You Found Me

“Two medium mocha iced coffees, regular, please,” I ordered at the front counter to the cute guy waiting on me. His smile was perfect, his teeth so white that they made the snow cower in shame. He had a dimple in the middle of his chin, which was covered with very light stubble, as if he had forgotten to shave that morning.

“Anything else?” he asked, glancing up at me for a second, revealing blue eyes the exact same color as robins’ eggs.

“That should do it, thanks,” I replied, feeling my face flush a little as my smile grew from friendly to goofy.

He listed off the amount displayed on the little screen in front of him, and I handed over the money after the short hesitation it took to find the correct bills in my wallet.

“They’ll be ready in just a minute,” he assured me before turning around and busying himself on readying the coffees.

I turned around and leaned against the counter on my elbows, looking around the room. Diana, dressed in a bright blue sweatshirt and jean skirt, had claimed a table by the window. She’d already taken out her worn copy of Pride and Prejudice, which she was rereading in order to write an analysis paper for her English class, and started to read. It was incredible, how regal and serene she managed to look, although she was completely surrounded by chaos.

“All set,” the male voice from earlier said behind me.

Grinning, I turned around and picked up the coffees. “Thank you!” I granted before heading over to the table.

“Here you go,” I announced as I neared Diana, placing one of the plastic cups in front of her. “Now you can have your caffeine.”

She stared at the cup for a second before glancing up at me, her blue eyes seeming to bore holes right through my very being. “How exactly am I supposed to drink this if I don’t have a straw?”

I glanced again at the table top, my eyebrows creasing in confusion when I realized that she was right: I'd totally forgotten the second most important part of the equation. “Just take the top off and sip it,” I offered with a sassy little smirk, one of the things I’d picked up from my roommate in the past two weeks we’d been living together.

“How about no?” she repeated in a deadpan tone before laughing. “You’re still standing. Why don’t you just go get them?”

I huffed dramatically as I slammed my coffee down on the table and spun around on my heel to retrieve the straws we so desperately needed for our drinks.

Once I sat back down at the table, Diana opened her straw and started to drink her mocha-flavored coffee without taking her eyes out of the book. Her extremely long hair was tied into a braid, extending over her shoulder and down her torso as her eyes scanned the pages.

I sat awkwardly, my hands clasped in my lap, leaning forward every few minutes to take a sip of my own drink.

“I can feel you watching me,” Diana mumbled suddenly. “And it’s starting to get creepy.”

I snickered a couple of times. “Then stop reading in front of me! We came here to take a break from schoolwork, not pick up where we left off when we finally escaped.”

“This isn’t schoolwork to me,” she defended. “This is one of my all-time favorite books.”

“But it’s old. Isn’t it hard to read?”

“No. The language isn’t that bad.”

I appraised her skeptically before sighing. “Okay, if you say so. I don’t believe it, though.”

“Ain’t nobody got time for this argument,” she joked, bobbing her head back and forth before laughing. “By the way, that guy behind the counter is staring at you.”

Of course, instead of acting cool, my head immediately snapped in that direction. And, just as Diana had said, the guy was watching me. When our eyes connected, he raised a hand in a short wave before turning back to the customer trying to order.

“Oooo, child,” she cooed, leaning forward in her seat, “he’s cute.”

“I know,” I agreed. But there was a pang in my stomach. What about Harry?

But what about Harry? Harry and I were over. I’d broken up with him, and I was positive he had moved on. There was no way a boy that looked like him could stay single for long. Especially when he was surrounded with brilliant, beautiful girls at Columbia. They could keep a guy like him entertained.

“Hello?” Diana questioned, snapping a couple of times in front of my vision field. “Anyone up there?”

“Sorry,” I muttered. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should go up to him and tell him your name. And then maybe ask for his number. Because he is attractive, and I’m not sure he’s blinked since he started looking at you.”

I snickered before shaking my head. “No, he’s probably just looking out the window. I’m sure he’s not staring at me.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, giving me one of the scariest death glares I’d ever seen in my life. “Leigh Petty, I swear to God, if you don’t go up and get his number, I’ll do it for you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

There was a long silence between us, both of us daring the other to back down and give in. But neither of us budged.

Finally, noting that the counter was empty, I scraped my chair back and marched over in his direction. At first, I’d been confident, feeling my sundress swish against my thighs, but the closer I got, the faster the butterflies multiplied. By the time I reached my destination, my knees were wobbling, and I was almost afraid that I was going to pass out. What was I doing, making the first move? That was so far out of my comfort zone.

“Hey,” the guy started, smiling that grin at me. “Forget something?”

“I guess you could say that,” I fired back, my face taking on the same expression his had, hoping that I was being witty. “I’m Leigh.”

“Will,” he responded smoothly. “What can I do for you?”

I blinked, not really sure what I was supposed to say. I kind of figured he’d just offer his number, totally smitten by my charm.

But I should have remembered that I didn’t actually have charm. That was why Harry and I worked: he had enough for the both of us.

“What college do you go to?” I asked instead, hoping that a little small talk would lead him more casually to my goal.

“Fordham University,” he replied. “What about you?”

“I go to NYU.”

“Wow, that’s an awesome school. Congratulations. What are you majoring in?”

“I haven’t declared one yet. I’m not exactly sure which way I want to go.”

“Oh, that makes sense. You still have time, right? What year are you?”

“Freshman.” Just as I finished my word, a middle-aged woman walked up to the counter, looking slightly impatient that the guy behind the counter was holding a separate conversation, as if she were anticipating having to wait for hours for him to finish.

Will held up one finger to tell me to hold on a moment before taking care of the woman’s order. It was lengthy and complicated, and it took almost ten minutes before he was able to talk to me again.

“So do you think you’d want to hang out sometime?” he asked, smiling shyly.

“I’d have to see if I could fit you into my busy schedule,” I teased, putting one hand into the pocket of my brown leather jacket and pulling out my phone. “Why don’t you give me your number? I’ll text you so you have mine, and then we can set up a date. Or something.”

He nodded and retrieved the cell to program his number into it. “I guess I’ll talk to you later, Leigh.”

I felt a butterfly or two flutter around in my stomach before I repeated his words back to him and departed from the counter.

Diana was waiting expectantly as I made my way back to the table, standing up and gathering her stuff. “What happened?” she whispered.

“Scored his number,” I answered back in a fast, excited voice. “And he kind of asked me out.”

Diana laughed and said, “I was right!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”