Childhood Memories

4

»» Hunter

The smell of coffee and cinnamon buns waft the air as soon as I pull the Starbucks door open. Cool air hits me hard when I step inside, the sound of the espresso machine at work and soft murmurs of people sitting down calm me.

I step up to the counter to a smiling barista, she's tiny with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and has the Starbucks uniform on, her perfume has most likely worn off and now she has the aroma of coffee beans.

"Hi, how may I take your order?" She politely gestures.

"Hi, I would like a medium sized Iced Carmel Macchiato, please."

She smiles, "that will be all?"

"Yes." I answer.

"That's perfect, now that will be $5.95, your order will be here in a second."

I hand her a ten dollar bill so she can run it through the cash register and soon she hands me the change. I thank her kindly then go wait on the side for my drink.

Another worker, this one taller with black hair sets the drink down on the counter for me to take. My name is sprawled across the plastic in black ink, I examine it for a second before looking up and almost choking on my first sip.

Mae Carter comes striding in with jeans, a loose navy top on, with tall brown boots on. Her hair is straight flat down on her back, a pair of sunglasses sitting atop on her head, and she wears a dazzling smile.

She orders her drink and then spins around and notices me. She beams at me and walks over.

"Hey! I didn't know I'd run into you here, I'm glad I did though. What are you doing here in Arlington?" She asks.

"Well I'm finishing school here, UTA, you've heard of it I'm guessing." I answer.

She nods her head, "I love UTA, my grandmother used to sponsor their sports so I'd go to their games all the time."

"Cool! What was your favorite sport to watch?" I wonder.

"Baseball. I mean, baseball is my absolute favorite sport ever." She grins wide.

A worker puts down her drink and she picks it up, "want to sit down somewhere?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I say and we search for an empty table.

We find one in the corner next to a window, we both sit down and I look at her. For a second she glances out the window and a sad look crosses over her eyes as she stares at the parking lot. But she comes back and returns to her perky self.

"So you like baseball?" I laugh.

"Totally, favorite team? Texas Rangers of course." She replies.

"Wow." I grin.

"Yeah, my brother and dad have played their entire lives and I was always at the practices and playing scrimmages with my brother. We'd be playing catch outside whenever we got the chance, I attended all the games. Baseball has been apart of me for a really long time." She explains, "what about you? What's your sport?"

"Soccer, I played when I was younger but stopped after high school, but I still love watching it." I tell her, taking a drink of my coffee.

Suddenly, the same glimmer of emptiness fills her eyes but in a second it changes back to happiness, "that's awesome! I had a friend who loved soccer. It was his life, yeah, he actually moved to Europe to join FC Barcelona."

"Whoa, that's huge. Congrats to him." I gawk.

"Mhmm." She softly smiles, "but, um, anyways, what are you up to today?"

I rest my head on my hand, "well not much. I have to study for this huge biology test, but after that I seriously have nothing else to do."

She raises her eyebrows, "what are you taking?"

I suck in some air, "I'm studying to become a vet. A really extreme class of biology is what we're on right now, I just say biology though because when I mention the real name, people stare at me like I'm from another planet."

She giggles, "that's funny, but seriously, that's so awesome! I can't believe you, that's amazing."

"Thank you." I hold back my extreme smile, but how can I not?! Mae Carter just complimented my career!

"Yeah, but I mean, if you have nothing to do, you can come to my place. The girls and I are having a movie night together."

I wave my hand, "that's really fine, I don't want to intrude or anything."

She scoffs, "please, the girls invited their boyfriends and I'm the only one without a guy, it be more fun to have a friend like you join."

I laugh, "okay, fair enough. Give me your address?"

"I've got a better idea, hand me your phone?" She wonders.

I do so, and she grabs my iPhone from my palms. She quickly types on the cell and she even takes a selfie for a profile picture if I had my guess. She gives it back to me and I smile down.

"Send me a text and I'll send you the address. Come any time between five and six. Thanks again for letting me talk with you, this was fun."

She stands up, leaving her coffee cup on the table, and walks away with a smile of gratitude. I watch her leave and then look down at my phone at her number, my lips curling to my eyes.

But then the thought of Mae frowning out the window and the mention of soccer puzzle me, why on earth did those things disappoint her? It almost seems heart wrenching for her and I have no idea as to why.  Though I do have clue, and she gave it to me.

Her book even mentions something about a boy who moves to Europe to pursue his dreams of being on the Barcelona team, which makes me question her story and the reality of it. Even though I barely know Mae.

I pull up Google on my phone and then search up resent FC Barcelona players and then begin to look through their profiles to see who this special friend is and why he makes her so sad to mention.