Page 1 of Charlie
Prologue
Coffee Confusion
Charles
The comforting aroma of coffee hit me as soon as I opened the door and stepped into one of the coffee shops on campus. For a Wednesday morning the line wasn’t too long, but most of the tables were taken by study groups who preferred the informal setting over the study hall at the library.
Without making eye contact with the guy behind the register, I gave my order. “I’ll just have a large Americano.”
“Any snacks or pastry with that today?”
“No thanks.”
“All right. What’s the name for the order?”
“Charlie.”
“Okay, we’ll have your coffee coming right up.”
Moving over to let other customers give their orders, I scanned the room but saw no one that I knew. It wasn’t surprising, since I was no social butterfly and the people that I considered friends were few. With thousands of students on campus it was rare that I ran into anyone I knew by chance.
The loud sound of a chair scraping over the floor drew my attention when a young woman got up from her group and walked to the counter to study the coffee shop’s display of cakes and sandwiches.
The knitted sweater she had on was dark blue and looked worn, which made me think this was one of her favorites. It fell over her left shoulder revealing her smooth skin and a thin white lace bra-strap that made it impossible for me not to envision what the rest of that bra looked like on her. She wasn’t wearing any make-up and her long curly brown hair was damp as if she’d showered and hurried out the door, but with her feminine curves and symmetrical features, she stood out to me as an example of natural beauty.
“Can I have one of your cinnamon rolls and a hot chocolate?” The natural beauty pushed her right hand into her back pocket to fish out some crumpled-up dollars. It was impossible not to notice how round and perfect her behind was. Calculating the amount of sugar that she would be indulging in, I wondered how she managed to look like she lived off broccoli and seaweed.
She talked with the barista as if they were old friends and they laughed about his claim that he could eat a whole cinnamon bun in one bite. He was flirting with her and I watched in fascination how easy he made it seem.
I would’ve shaved off a whole grade point from my last exam to act that natural and relaxed around women. For me it was the opposite as beautiful women like her made me nervous, which was stupid since they never even looked in my direction.
A female barista interrupted them when she addressed the guy at the register, “You need to take your break now before the lunch rush comes in. I’ll handle the store.”
“Yes, boss.” He gave another smile to his cute customer and handed a cup to his colleague. “She wants a hot chocolate.”
“Okay, I’ll take care of it.”
He nodded like it was no big deal, while I sighed because I hated waiting on my coffee and now there would be one less employee working.
The young man left and the noisy coffee machine drowned out conversations around the café. When Miss Natural Beauty looked over at me, flames shot up my neck and my tics kicked in so I turned my attention upon a community board, focusing on reading notes about tutoring, cooking classes, roommate opportunities, and sales of school books.
“Hey.”
Turning my head, I saw that she had moved over to stand next to me.
“Hey.” I avoided eye contact and pretended to be very interested in the information on the board.
“Are you looking at that support group? My friend Brian is involved in it. Have you been?”
My heart was pumping and I felt my shyness pull up the protective shield of indifference that I’d perfected in my twenty-four years of living.
“Been where?”
She nodded to the note that she must have thought I was studying.
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