One (h.s.)

epilogue

-december 2014-

"But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance."

-Sarah Dessen

Snow was falling heavily outside and when Charlotte stepped out of the doors of her apartment to the cold winter morning, she really just wanted to get back inside again.

Dressed in a very (very, very, very) thick blue fur coat, a high neck black sweater and black skinny jeans and black boots, she still was feeling the little hair on her legs stand up from the cold. But maybe it was because she decided on what to wear too quickly and accidentally picked up the pair of skinny jeans with a hole in one knee, which potentially meant that air could come in contact with her bare knee.

She practically stood there outside of her apartment for fifteen minutes wondering if the cup of coffee from Workshop was really worth walking on the streets of Central London in this weather. And then she thought, "I'm already dressed up aren't I?" so she finally got the courage to actually step on the snowy pavement and began to walk towards the coffee shop, hands stuffed deep inside the pockets of her coat.

-

The sound of the bell ringing as soon as she stepped into the café always meant that someone was entering or leaving the shop. In that moment, for Charlotte, it was the sign of entering into the best place ever. Because for one, it was warm. And after walking in the freezing cold weather that London seemed to suffer every winter, warmth was what she desperately was in need of. Two, the smell of recently ground coffee wafted in the air and she decided it was definitely worth the torture of having exposed one knee to the cold air. Three, she was in need of coffee. And fast, as she could hardly keep her eyes open at nine in the morning. She blamed in on the glamorous after party of that fashion show (which she didn't really remember the name of).

She walked towards the line behind the register, the order of a nice warm cappuccino in her mind. She shivered slightly while waiting in line because of the rapid change in temperature and began to look around the shop, searching for a free table. She spotted a place in the far corner of the café and was extremely grateful for it being so far away from the entrance. Mentally, she decided she was going to sit there, even if someone in front of her sat in that place.

Workshop was being extremely busy this morning. The place hardly had free tables left and she'd seen people being forced to share a table with a complete stranger.

"Miss Brown, the usual today?" the barista, who she'd learned was called Maria a few weeks ago, said suddenly. She hadn't even realised she was in front of the queue, too distracted by the amount of people in the shop today.

"Uhm, not today. Could I have a cappuccino, please?" she ordered, removing her coat.

"Of course, Miss. It will be a few minutes till it's done though, as you can see, we're pretty busy today," she laughed.

"Yeah, I've noticed," she replied with a smile, and then turned to move to the other end of the counter where she would be receiving her order.

Coming to Workshop nearly every day of the past few months, resulted in her just filling in a form to get a membership. The membership meant that she's order anything she'd like for a whole month and then at the end, the bill of all her drinks would be sent to her apartment and she's pay it all from her credit card.

"Miss Brown, your cappuccino," Albert said, approaching the wooden counter with a steamy mug with foam on top.

"Thank you, Albert," she said taking it and turning to face the corner, where the table she had been planning to sit on was. A man was already sat there, head down, looking at his phone with a clear cup on the side, meaning he was having tea.