Is Magic a Superpower?

Chapter 4

*updated

Estefani stretched, "All right"

Mountain View would be the new place that she'd call home—at least for a month. Her heart started to beat faster, and she took a deep breath, looking at Liam. "Today is the day, Liam. We will take the light rail to San Jose. My goal is to make new friends no matter what."

She headed out as if she was going on a mission. It didn't take her long to get to the light rail since it was walking distance from where she was staying. She stood looking at the ticket machine box.

"How in the world do you use this?" she complained, looking at the screen for a few minutes. Then she clicked where it said "one-way ticket," not knowing if that was right. "So glad that we left an hour early, or we would've been late for our first day of work."

The light rail that read "Winchester" was right on schedule. Estefani headed in to find a seat. She didn't arrive at San Jose until an hour later and was dropped off in front of the convention center. She decided to walk slowly over since she still had some time before going to work.

Passing a small park with musical swings, she tied Liam's leash on a bench in front of the swings and went to try them out. Hearing the melodic music as she swung made her feel all giddy inside. As she kept swinging, a familiar person passed by. When the swing got close to the ground she put her legs down to stop. The familiar person stopped in front of her and smiled.

"You're Gabriel, correct?" she asked as she got off the swing and walked towards him.

"Yeah and you're Estefani, right?" he said.

"Yeah and this is Liam." She pointed at Liam, who started to wag his tail as she started walking toward him. She pats his head gently.

"You're here early," he said.

"Yea, I'd rather be early than late on such an important day like today."

"I guess so. I know it's still early, but do you want to get coffee and then head over?"

"Sure." She tried not to sound too excited about being asked to hang out. It was just coffee after all.

The coffee shop was next to a fitness center. There was outside seating, and past it, she could see the light rail.

Gabriel took out his Smartphone and asked, "What do you want to get? I'm ordering through the app."

"That's okay; I'll get in line."

"I'm treating you. Consider it a little welcome present to our company. Also, the line is long, so you'd never make it to work on time."

"Thank you," she said softly. She considered. "Then I want a white chocolate mocha, please."

"Okay," he said as he tapped the screen of his Smartphone. "Ordered. Let's wait inside."

The inside of the coffee shop was nice and toasty. It smelled strongly of freshly-grounded coffee. The sound of blenders could be heard as a barista tried to call out people's names over it.

"Gabriel, your mobile order is ready," said a barista.

Gabriel got their hot drinks.

"Thank you," she said.

"No problem. Should we head over?"

She nodded "Yeah."

Eleanor Software wasn't too far from the coffee shop. Looking up at the building, she remembered the first time arriving at Eleanor Software. Gabriel opened the door for her.