Have Faith in Me

Care to Join Me?

October 12th, 2010

It was a rainy day and quite beautiful, really. It was any normal day for me with the same routine I had adopted in all my two years of living in Baltimore. I had moved from a small town in Michigan to one of the biggest cities in the continental U.S. in a matter of six months.

I moved for college; for bigger and better job opportunities. My parents always told me to follow my dreams and to do what I thought was best for me.

Walking to the Starbucks downtown, I kept my head tilted downward trying to fight off the sharp raindrops piercing against my skin.

"Damn it!" I whispered while fighting my hood to my raincoat to stay up.

I glanced up as I squinted my eyes to see the lit up COFFEE sign in the distance. Starbucks was a few blocks down yet, and I didn't feel like forcing myself through the weather any further.

I practically jogged the rest of the way to a coffee shop that was much closer than my beloved Starbucks.

"Whew," I softly spoke as I entered the coffee shop. I automatically took in the fresh ground coffee bean smell, savoring every aroma.

The place wasn't really full; a couple of college jocks, an elderly couple, and a man with a beanie occupied the room.

I glanced at the man in the corner of the room as I stepped up to place my order at the front counter.

"Yeah, can I get a tall coffee with two creams and three sugars, please?" I fumbled through my soaked pockets trying to find a couple bucks.

"Shit! You've gotta be kidding me!" I continued to search for some money. I brought money with me, I was sure of it. It must've fallen out when I was jogging here.

As I was pulling miscellaneous items out of my zippers, my phone dropped to the floor. I bent down to pick it up when I saw feet approaching me.

"Excuse me, but do you need some money?"

I glanced up, doing a double take, to see the man with the beanie smiling down at me.

"Oh that's just great. Now people are seeing my prob-OW!" I smacked my head on the counter.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" He stretched his arms out to help me up as I fell to the floor.

"Yeah, thanks," I smiled.

"Here," he handed the barista five dollars, "keep the change."

"That's so nice! You're such a good person, Jack," the barista CLEARLY flirted with him...or Jack.

Jack just flashed a quick smile.

"Care to join me?" He nodded his head in the direction where he was sitting.

"Uh...who are you exactly? I'm sorry...I don't mean to sound rude, I just-"

"Oh," he laughed, "I'm Jack, Jack Barakat," he outstretched his hand.

"Ariel, Ariel Ruocco," I shook his hand.

"Oh no shit! Do you know Lisa?" He guided me to the booth.

"Yeah, she's my cousin," I stated as I sat down.

"You guys do look alike."

I smiled as I sipped my coffee.

"Thank you, for this," I smiled as I held up the coffee. Okay, it wasn't Starbucks but it was still pretty good.

My hands started shaking as I looked around the room; and not from nervousness.