by Cherry Kay
Her father laughed, adjusting his rearview mirror.
“Your seatbelts tight, guys? We’ve got an impatient driver behind,” her father said, eyeing the trailer truck that was speeding up, ready to overtake.
In a split second, the truck’s tire blew out, and it careened sideways.
“Daddy!” she screamed as the trailer hit the bumper of their SUV.
She saw her mother take one last look at her, her eyes wide in horror, but at the same time trying to assure her that everything was going to be fine…
She woke up with a start. The nightmares seemed to magnify every time it was near her parents’ death anniversary. It was two months away. In four months she would be graduating. The sudden prospect of her all grown up terrified her. Her heart began to beat erratically. She closed her eyes, feeling herself grow cold. This was just another one of those days. She was going to be fine. Alexis could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She squeezed her closed eyes tighter, feeling tears stinging in the corners of it.
She didn’t need medications or therapy. She was fine alone and she survived well. She curled up into a ball on her couch and forced her thoughts to stop racing so quickly. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” she thought to herself over and over again, “I’ll get over this soon, I’ll forget it. I’ll be fine.”
Chapter Three
Shaun walked into the café with searching eyes. He had come straight from practice, fresh from a quick shower, his red 1965 Mustang parked a few meters across from the café. He saw a couple of collegiate women looking at him, some staring intently even, at the newcomer. He obviously wasn’t a constant patron. With good reason. He looked especially clean this afternoon, his hair had been brushed and he had shaved his beard. He wore a plain black, slim fit shirt and dark blue jeans with his favorite Converse sneakers. He had his duffel bag hanging on one shoulder.
He was in luck. There she was, at the counter. “Hi,” he said smoothly.
She looked up and greeted him with a practiced smile. “Hello, what will you be having?”
“Well… I’m kinda new to this place. What do you recommend?”
“Got insomnia?” she asked quickly, “ ‘cause I won’t recommend coffee. Or if you’re watching your diet, I can recommend tea instead.”
“Nope, no special diet. No insomnia either. But what’s not coffee or tea?”
“Our Fruit Freezes are actually pretty good,” Alexis told him, looking at him but at the same time, not really looking at him.
But he was looking at her. Really looking at her. She was prettier up close. At five feet and five inches, she was tiny compared to his frame, but he still thought it suited her. He noted she had light colored eyes, almost a golden brown, with a shock of black and wavy shoulder length hair. It was no-nonsense hair that still looked girly and quick to maintain.
“Uh, yeah so which Fruit Freeze?” he said, blinking. Yeah, earth to Shaun.
She eyed the glass chiller beside the counter and he followed her gaze. He saw ready-to-drink and see through plastic cups with blended fruit drinks inside them. He shook his head. Then he pointed to a drink on the menu board and he didn’t even bother reading the description.
“Are you sure you want that?” she asked him with a tinge of bartending concern.
“What’s not to like about it?” he said with an air of detachment.
She shrugged. “Your call. Can I have your name, please?”
“Shaun,” he told her, handing her a bill.
“Alright, Shaun, your drink’s coming up in a few.”
“Will you serve it?”
“Self-service only,” she said, pointing to a sign above her.
“Well, it’s a special request for someone new,” he said, trying to sound as charming as possible.
“Full house today, I hope you understand,” Alexis replied, lowering her voice.
His mouth drew into a line. “Alright then. I’ll just be waiting.”
“I’m sure you’ll be,” she said, no longer looking at him.
A customer was waiting behind him and he sighed, stepping away to find a table and chair.
“Hi, the usual?”
He heard her cheery voice as he walked away. He found no places to sit in. And he certainly didn’t want to share seats with the college girls. They looked eager to do so, though, even subtly vacating seats with their bags on it. He saw an empty table and two chairs at al fresco and decided to stay there instead. He was within view of the counter, at the same time it wouldn’t be too obvious if he observed her once in a while.
Knowing where she worked was pretty easy. It wasn’t creepy though, as Dan Matthew’s daughter was pretty popular in the business and economics department. She was even on the university’s official Facebook page under the journal roster. Her Facebook account was private, yet he saw her photos on various pages. She was honestly a looker. And with a little help- fine, a lot of help from Dennis (honestly the guy gossiped like a girl sometimes), he quickly found out where she worked part-time.
He wondered how brainy she was. Dan Matthews didn’t seem like the academic type and neither was his wife. He’d only seen Dan’s wife twice though, the nice lady with colorful scarves who made awesome banana bread.
“There are seats inside, you know,” a voice interrupted his thoughts.
He looked sideways to see Alexis holding a tray with his drink on it.
“Sorry, didn’t notice. Besides I liked a bit of quiet today. This umbrella helped,” he said.
“An umbrella. Right.” Alexis placed the mug in front of him.
He stared at the drink. What the hell was this? It looked like normal coffee but there was a random biscuit or chocolate thingy at the edge of the mug.
She turned around just as he called out for her. “Hey.”
She spun and looked at him, tray beside a hip. “Yes?”
“What is this?”
“What you ordered. Tim Tam Coffee.”
“What the hell is that?”
“A biscotti,” she replied dispassionately.
“Well what’s biscotti?” he asked, irritated that he didn’t know, “I didn’t pay for a drink I don’t know about.”
“Well you just did,” she said, trying to control herself from calling him names. She took a deep breath. “I asked you if you were sure. You said yes. Apparently, you were fantasizing when you ordered.”
“I paid $6 for this? A biscuit my mother could make and coffee I could brew myself?”
“Leave a note if you aren’t satisfied,” she told him tartly, “but don’t leave notes telling us what kind of idiot orders coffee doesn’t ask about it.”
His face flushed red. He was losing his cool. He was supposed to impress her. “How do you go about this?” he asked, trying to change his tone.
She didn’t want anything to do with him. “We have free Wi-Fi. You can research about it. Now, I have to get back if you don’t have any additional orders. Excuse me.”
Well, damn it, he thought. But this Tim Tam coffee got the best of his curiosity. He found a website with an explanation about it. So it was an Australian drink. And you used the wafer as a straw to drink the coffee. What in the hell-? He felt like an idiot, following a coffee lover’s instructions.
Those guys down under must have had a lot of time on their hands to discover this method of coffee drinking…
“Shit,” he exclaimed as the coffee dripped from the biscuit. He quickly wiped away the coffee trailing down his chin. He looked up to see Alexis smiling at what had happened to him, it was as if she had laughed, only to stop as soon as he saw her. He gave an embarrassed smile, but he could feel irritation grow again.
Smooth, real smooth. He was coming back tomorrow. And he hoped she would be there.
***
“Really?” Alexis muttered under her breath, seeing the douchebag from yesterday return once more. She sighed deeply and knew he would have more time to badger her. She could sense his meager efforts at trying to get her numb
er or at least spark a nonsensical conversation with her.
“What’ll it be for today?” she asked him, concocting another proficient smile.
“Something else,” he told her, “Didn’t realize it was a messy drink.”
“It wasn’t if you knew how to drink it.”
“You could have taught me,” Shaun responded with a leer.
“Full house yesterday.”
“Today isn’t too busy.”
“I’m sure you’ll be having something else.”
“Yeah, something easier. I don’t have the grace for this.”
“Or the patience,” she said. Then she cleared her throat. Well, she didn’t really mean to say that aloud… “So what’ll it be?” she asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.
“Right,” Shaun said taking a breath and giving a strained smile. He scanned the menu board, careful to read the descriptions this time. He sneered at something.
“What’s wrong?” Alexis asked him, looking up as well.
“That drawing is terrible,” Shaun said with a laugh.
Alexis saw the cake of the day (blueberries) on a chalkboard. Yes, it was terrible. At least that was honest. She faced him again. “Glad to know you hate my drawing.”
Oh shit, Shaun thought. He suddenly wanted to kick himself in the shin if he could. He took another deep breath, feeling his ears burn. He could almost imagine a vein ticking on her forehead.
“I’ll have a toffee macchiato,” he quickly said.
She drew up figures on the register and he paid the exact amount and walked away, willing for the embarrassment to leave his face. Alexis shook her head, looking at his figure. She had seen many idiots in her life, but he was ingratiating. A few minutes later, she asked her coworker, Janine to call out his name as she slipped to the back office.
“Toffee macchiato for Shaun!” a voice called out.
He looked up from his seat and was disappointed to see it wasn’t Alexis. A grinning barista stood in replacement. “Where was the barista that took my order?” he asked.
“Break,” Janine quickly replied, her eyes concentrated on him.
He shook his head, muttered a “thanks” and walked back for his table, glancing at the counter once in a while. Alexis never once surfaced. He had waited for a full thirty minutes. His jaw clenched, he stood up and walked out.
“Please come again!” Janine said aloud in a shrill voice.
At that moment, Alexis came back out.
“That was a pretty long break,” Janine said wryly.
“Paper work,” Alexis replied shortly.
“Which you could have done at the end of your shift. By the way, that guy was hot. Like really hot. Looked pretty familiar though.”
Alexis shrugged. “Pretty annoying, you mean.”
Janine laughed. It was nice to feel a change of emotions come from Alexis. Even if it seemed apathetic. She looked at Alexis again who was busy cleaning a tea strainer. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was waiting for you to come out again.”
Of course, you don’t know any better, Alexis thought. She just shrugged again. She saw a customer approach the counter and she was thankful for once that another human being entered her space. “Hi, what’ll it be for today?” she said with a bright smile.
Chapter Four
Shaun remembered Dennis’ question earlier during water break. How were things going with the whole “getting to know Alexis Matthews’?” Well, yeah. How were things going? Terrible. Like her drawing. Terrible, like how he behaved.
“A bit of a challenge, but I’m having fun,” he had told Dennis. Which was a total lie. He had been going there for four days straight and not once did he get to talk to her again. She didn’t even take his orders. She wouldn’t even look at him. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing to Michael Avila no matter how trivial it was. Well, there was nothing trivial about getting into the big league…
He had gotten home at past nine in the evening, enjoying a beer and pizza night with Dennis and a few of the bearable ones on the team. No practice tomorrow, which meant he had time to slack off. But he didn’t want to. He decided to visit his grandfather who lived an hour away in a nursing home. It was better than visiting his father, for sure.
He turned on his TV and skimmed through channels, hoping to get to sleep early with the boredom of the shows playing that night. Seeing a documentary, he stopped. The woman on the screen looked familiar. Ah yes, Dorothy Dandridge. He gave a short laugh. Ms. Dandridge had similar features with Alexis Matthews. That was some A-list genetics right there to look like a classic Hollywood actress. Good job, Dan.
He found himself thinking about Alexis this time. It was like a little itch that wouldn’t leave him. He had to make progress and fast. He was losing precious time. And that meant making it big. He needed Dan’s approval and a glowing recommendation. He did have that in college, right before he got suspended from the last two games of the season. He frowned, remembering that. And he recalled his father’s rant about raising decent sons and character build-up.
“We aren’t in a war, son,” his father had repeated over and over, “you weren’t in my war where it was a matter of life and death!”
His normally stoical mother had cried. And he felt helpless and just a bit remorseful. The guy he had kicked required surgery. But then again he deserved it, he thought. That guy never got to play pro, he thought with relish. Then he realized he hadn’t been playing pro either. He shook his head, determined to make things work in his favor.
If relationships had failed him, football certainly wouldn’t. The last girlfriend he had was over a year ago, when he was still working with his father. This was his gap-year from extreme football practice. His father had retired with a comfortable pension from the military and had opened a small, yet successful private security agency. It didn’t go well, working with his father. He was demanding, a different kind of demanding. A nagging kind. Add that to an equally nagging girlfriend and it was a recipe for a disastrous year.
The money he had gotten from practice was meager, but it was better than going through that again. Plus, his grandfather made sure to help him through. Which was why he loved his grandfather more than most of his family. The World War II veteran was decorated and had been a jet pilot and became a New York’s bestselling author for a couple of espionage novels.
“Just a couple more years, Shaun,” he would tell him every time he visited the nursing home, “Then you’ll see your name on screens and billboards and juice tetra packs!”
Shaun would laugh it off, half confident he would make it and half afraid he would fail a family of overachievers. His mother, although a homemaker, topped the pharmaceutical board exams in the early 80s. His older brothers were also in the military, carving out a name for themselves with the well-decorated Bradford family name. He was the only disappointment, he over heard this in a conversation his father d had with a few relatives when his grandmother died a few years ago.
Well, screw them, he thought at that time. Now it might as well have been “screw me.” He felt that circumstances were derailing him from his lifelong goal.
He would see her again tomorrow. And he would do better than the previous efforts. Charm, Shaun, charm. Nothing makes a woman’s legs buckle than ultimate charisma.
***
She wasn’t there. He knew she wasn’t, as he had spent the last twenty minutes trying to check from across the café. No signs of the dark haired beauty anywhere. Perhaps he could ask for her number? He sighed and got out of his car, feeling the cool air around him. It was nearing the end of April and pollen season was never kind to him. As soon as he got into the café, he saw the same barista from two days ago.
“Hi there. I see you’re back,” Janine flirted a bit.
“I guess I’m starting to like your coffee,” he replied awkwardly.
“Aww you’re so cute,” Janine told him, “Alexis would totally hate you,” she added with a laugh.
“Her name’s Alexis?” he pretended not to know.
“Oh please,” Janine said, “I bet you stalked her on Facebook and asked everyone about her.”
He stopped in his tracks and decided to go with the flow. He grinned sheepishly and that grin made Janine giggle. “Well, I’m not really good with this. I only just saw her a few days ago. She’s kinda cute.”
“I don’t think she’s the relationship type,” Janine said, “Anyway, what’ll it be? I’ll be getting a full house in a few, so better make this order quick.”
“I’ll have a Fruit Freeze and Alexis’ number,” he said.
Janine laughed again. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not.”
“My colleague is emotionally unavailable,” Janine told him.
“You’ll have to cancel my order then,” he said with a grin.
Janine sighed. “What is it with the guys and Alexis,” she muttered.
“What’s with that?”
“A lot try to date her, trust me. She just doesn’t want to date anyone.”
“Maybe she’ll change her mind with me,” Shaun said.
“You’re full of yourself,” Janine rolled her eyes.
“If I wasn’t, I’d be dead in games.”
“Quarterback?”
“Not yet,” Shaun said with irritation, “so what do you say?”
She looked up the ceiling for a moment, as if giving it much deliberation. “She always gets the attention.”
“Are you single?” Shaun asked her with a sudden plan.
“Yes,” Janine said with a coquettish smile, “why?”
“I have a lot of friends who are in the league.”
“College boys?” Janine said rolling her eyes.
“Nah, we’ve all long finished college,” Shaun said with a gleam in his eyes, “so what do you think? Her number for a potential date.”
Janine narrowed her eyes.
A few minutes later, Shaun walked out with Alexis’ number and a cool drink in hand.
***
Alexis was busy reading chapter 3 of her thesis proposal. She knew the deadline was months away but it didn’t hurt to write a little and review what she had been thinking about since yesterday. A contingency plan for a contingency plan. Her proposal had already been approved and she knew her instructors were eager to see the finished product.