BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The early morning calm was broken by the piercing shriek of my alarm clock. I groaned as I pulled myself from bed, popping my back as I did so. I mentally cursed myself for setting an alarm for 4:30. Pulling clothes from my closet, I began my zombie-like shuffle to the shower. Once I finished my morning hygiene, I crept downstairs to my kitchen to find a note and a cup of coffee waiting for me.
'Hey. Heard your alarm go off, so there's coffee for you. Probably won't be home tonight. Toni has me working a double shift at the diner. Catch you later. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. XOXO, Lizzy.' I took a sip of my coffee and took a moment to evaluate my dress choice – black leather pants, white tank top, leather jacket, knee high, heeled black boots, my red hair in a mocking jay-esque braid – not bad, not bad at all.
I finished my small cup of happiness and grabbed my laptop, heading out the door and mounting my motorcycle. I drove down the road, enjoying the feeling of the wind in my face. I pulled into a small 'hipster' coffee shop on the corner, relishing the scents that assaulted me as I opened the door. "G'morning, Lexi. The usual?" the barista called out happily.
"Yes, please, Marci!" I replied.
I went to go plug in my laptop at a small corner table, but as I was approaching, the floor seemed determined to greet my face as I tripped and spilled someone's drink down their sleeve. I continued to fall as the same someone's arms wrapped around my waist, preventing the floor from showering my face with kisses.
"Oh, my god! I'm so sorry! I'll buy you another drink. Is there anything I can do?" I stammered, grabbing a pile of napkins and starting to wipe up the spilled beverage.
"That's alright, doll. It didn't hurt much. Let me sit with you, and we'll call it even," the man said, gesturing towards the table in the corner. "Deal," I replied.
I still bought him another drink when my own was called out. I sat down at the table again, both drinks in hand. "I'm Lexi, by the way."
He smirked. "Friends call me Bucky. Sweet bike you got, by the way."
"Thanks. So, sorry again for spilling coffee on you. You're not too badly burned are you?"
"No, doll. I'm fine," he smiled.
"You sure are," I mumbled, taking in his features. Long brown hair framing his roguishly handsome face, jawbone that could cut someone, smile that would melt a person, but what caught me most were his eyes, so emotional, full of life and sadness and so blue I thought I'd drown in them.
"What was that, doll?" Bucky asked.
"Oh, um....nothing...." I blushed.
"Alright, well, my friend Steve is expecting me, so I'll catch you later, frumusetea mea cu părul roşu *." The man said, sighing at its sudden notification spam.
"Catch you later, mea preţioase rulou scortisoara**." I replied.
The look on his face was priceless as he walked out the door. I walked over to the counter. "Have you seen him before?" I asked Marci, munching on my all but neglected danish.
"Yeah, all the time. He comes in here early in the mornings with a bunch of notebooks. He's always alone and always writing or drawing."
"Oh. Well, thanks! I'll see you tomorrow." With that, I walked out of the cafe and once again mounted my bike. I decided to head back home instead to start writing.
I could hardly concentrate on homicidal psychopaths their poor defenseless victims when the tall stranger kept creeping into my thoughts. I tried to focus on the killings that filled the pages on my computer, but I just couldn't. My mind would just keep meandering and skipping to the tortured eyes of the man at the cafe. His Romanian shocked me at first because not many people speak it in New York, but the look on his face when I replied with my favorite Tumblr pet name made up for the look on my face...I think. Then again, I just seduce people with my awkwardness. Which is why I'm single and living with my sister.
