Once Upon a Coffee Shop

In Which They Meet

The smell of coffee and sweets drifted through Noah's nose and the sound of whistling machines and happy chatter filled his ears as he opened the door to his favorite cafe, The Wonderstruck Cafe. Noah had always loved this small coffee shop ever since he discovered it was the perfect place to write his caffeine-powered essays for school. He knew there was no way he would be able to bullshit three pages about the impact a dead man from the 1700's made on a long forgotten war without a little push from his favorite drink, the "Energizer". I'm sure you can figure out why it's called that and why Noah always comes here to drink it whenever he has a paper due. Just as he was doing right now.

Noah looked around at the familiar coffee shop, the warm leather armchairs propped on either side of small white tables, countless green plants sitting on the window sills, his favorite barista with the curly brown hair whipping up a coffee, the string of twinkling lights draping from the ceiling. With his laptop in one hand and his wallet in the other, Noah strolled up to the counter and ordered an Energizer.

Noah paid and thanked the barista then headed towards his favorite spot in the cozy coffee shop. The seat in the far corner by the window where Noah can gaze at both the noisy street and the lively cafe. But, the worn leathered seat was already occupied by someone. A girl. And she was sitting in his seat sipping her coffee and reading a book without a care in the world.

The girl was occupying his seat and undoubtedly pretty, but neither of those things were what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the way the girl was reading her book. She was leaning forward so much Noah wondered if her nose would touch the pages, her gray eyes were wide as they darted over the page, and her rosy lips were parted and slightly moving as she read. She was completely and utterly invested in her book.

She was so invested in her book that she didn't notice as Noah approached her. Noah bit his lip and took the seat opposite the girl. Still, the girl read. Noah cleared his throat, though he was so nervous that it sounded more like he choking on his coffee then trying to get the girl's attention. Either way, it worked. The girl's gaze went from her book up to Noah and immediately her stormy eyes became weary of the stranger as she straightened in her chair and assessed him. Her scrutinizing eyes made Noah's breathing quicken and he could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest.

Stupid, Noah thought to himself. I'm so stupid. She's going to think I'm a creep now. Noah had never been one for strangers and had certainly never gone up to a girl like this. He didn't know what to do or say. He just stared at her and she stared back. Though his eyes were full of awe, her's were full of annoyance at the strange man in front of her who just interrupted her reading.

"Um," she began, her voice laced with exasperation, "Can I help you?' Her voice was smooth as honey, but make no mistake that the tone in which she spoke had none of the sweetness found in honey. Regardless of this all, Noah was still captivated by her. He had never felt this interested in a girl before. He wasn't attracted to her in a sexual or romantic manner. He was just attracted to her and just couldn't help himself when he walked over to her and sat down.

She just asked you something, shithead. The girl was staring expectantly at Noah, waiting for an answer that Noah did not have. His eyes darted around for something, anything, that may help him come up with a reasonable answer that wouldn't make him seem like a jerk.

The Book of Fairy Tales. The words were sprawled in a cursive font across the worn golden spine of the book she was clutching to her chest

"I wanted to talk to you about your book," Noah blurted out.

The girl tilted her head to the side and the ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "You," she looked Noah up and down, "like fairy tales."

Noah knew he was screwed the second she said that. The only fairy tales he knew were old Disney movies he had watched as a child. But he wasn't going to admit that to her. The girl's eyes glanced towards the door and he knew she was contemplating leaving the cafe. He needed to say something to make her stay and somehow he knew that if he didn't say something to completely captivate her interest, she would leave. So he lied. Big time.

"Oh those fairytales? No way. They're shit and never tell the story how it really happened. Happy endings my ass."

The girl's lips quirked upwards, "And you know this how?"

"Because I was there when all of these fairy tales," he made air quotes around the word fairy tales as he spoke, "took place."

The girl raised her eyebrows at this.

"I introduce to you, Prince Noah of Wolfington the Third." The girl snorted at the ridiculous title Noah just made. Honestly, Noah only chose Wolfington because there was a painting of a wolf hanging on the wall above the girl's head.

It was the girl's turn to lie now. "And I introduce to you, Lady Lily of New York City the First."

"Milady," Noah said with a wicked grin and a mocking bow.

The girl, Lily, gave a small giggle as she returned Noah's grand gesture with a clumsy curtsy. Noah couldn't help but smile at her. Her name was Lily. In that moment, Noah decided lilies were his favorite flowers.  

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Well, that was the first chapter woooo! I really hope you enjoyed it because it would suck if you didn't. Also, don't worry the next chapters will be much, much longer. I just wanted to introduce the setting and characters in this chapter.

Sooo, what did everyone think about Lily and Noah? Are you interested to see what happens next?

Thank you so so much for reading! Please don't forget to vote and leave a comment if you enjoyed it. I'll be updating every Friday with longer chapters. Love you all :)