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The autumn leaves crunched under JD’s feet as he made his way towards his apartment complex.
Opening the old gate, starting to rise up the stairs, the floor didn’t like the speed he was going at, creaking under his fast steps.
Coming back home from his daily shift, he tiredly opened the front door to his excuse of a house. Letting the keys fall back into his trenchcoat’s pocket before dropping dead on his beat down sofa.
He had to finish drafting his latest article, the deadline was coming closer, he had to get a promotion to be able to stop working in that damned soul-sucking corporate cafè.
It always left him with little to no energy to write, customer service was hell. It had been for the whole two years he worked there.
However, thinking about leaving now of all times left a bitter taste in his mouth. Not because of the bad quality coffee, but for someone.
She started coming to the cafè about two months ago. Ruffled, wavy chestnut hair crowned the sides of her face, as if she was trying to hide. The colorful scarf she wore only amplified this effect. And her long floral skirts, that almost clashed with how sporty her jean jacket was.
The first few times she had come, he hadn’t noticed her, truthfully. He was always so caught up in his own problems, bothering with other people only seemed to add to his already overflowing mental load.
This was also why, when, days later, he saw her staring at him quite a bit, JD decided to ignore her. She would forget about him in some time and he would too, hopefully.
Or well, his brain tried to, but he had to admit he was intrigued by her. His eyes would always dart, without his consent, towards the table she sat at.
She was always reading a new book whenever she came in. Her looks did match the ones of a bookworm, so that wasn’t too surprising.
The speed he saw her read at, however, definitely was. She could cruise through almost a fourth of a 300 page looking book in the one and a half hour she always spent there.
Probably going back home to study. She sometimes wore sweaters with the Harvard Logo on them, so he supposed she was a student.
The fact that he had seen her read poetry was what interested him the most, he would’ve really liked talking about his favourite poet with someone.
After turning eighteen and running away from his abusive dad, he hadn’t put much effort into making or maintaining friendships.
Both because he had to worry about, well, not dying from overwork and starvation, other than as a trait leftover from his high school years. Old habits die hard.
This wasn’t really a big deal for him, on the surface at least. He thought of himself as self-sufficient enough to not need the company of anyone.
But seeing someone that shared his interests sparked in him the desire to connect, which he hadn't felt for the longest time and was one of the scariest things that had happened to him in the last couple of years.
Apart from the time the lady from the floor above accidentally flooded his apartment, destroying his laptop and all the unsaved work inside it.
Thanks a lot, Sharon.
Even if his brain was screaming at him that this was stupid, he was stupid, and this would all end with him being alone like always, he tried striking up a conversation with her the second week she started coming.
“Greetings and salutations. Veronica, right? Just your usual?”, he didn’t want to mention her current book out of the blue, so he thought showing he remembered her would be enough and probably appreciated. Her reaction however had him puzzled.
At first she looked like she really didn’t expect this, it was as if he could see the gears in her brain visually turning, trying to understand what was happening, then proceeding to just furiously nod and later stare at the ground. He could see the ears behind her colorful scarf reddening.
He had to admit that he probably was kind of scary, having piercings and eyebags and all, especially for a girl that looked so soft, so he didn’t think much of her reaction besides that.
I should’ve known it would’ve ended like this, JD thought while preparing the coffee. “Here’s your order, enjoy.”, forcing a grin, as he gave it to her.
She didn’t immediately take the cup, proceeding instead to look like she wanted to say something, mouth slightly agape, eyes slowly drifting from the drink to his face.
“.. Do you read any books?”, she eventually said, a small smile adorning her features.
He was taken aback by the question, mostly because of how random it was. Rethinking about how things went however, he probably ended up staring a lot at her book to avoid eye contact, embarassed of having messed up, so it made sense.
Before he could say anything though, a person in the line started complaining about the wait, making Veronica flush of embarrassment and rush to her table, not waiting for his answer. If he could, JD would've shot them… out of the cafè of course.
For some time later he’d see her come with a friend, having her order for Veronica too. Even when she was alone, she didn’t attempt to make conversation anymore, resigning to simply confirming her order by nodding, avoiding taking any more time than necessary before moving to her seat.
Even if their relationship had been cut short from the start, JD didn’t want to leave things like that. He reasoned that, after leaving his job, he could go back to the cafè and try to find her again.
It had been a couple of weeks since he had last been here. Facing the doors of his ex-job, JD didn’t know if he was making the right choice anymore.
Should he really put himself through all of this trouble just to talk to someone? Where had all of his antisocial tendencies gone?
It was crazy he decided to still go through with this idea after having weeks to think it over. But well, he was crazy, so be it.
Managing to stop his thoughts before they could spiral, he decided to just go in. If he ended up unsuccessful, fuck it, he would go get a slushie. It never hurt to buy one, only to drink it, at least if you were him.
Closing the door behind him, the naturally cozy ambience of what used to be his personal hell welcomed him. It was weird coming back as a customer.
While getting in line, he looked around, trying to spot a familiar pool of messy chestnut hair and long floral skirts. It took him a bit to find her, he was confused when he did see her, as her hair was now more tame and showed way more of her pretty face. But her wardrobe was the biggest change, it had been turned on its head.
Long gone were the long skirts and comfortable shirts, she was wearing a blue blazer that hugged her figure, complete with a plaid miniskirt that seemed way too short for end of November cold.
She was stunning, but she had been pretty before too. What left him even more confused was that she wasn’t alone, she was hanging out with three other girls, who seemingly wore the same color coded outfit as her.
Could they have made her part of their traffic-light colored trio? She didn’t look really engaged in the conversation they were having though, it was all fake smiles and giggles.
During all of the years of moving with his dad, he had seen those attitudes everywhere he went, so much it made him gag.
That was why he hated that what looked like some “popular girls” had taken Veronica away.
He didn’t want to think she wasn’t having a good time, but if she wasn’t… he definitely knew someone that could be better company.
She didn’t even have her books with her, they had stolen the time she spent relaxing by talking about their pointless gossip.
He wouldn’t even mind if she looked like she was having fun, but it was as if they were sucking the life force out of her with each high pitch giggle.
And, worst of all… she wasn’t even drinking her usual! Just the latest trending addition, as he later saw from the menu hanging over the order counter.
All of this combined to form one goal in his mind, get Veronica away from there. With him, if he could manage it.
Getting closer to the group after thanking and tipping his ex-coworker for his coffee, he could start to eavesdrop on them.
He sat in the closest table he could get without being noticed, while still managing to listen. Like this, he ended up a couple of meters from their table, next to the window.
Thankfully the distance, even if not ideal, wasn’t a problem. The girl in red, being the one that talked the most and that seemed the leader, was pretty loud as she spoke.
The info wasn’t useful for now, just some gossip about some Courtney girl and her awful taste in boyfriends and cardigans.
He started thinking about what could be a good excuse to start talking to Veronica. Maybe just going there to say hi…?
Yeah, as if they were actually anything more than near strangers. He didn’t even know if she remembered him!
JD reprimanded himself, had all of the years of solitude really broken his brain that much if he thought this was an actual idea?
While trying to use all of his remaining brain cells to form a coherent plan, the only thing he hadn’t thought would ever happen was thrown at him by the universe.
Veronica lifted her gaze the moment she noticed him sitting a few seats across from her table, her dejected expression immediately shifting, as she was now (intentionally or not) staring right at him.
He didn’t have much time to react. As soon as he saw what was happening, she had gone back to talking to her friends (?), as they slowly turned around one by one to shoot him a glance.
As they resumed talking, he tried his best to listen. Only problem was that now, when it was stuff he actually would have found useful to know, they were talking at the lowest possible volume ever.
He wanted to bang his head on the table.
Perfect, just what he needed. Now, not only had his “be a few steps ahead” plan failed, he also had to improvise with whatever was going to be thrown at him. Why did he ever want to do this “ true human connection” thing again?
As he was reconsidering his life choices, probably for the hundredth time today, he snapped back to his current situation after seeing Veronica stand up, her friends giggling and wishing her good luck.
He was terrified by this turn of events, but did his best to pull his most non-chalant lazy grin as she strode full of confidence to his table. He liked seeing her with this attitude.
“Greetings and salutations, didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I think I’m the one supposed to say that, haven’t seen you around here for three weeks or so.”, she said, lightly giggling. It sounded artificial, he wanted to hear her real laugh. “Is this your day off? Why are you here?” she motioned to the table.
She sounded genuinely confused by this. There was only one problem, he couldn’t just tell her that it was because he wanted to talk to her, he’d seem pathetic, and a stalker probably.
“Well, just wanted to check on how things were going, since I won't be around here anymore.”, he smiled, technically not lying.
“Wait, you actually quit?”, her surprised expression turned bashful while she added, “It’s a shame I won't get to see you as often.”
The girl in front of him was starting to resemble the Veronica he knew, because just now she was averting her gaze as a slight blush appeared on her cheeks.
He might’ve actually had a chance, he just had to play his cards well.
“Just because I won't be here anymore doesn't mean we can’t see each other out of this hell.”, he said, smirking. That earned another blush from her, before a playful glint appeared in her eyes.
“I get that customer service isn’t the best, but this place is way too cozy to be compared to hell.”, she said, swatting the air with her hand, trying to conceal the look of slight anticipation on her face. “I mean, look at the ivy covered walls and lo-fi music. If hell looks anything like a cozy french cafè in the midst of Boston, then sign me up immediately.”
He had to take the opportunity as it passed him by.
“Oh you haven’t seen anything if you say this. Try to come and work here on a Monday morning at 5 am, trying to reason with a line of people that are both sleep deprived and caffeine addicts. Lemme tell you, it’s not very nice.”
At that, she let out her first honest laugh. It was a little awkward, but listening to it made his heart warm up with affection. It was weird, feeling so attached to someone you just met. Before coming to the conclusion that, for him, it was weird to feel something towards anyone at all.
Deciding to just stop rationalizing everything (at least for now), he continued building onto the joke.
“And don’t get me started on the teens that come in only to order what’s trending, before realising it’s sold out and making a fuss about it.” he said with a deadpan expression, trying to sound as tired as he felt when he worked at the cafè.
“Hey! What’s wrong with getting trendy drinks?”, she wasn’t serious in tone, he knew she was just teasing, but it also did look like she felt slightly attacked. Probably because her usual order was one of the most popular options from the regular menu.
That was a small oopsie on his part, but he would recover quickly.
“Oh nothing, nothing. Those are actually the easiest ones to prepare for us, we know them by heart.”, winking at her as he said it, a grin forming on his lips.
Instead of blushing and remaining speechless like he expected her to, she crossed her arms, lifting one of her eyebrows, “Didn’t you just say you hated those?”
“No, no.”, adding hand gestures and shaking his head for emphasis. “The people that have their own special, ultra complicated order are definitely the worst.”
She still didn’t look quite convinced, so he knew he had to pull his best lawyerly defence to save himself.
“Belive me, they are. They will come in like they own the place, telling you to make something completely out of this world, that not even a madman would drink if the alternative was the electric chair. All while boasting about it, saying how ‘different’ they are. Buddy, if you actually were you wouldn’t be here, ordering at a damn Starbucks imitation.”
The speech thankfully worked, she was slightly stunned by how fast he talked, before bursting into another one of her laughs. After calming down enough to breathe, she quipped, ”Maybe that’s the whole reason they don’t go directly to Starbucks.”
“Touchè, I guess that supporting small evil corporations instead of big ones still counts for something. Support local businesses and all of that.” He was grinning again by this point, enjoying the way he managed to make her smile.
“You sure have a lot of opinions on your customers.”
“Trust me, if you also worked here most days out of the last two years, you’d say the same things as me.”
After this, there was a brief pause, like she was thinking carefully on how to word something, eyes wandering, before matching his gaze again.
“Then, because you have so many thoughts about them.. what do you think about me?”, she looked up at him expectantly.
He didn’t think about what to say twice, he didn’t need to.
“That you are definitely the most interesting one.”
She looked away, face flushed, caught off guard by how genuine he sounded. He thought it would be stupid to hide his feelings, especially if he could risk losing her.
“You flatter me, but”, she said, starting to play with a strand of her hair, “can I ask why?”
JD stopped in his tracks, why her of all people? He… couldn’t really explain it, but it felt right, like they were meant to meet. Which left him wanting to know everything about her.
“I don’t think there is a specific reason, I'm just interested in you being, well, you. With all of the little things that are implied. How you drink your coffee, what you like to read, it just leaves me feeling like I want to know more.”
As he said this, he could see her grow redder by the minute. By the time he finished, she had become a tomato.
He guessed this was a good thing, he mentally gave himself a pat on the back. For once, his brain wasn’t protesting his doings.
“Why don’t we go on a walk then? I also want to get to know you more.”, she boldly proclaimed, face still flushed, even if less than before.
That took him out of his head. Truthfully, he couldn’t say his words were any less direct than hers. He loved seeing her like this.
Instead of letting his brain rest on that thought for even half a second, he immediately replied to her.
“Good idea, I have bad memories of trying to talk to you here.”, a smile she tried-to-but-couldn’t-contain crept onto her face. Did she think he had forgotten their first meeting?
“Sounds good to me, we should talk in front of a cup of coffee though, I really can’t live without it.”
“If you trust me on where we’ll go i’ll make you taste something you actually won’t be able to live without.” She raised an eyebrow at that, but conceded and decided to just follow him.
Spoiler alert, Veronica didn’t get addicted to brain freezes. The unholy amount of sugar in slushies, however, did the job. Mission accomplished.