Simply Nadia

Chapter 6

The taxi came to a screeching halt in front of the coffee shop. The hispanic driver looked back at me expectantly. I tossed him a twenty and jumped out onto the side walk as fast as I could. The inside of the taxi reeked of vomit. It seems that who ever had been in the cab the night before must have had a wild night...And then reaped the consequences. 

 I deeply inhaled the New York City air and the overwhelming scent of coffee flooded my senses. 

 "Smells wonderful doesn't it Your Highness?" I didn't have to see him to know he had a stupid smirk plastered across his face.

  My eyes shot over the side of my shoulder to look at Simon , I almost didn't recognize him. He was dressed in a crisp grey sweater with a white collar sticking out from underneath and dark blue jeans. I wasn't sure what I had expected but for some reason his appearance took me off guard. He looked like a completely different person when he wasn't in ratty clothing.  I almost felt under dressed in my big red sweater and leggings but I had dressed this way to prove my point : "She is dressed like a normal, simple teenager," was what I wanted my clothes to say about me to Simon. 

 I decided to be cheeky, "It's actually Your Royal Highness, if I'm correct."

 He chuckled slightly and made his way to the coffee shop door, "Yeah, Yeah. Let's get inside before my balls freeze off."

He was right about it being freezing. I wasn't sure what the temperature was but it was cold enough that just a little bit of snow covered the ground and built itself up on top of shops and light posts. I had never really seen snow before, but I didn't feel like I was missing out on it. It was cold, wet, and mushy. Three things that I hated. But I didn't mind looking at it from inside somewhere warm. 

Simon swung open the front door blowing a gust of cold air into the coffee shop. A few people, women in particular, looked over their shoulders and gave him a nasty look. They too must not like the snow. He gestured for me to step through the threshold, "Ladies first."

I stepped into the coffee shop and looked around. The lighting was dim giving it a cozy atmosphere. College students sat in small groups of twos and threes huddling around their laptops. A few well dressed business men sat together at a round table in the back corner. Two women in their early thirties sat together, one of them bottle feeding a newborn. 

"What would you like?" Simon asked escorting me to the front counter, his hand lightly pressing the small of my back.

 I looked at the large menu on the wall above me. There was so much scattered all over it that I had no idea where to even begin.

 "Uhh..." I uttered and became slightly embarrassed. Who doesn't know what they want from a coffee shop? I chided at myself. I should have looked up the menu online this morning. My eyes raked over the menu trying to find one item to settle on until I gave up.

 "I'll have whatever you have," I said with confidence. He'd probably like that I'd settle for whatever he liked. It showed simplicity after all. That was what I was here for right? To show him that I was a simple girl and not some rich, snobby girl.

 The thought of me even being rich, well, coming from a rich family, was still a foreign concept to me. I still couldn't seem to wrap my mind around it no matter how many times I woke to a beautiful bedroom, dressed in elegant clothing, went to fancy dinners, and was escorted  by my "bodyguard" anywhere I went on weekdays. In some ways I had become used to it, more like became numb to it. I was there within it but never felt as if it were truly me. Deep down, it wasn't me. 

"Is an Americano and a muffin okay?" Simon asked looking at me sideways with his brilliant blue eyes. 

I shrugged. "Sure. That sounds good." And it did.