She Was The 0.007%

Days After Surgery: 13

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    Sipping my lukewarm coffee, my eyes restlessly darted throughout the coffee shop. Observing the people among me, I saw people here for all sorts of different reasons.

A young women sat in a cushioned chair nestled in the corner, typing rapidly on her silver laptop. An older man was seated at a table, chugging his drink as he listened to an elderly women ramble off about the local news.

People dashed in and out of the small building, grabbing their morning caffeine and heading off to work.

    I sat next to the mural painted across the large back wall of the shop, depicting images of people going about their everyday lives. Pressing the home button on my cell phone once again, I checked the time.

Chloe was late, as per usual, to our usual meeting of morning coffee. At school the other day, we had agreed that everyday over thanksgiving break that we would meet at our local coffee shop and grab a warm drink while we discussed the previous day's events.

I had yet to tell her about the development between me and Tyler that occurred on Monday, and I felt as if she of all people should be the first to know about it.

    Hearing the bell jingle above the door, my eyes scurried toward the entrance once again as I saw Chloe walk into the building.

She looked around for a moment, scanning the crowd for my face. Once she had spotted me, her face lit up, smiling widely in my direction.

I returned her expression of excitement, waving her over to come sit across from me. Chloe hurriedly pushed her way through the throng of people and set her stuff down in the green, wooden seat.

"Sorry, I'm late. Ethan dropped me off on his way to lacrosse practice. I'm gonna order my coffee real quick, I'll be right back." Chloe swiftly found the end of the long line and claimed her place amongst the rest of the people waiting to order their drinks.

As she stood in the line, I examined her closely. Chloe's dark blonde hair hung just beneath her shoulders, cascading over her floral print scarf. Standing impatiently, her hip was popped out to the side as she glanced down through her glasses, spinning a black thread from the sleeve of her sweater between her gentle fingertips.

I had known Chloe for a while, but before now we had only spent time together outside of school on rare occasions, keeping me from really getting to know her.

After Chloe had purchased her coffee, she slid back into the seat across from me. "So, how has your break been so far?" she asked, beginning our conversation.

"Well, last night I hung out with Corey for a bit and we looked through my scrapbook filled with pictures of me, him and Audrey that I had been working on cumulatively in preparation for her operation. We found a lot of pictures that I forgot that I had and that Corey had never seen," I replied, summing up my events from yesterday evening.

Chloe looked at me curiously, leaning closer from across the small table. "You two have been hanging out quite a bit since Audrey passed. Is there something going on there or..." she trailed off.

My eyes widened in surprise from her comment.

"Oh no! No no no. Corey and I have lived down the street from each other our whole lives. He's always been my best friend, next to Audrey, but I've never thought of him in that way," I stated, stopping any false assumptions.