Choices

James

As usual, I get up the morning and hop into the shower. I feel the need to for some odd reason cleanse my body from the night before and start the new day from zero. The noise of my bear feet slapping against the hardwood floor is the only sound audible besides Kaitlin's loud snoring from the couch. My dark hair drips down my back with cold water as I enter my room. I close the door behind me and drop the blue towel that was wrapped around my body. I look at my exposed body in the mirror and wonder if one run a week is enough. I smile and tuck a strand of wet hair behind my ear and laugh to my self at the thought that I'd ever worry about weather or not I should run more often. I go to my drawer and pick out a simple black bra I probably got at Macy's and some boy shorts. I walk toward my closet and look mindlessly at the color coded mass of clothing in front of me that seems to be mostly black. I pick out my work uniform which consists of a button up short sleeve shirt, with pin stripes and a green tie, I usually wear it with skinny jeans although you are usually not allowed to. But the manager doesn't really care that much. I top my glamorous outfit with a pair of worn out Chuck Taylor's I've had for almost two years now. I throw my long dark hair up in a messy bun and hear out the door. I grab my phone and my keys and leave without saying goodbye to any of my roommates.

At work things are pretty uneventful aside from the fact that a guy in a suit put a 20 in the tip jar. I make about twenty cups of coffee before the place completely clears out. About half an hour goes by with only one or two costumers coming by until a tall blond man walks into the coffee shop drawing most of the attention to his stylish clothing and astonishing looks. He walks up to the counter and with every click of his low cut boots on the old hardwood floor my heart beats a little faster. He reaches the counter and leans both of his elbows on it.

"How may I help you today?" I ask trying to sound as normal as possible but struggling to get words to actually come from my larynx.

"Ummm.....I think I'll just take some black coffee." He says which I find is strange.

"What kind of brew?" I ask not really knowing what he meant.

"Oh-uh-French roast." He says with a chuckle that reveals small crinkles on the sides of his eyes that are just so endearing.

"Right away." I say as I give him my best barista smile and get the register going. "That'll be one dollar with seven cents." I say. He nods and hands me a five dollar bill. I give him back his change and go to the coffee making station where I simply pour some coffee into a medium sized cup and place the lid on it.

"Here you go-uh...." I forgot to ask for his name.

"James." He says coming closer to the counter in order to receive his unusual order of just plain old black coffee.

"Okay, James here is your black coffee, have a good day." I say and smile.

"Oh I can't leave without knowing your name. I mean you know mine but I don't know yours doesn't seem fair to me." he smiles widely as he waits for me to introduce myself.

"I'm Nora." I say despite the fact that my name is displayed on my name tag.

"Well, see you around Nora." And so the tapping of his boots on the floor gradually grows softer until the chime of the door sounds and he is completely gone from the coffee shop. I smile the biggest smile and think about whether or not he was flirting or just being polite. I shake the silly thoughts off my head and just pass it off as someone who is just really polite.

My shift ends at four in the afternoon and I take my apron off, put it in the laundry basket at work and clock out. I walk all the way to the bus stop and wait for the on-coming bus that will take back to my house. I sit on a bench and play geometry dash on my phone while I wait for the bus that by now is like five minutes late. Finally the old smelly moving germ party arrives in front of me. I use my bus pass and take a seat next to an old lady that smells like oranges and old pickle juice.

When I finally get home, I jam my keys into the door and open it to find that I have the whole house to my self. I have four roommates. That may seem like a lot, but truly it's not. My mother and father both gave me some fall back money after college. So I bought a small house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and like three lounging areas uptown of the town center where we all work. Heather, Leah, kaitlin, Ramie and I have been friends since I can remember. We all went to a private school in a small town in Indiana. Now we're all rooming in Seattle.

I walk up the narrow hallway that leads to the stair and go up to my room. I take the envelope with my shares of tips out of my pocket to count it but find that when I open the envelope there's a receipt inside that has some handwritten message on the back.

To be honest I just ordered black coffee because I don't know how to order coffee. Maybe you could buy me cup sometime. James-XXX-XXX-XXXX