dimple.

Your fingers drummed rhythmically against the small coffee table, unconsciously drawing out a beat that had been in your head all morning. You held your chin in your other hand and stared pessimistically out of the window, ignoring the coffee that grew colder before you with each passing second, the steam rising from it slowly thinning out.

Every moment of your young adulthood had led up to that day. The day you were supposed to pass an important job interview with flying colours and wander into your new life, smiling brightly with eager anticipation at what lay ahead. Life long stability, suits and ties, million dollar deals, even your own desk. Now, all of that was slipping through your fingers and instead you sat frowning deeply, numb with the uneasy anxiety of what lay ahead. That company and career were all you had thought about and prepared for since you had graduated high school. Honestly, maybe even long before that. What on earth were you supposed to do now?

You took deep breathes in and out, rationalising yourself with your life long mantra: 'everything happens for a reason'. But you could see no reason for your life to come crashing down before your very eyes, eyes which you were now fighting to keep from spilling tears. You swallowed hard and shook your head, trying in some way to regain a grasp on your emotions.

You looked down to your coffee and picked up the cup with both hands, with the intention of bringing it to your lips. But simultaneously something distracted you. A slender, long fingered hand placed a new cup in front of you. You stared blankly for a second as the hand pushed the drink closer to you, the porcelain making a rough scratching sound against the heavy oak of the table. Your eyes then flicked up to the hands owner and saw that it belonged to one of the coffee shops baristas. He looked straight back at you. Eye to eye and without breaking his stare boldly took the cold cup of coffee from your grasp. He pushed the new, piping hot coffee still further into your line of view. You glanced down at the offering and found yourself lost there for a second. Steam was rising steadily from it and as you enveloped your hands around it, its warmth began to electrify your palms in the most simply satisfying way. A contented smile began to tug at the edge of your lips.

'Smile at the simple things and the big, scary things will sort themselves out.' The words cut through the air like a hot knife and you found yourself looking back up at the barista. Cracks were beginning to show in the melancholy atmosphere you had shrouded yourself in. Momentarily you wondered what big, scary things he might be referring too. The simple warmth of a fresh coffee had briefly distracted you from your worries. But one glance up into the baristas handsome features had you feeling motion sick with a sudden snap back to reality. As the memory of your sorry situation began to seep back in through the cracks your shoulders sagged, your frown reappeared and you reverted your gaze back out of the window. You heard an exasperated sigh and the baristas footsteps as he walked away from you. Mostly you were glad to be left alone again. All you wanted to do was space out and wallow in your own self pity whilst desperately trying to figure out what you were going to do. So that is what you continued to do, for how long you had no idea. Your only link to the passage of time was the chill that began to form in your finger tips as your second cup of coffee grew cold and still untouched. But even that sensation went mostly unnoticed.

You watched many people pass the slightly clouded window of the coffee shop, wondering as each one passed, what they did for a living, if they were happy and what that happiness truly meant. And what was happiness, truly? You had been convinced that happiness lay in that job and everything that came with it. But then, you had just found a snippet of joy in the simple warmth of a fresh coffee.

The thought of your coffee prompted you to remember that you still hadn't drank from the new cup. You traced your eyes quickly from the window to the drink that lay in your grasp. You sighed heavily as you found it cold and undrinkable and placed your chin in your palm, feeling even more miserable at the discovery.