At The Bottom of The Coffee Cup

Illustrations From the Heart

              I enter the cafe. I've never been here before and it looks very aesthetically pleasing to me, I go the counter a young girl probably around my age greets me, " Hey." I say cheerfully. She smiles back at me.

"Hey, how can I help you today? Anything specific you want or are you feeling risky today?" I giggle quietly. 

"I'll have a chai tea and a plain bagel." She smiles and leans down into the display case to grab the bagel. She puts it on a cute little plate and makes my tea. I look around and smile. The aroma in here is amazing I appreciate this cafe. She comes back and hands me both. She puts her stone grey hair behind her ear. 

"Have a nice day love." She says smiling. 

"Oh wait, I didn't pay." I say, bringing out my wallet. 

"Don't worry about it love. This is your first time so it's one the house." She says, smiling. I simile back and turn to find a seat. Once I spot one, I turn back. 

"Thank you so much, have a nice day." I say and with that, I turn and walk towards the spot I picked out in advance.

         As I walk over I see a man sitting down, we make eye contact and automatically I smile at him and then immediately look away. He is quite the good-looking guy. His long brown curly hair is in a man bun and his nice beard is clean and full. And his smile is definitely something else. I set my food down on the table and put my purse beside me. I get out my sketchbook and pen. I look around thinking about what to draw. And he pops into my head. I look at him quickly and we make eye contact. I look away and drink my tea. I then start to draw him. As his face comes alive on my page I smile more and more. I eat as I finish up my drawing, proud of my work I look up to sneak a peek at him. But when I look he's not there. I look around and he is speaking to the pretty girl at the counter. They seem pretty close. Of course he would want her; she is beautiful. I tuck unruly curls behind my ear. I am unfazed by this. Love never works anyway so I make it a priority to stay out of it. However, he intrigues me. I see her pat his shoulder and he leaves. and with that, I close my sketchbook. I look at the bottom of my mug and its so empty all I see is white space. I feel as if something should be there. I get up and pack up my bag. I bring back the plate and the mug and smile. "Hold on, this is for you." She brings out a piece of paper with writing on it. 

"This is so beautiful; thank you, who wrote this? It has no name on it." She shrugged and grinned. 

"A secret admirer." I look at the paper again, wasn't he writing? I say, recalling what I saw. Maybe it was him; I hope it was, he was a cutie.

           I thank her again for everything and make my way back to my apartment. I leave the cafe and wave for a taxi. Once I manage to get one I jump in quick. "Where to, ma'am?" The taxi driver says not looking back. 

"3452 Daisylake.'' I say as I lean my head back and wonder more about this letter and who wrote it. On the way there, I look outside my window and there he is. He is walking aimlessly but seems to like this freeness. I close back my eyes and I'm definitely more of a structure and self-discipline. The car stops with a bit of a jolt. I open the door to my house. Once I'm inside, I put down my stuff before going any further. I go into the kitchen grab another bagel and sit down on my couch. I hear the door open and it's my closest friend. 

"Whats up, why you dreaming Rach?"  She grabs a bagel and sits down joining me. "Did you find the love of your life, prince charming and did he sweep you off your feet?" She pokes my arm. 

"Come on, Jade you know I don't think all that stuff is real, love at first sight, isn't real." I laugh at her. With that, she gets up and sticks her tongue out. 

"You're not a romantic AT ALL." She leaves and goes into her room. 

"I don't need to be," I yell before she closes her room door. 

"HA," She yells from behind her room door. 

             I take out the poem from my bag and look at it again. The writing is so beautiful, every letter connects to the next one, flowing so beautifully. I smile as I put it down on the coffee table and walk into my room. I lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling. "Love never works, so why even bother, right..." I think about life and how I was back home. When I finally let someone in. it broke me, he broke my heart. I never want to feel that pain again. And I know that one day it will happen no matter how perfect you think you guys are or how long you guys dated or were married for. Heartbreak is always accompanied by love. Moving here is really hard but I'm glad I'm not alone. I get up and go to the piano. I get out my sheet music and start practicing. From time to time, he would pop up in my head. I think it was him that wrote it for me, but I don't know. I smile to myself as I continue to play. 

         The next day I wake up in my bed too see the sun shining, as I sit up I take a big stretch. I look at my phone. It's Saturday and I don't work until 6 p.m tonight. That gives me over 8 hours to do what I want with my day. I get out of my bed and walk into the living room to see, Jade, sitting down eating lucky charms watching some tv drama. Her hair is wild and uncombed. I walk up behind her and pat her head. " You couldn't even brush your hair out?" I chuckle. 

"Who am I trying to impress, you don't even believe in love ok," She says, keeping her eyes glued to the screen. 

"At least clean your glasses, so you can see." I laugh as she shoos me away. 

"Leave me alone, mom; I'm fine." Laughing, I walk and into the bathroom. I handle all my hygienic stuff and go to my room to get ready. I get blue jeans and a sweater with a dress shirt and my high knee boots. I put the jeans on the then the white dress shirt and the pink sweater over top - still showing the dress shirt. Lastly, I put on my boots. I walk back out into the living to see Jade reading the letter. " Whooooo is thissssss." She says looking at it wide-eyed. "Someone has a secret admirer," She says looking up at me, she then raises one eyebrow and grins. " You're going to this cafe aren't you?" I reach out to grab the letter but she holds it away. 

"Give it back Jade," I say reaching again and getting it this time. "First off, you know I win that all the time. I'm longer than you, therefore, my reach is bigger. And secondly, I'm not going to the cafe so you can eat rocks." I say as I put the letter between my legs and put my curly hair in a high bun. Her mouth drops as she hears what I said. I get the letter and stick out my tongue as I walk towards the door and grab my purse. "Say no to boys, drugs, and Jehovah Witnesses. I'll be home soon." I step out the door and walk towards the bus stop.