After College

Cold Coffee

We all have bad habits that can't be broken. I have a few that I don't mind like not making my bed or forgetting to fold my clothes. Although there's one that has bothered me, I always let that bad habit continue.

"Miss, would you like some more coffee?" the flight attendant walks by, holding onto some paper cups and a kettle of brewed coffee.

"No thank you," I answer and continue to type on my laptop.

"Your coffee is cold already, you know?" my co-worker, Celine Hamilton, tells me. The two of us had flown to another city to meet a client to try to determine how to expand their market. We've travelled a lot together over the years since we entered the company together, so we know each other well enough that she isn't afraid to point out my bad habits.

"Yeah," My eyes still fixate on the screen, "I know."

"Aren't you going to finish it?" she asks. "You should throw it away if you're not going to finish it."

I ignore her suggestions. I know she means well, and I know that she is right. However, I don't have the heart to throw something that is still edible, albeit bitter and gross, into the trash can. That just seems wasteful, yet for some reason, I never force myself to drink cold coffee. I just leave it hanging until either the cleaning lady comes by the office to lightly dust my place or if it's at home, Will, takes care of the leftover coffee. He drinks it for me. That's probably the only thing that he does for me nowadays.

Nine years.

Will and I have been together for nearly a decade that we're probably already what people classify as the old, married couple. Our love story was simple and typical. We met in first year of college at a party. We started texting back and forth. Then, we would go on dates and within a few months, we were together. Second year of college was when we moved in together along with some other friends. The six of us, Gabriel Fox, Harper Groves, Nanette Wong, Will Platt, Etienne Beauchamp, and I, Aurora Sasaki lived in a big house. Harper actually joined the house during our third year since she was two years younger than us, while Gabriel and Nanette were a year older than us. Etienne, Will, and I were the only ones that moved in during our second year of university. After Will and I graduated, we stayed in the same city but moved downtown to a small apartment that we rented together. We were hoping to buy a house together, yet even now, we're still in the same old apartment.

"You're lucky," Celine all of a sudden announces. It's odd because she's usually the one that sleeps as if she were in a coma on the plane. I don't blame her. We hardly get enough sleep these days when we're trying to make pitches.

"Why is that?" I wonder as the flight attendant makes an announcement to buckle our seatbelts. The airplane is preparing to land, so I stow away my laptop into my bag.

"When you get home, you have someone waiting for you already," Celine grumbles and crosses her arms. "I only have a fish swimming there."

"I suppose," I mumble, knowing that Will has probably gone to bed. It's a little over midnight, and he has that job interview in the morning.

"Say," Celine continues to press, "when are you guys getting married?"

I'm always terrified of this question. I don't know how many times I've tried to dodge this one, but lately I keep hearing it over and over again, particularly from my family and my closest friends. Harper nearly calls every month or so just to interrogate: "Has he asked you yet?"

"We haven't thought about it," I utter. That's the best I can come up with right now. To be honest, I've had the idea of marriage after we graduated. That's when I started to see all of the engagement status updates on Facebook, the wedding photos, and then the baby news. Meanwhile Will and I haven't had any changes to our relationship. We're living together as a couple. That's all.