"Come on, its honey-lemon flavored. Everyone loves that flavor." Kassie raised an eyebrow at his claim, but instead of correcting him on his misinformation of people's preference of tea flavors, she decided to swallow her pride and took the cup and cautiously raised it to her lips "If this is poisonous, I'm suing." She warns through narrow eyes.
Blair raised his hands in surrender " I promise that if it poisons you, I will take care of the hospital bills." He chuckled.
Kassie proceeds to take quite a large sip. The warm liquid travels down her throat, sending her taste buds in a frenzy as the honey-lemon flavor settled in. She slumped in her seat when Blair smirked at her. "See? It's not so bad."
She only mumbled in response.
"Admit it, you liked it." Blair stated leaning back in his own seat. Kassie rolled her eyes at his behavior "Yes, I liked it, Blair. Happy?" Blair let out a joyous laugh "Ecstatic."
A comfortable silence settles between them, until Kassie notices the time on a nearby clock and gasp.
"I have to go." She quickly gather her laptop and books and slings her bag over shoulder.
Blair looks at her bewildered "What's wrong?" He questions.
"Oh, I have to get home." She replied grabbing her drink with her free hand.
She tries to make her way to the exit, but a hand wraps around her wrist. She looks over her shoulder at Blair.
"Will I get to see you again?" He asked with hopeful eyes. Kassie sends him a small smile.
"Maybe," Blair's own smile widens a fraction. "But I don't know of you're my cup of tea." She says heading towards the doors, smiling to herself and feeling triumphant as she leaves, hearing Blair's crackling laughter fill the old coffee shop.
