Rays of Hope

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Ray’s POV

I never thought that I would be in this situation. Me, Ray West, was walking with a total stranger. A woman no less! Was this coffee meeting going to be considered a date? Why did I even ask her for coffee? Am I really that bored? It might have been because she seemed… interesting. She was unlike any woman I had ever met, including the many fans that I had met through my book signings. It was also weird that she hasn’t heard of me or my book, it was almost as if she was the one person in the universe who ignored me.

Still thinking to myself, I quietly walked next to this woman. The silence was comfortable, and I felt like I could communicate with her without making any noise. We just seemed to connect and to know where each other was headed.

Finally, we arrived at the coffee shop. It was a tiny building that was not that well known. However, it had a charm that only family businesses possessed. I enter the building by pushing open the door. As I do, I hear the tiny jangle of the bell above my head. I realize too late that I should hold the door open for Avery, and see her pushing in the doorway on her own. She was independent, and I liked that about her.

We both walked up to the counter, that was lined with red leather bar stools, and I let Avery order first, trying to be gentlemanly after my rude and arrogant behavior toward her earlier. I began talking as soon as she was done telling the waitress her order. As I was taking a ten dollar bill out to pay for the both of us, Avery stopped me, by placing her small hand on the crook of my elbow. Looking up at me, she shook her head, barely noticeable to others if they had not looked closely. Understanding her, I let her pay for her half of the bill, even though it went against my belief of how a gentleman should behave on a date. It took her a while to find the right amount of cash in her beaten up bag. I wonder if she even had enough, and it made me feel bad that I was not allowed to pay for her, but I knew that she had pride and I could not hurt that. Maybe I should force her to let me pay. Afterall, I certainly had enough money, while it looked like she did not.

I like that we did not have to talk. It was comforting to not be expected to do anything. But I know if I needed to, I could knock her socks off with my romancing skills.

After a while of just sitting there and staring at her coffee while I stare at her, she finally spoke up.

“So why did you ask me to get a coffee with you?” She looked genuinely curious. I was about to answer but I actually don’t know why I asked her. It was just an impulse decision. Maybe it was because I felt bad for her. Or maybe it was because I knew that she was different. All I knew what that she was intriguing.

If this sort-of date did not go well, I know that there would be plenty of other girls for me to go out with. Who wouldn’t want to go out with the Ray West?  

Instead of admitting that I want to get to know her better, I simply reply with a “You looked like you needed a coffee break.”

“What do you mean I ‘looked like I needed this break’?” She asked me defensively, looking up at me for the first time since we had sat down.

“I don’t know, you just seemed so tired and stressed out.” I answer back, unsure how she would take my answer.

“Well sorry I can’t look as good as an author with an unlimited amount of pocket money, who just zips through life as if he was taking a power nap.” She snaps back, about to get up and leave.

Trying to stop her from exiting the coffee shop, I hold out a hand, in a gesture that showed her I was innocent. I hadn’t meant to make her angry again, we just seem so different and she was such a fiery young woman when she wasn’t she and frazzled.

However, I couldn’t help but feel a little angry myself. I don’t “zip through life” at all. Yeah I’m rich, but I work hard for the money I earn. I decide to tell her this, making her scoff.

“You told me earlier that you are rich and famous!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “You don’t seem to have any hardships in your life!”

“That’s not true! You don’t know what I’ve been through. Most likely much more than you have,” I say, trying to calm down.

She scoffs again. “I bet I could look up all your so called ‘hardships’ on the internet, and have already gone through them all in one day!”

“Whatever. I don’t need to sit here and bicker with a girl who I’ve just met.”

“You were the one who forced me here!” she shoots back at me, her nose scrunching up with her anger.

“You keep saying I’m forcing you to do things, but I’m not. Maybe you’re just falling for my charms, you wouldn’t be the only one to.”

“What charms?” she rolls her eyes in my direction. “You’re about as charming as a slug!”

“Wow nice insult, what are you twelve?” It’s my turn to scoff.

Avery sends a glare in my direction, before picking her bag up off the floor, throwing away her half empty coffee cup, and heading out the door.

I don’t even try to go after her and apologize, she was the one being rude and didn’t deserve an apology. She acted as if she knew everything about me and didn’t even let me explain myself.

Hardships? Yeah right! She probably lived in her parents basement eating all their food, for free.

As I’m pushing in the chair I get up from, I see a notebook on the floor next to the seat Avery was sitting in just minutes ago. I reach down for it and see that it’s a sketchbook. Curious to see her art, I look inside and am instantly fascinated. Her art is absolutely beautiful, unique, and breathtaking. I contemplate whether it was wrong to take pictures of each piece with my phone and decide to do it anyway. I need to look at these longer.

After flipping through the sketchbook a while longer, I notice a return address under Avery’s name on the front inside cover. Finally learning Avery’s full name, which was Avery Joyce, I decide to return the sketchbook to her home in person.