4/7/2024 Café... CrazyBy: Ava Cerami Six feet tall. Slick black hair and warm, chestnut colored eyes. The sides of his mouth turned up and dimples etched upon both cheeks. Golden, round glasses falling down a perfectly straight nose. A long beige trench coat draped around him, covering up a navy woolen sweater. A cup of coffee nestled in his hand. He drank it black. At least I presume.
I had come to memorize the man's appearance. I mean, seeing a man every day for almost a year can do that to you. His name was Oliver E. Sterling. He was an up and coming author- probably writing poetry or something sophisticated like that- and he graduated from Harvard University. As a sophisticated man, of course he loves to watch old black and white films of all sorts. Though he's no snob, he's a dog person and finds favoring cats a mundane choice. He has two dogs of his own in fact: a rottweiler terrier and a poodle (though he doesn't tell his friends about the poodle part). He prefers the mountains to the beach and is always listening to interesting podcasts from really fascinating and accomplished people. He is always wearing his earbuds. None of this was true, of course. But I liked to think there was a possibility that some of it could be. I had never spoken a word to this man. I'd always loved to people watch. Ever since I can remember I would just sit there and be fascinated watching other people. I mean, when I was four years old my mother said I would sit on the patio like an eighty year old- yes, newspaper in hand and all!- just watching the neighbors pass by. And I would make up these incredibly in depth stories about them…heck, I still do!...to the point that I felt I knew the person. Maybe that's why I decided to become an author. Oh! More on me? My name is Anaya Lenore. Currently I am sitting in the booth of my favorite Café….Café Loca in España. I'm studying abroad. I'm wearing a cozy pair of gray sweats with my strawberry blonde hair in a messy bun atop my head and an old, chunky pair of headphones cover my ears blasting my own complication of old jazz and techno beats. My order today is an iced chai lattee with extra foam. I feel like coffee order says a lot about a person. Mr. Sterling probably has a small cup of black coffee. Or maybe a cappuccino, I feel like fancy people always order cappuccinos in movies. With extra foam and- "That's a nice drawing." I become mildly aware that someone is speaking over the melody of Louis Armstrong. I look up from my pen and paper and nearly knock over my laptop and latte as I see his face. I awkwardly tear off my headphones and throw them around my neck. "Um what?" I say. God, of course my voice sounds gravelly. The corner of his lip pulls up into a smirk and I swear there is a star in his left eye which is focused upon me and only me. "Your drawing," he indicates my pad of yellowish paper with a tilt of the head. "It's really good." (Only in my head, he said "sincerely magnificent"…something smarter) "Oh thanks," I say, closing my notebook with an embarrassed, closed mouth smile. Put the dots together; who do you think the drawing is of? "Well," he gives a charming smile. "Have a nice one." With a polite nod, he turns. A line in a story or poem enters my head: There he goes, walking away You missed your chance Gone without even a glance Should have made him stay! "Wait!" I squeak. He turns around-like they do in the movies-and I realize I don't know what I plan on saying. Somehow I needed to learn more.I had waited my whole life- okay, maybe a few months- to meet this man and I wasn't giving up now! I give a childish grin before asking: "Would you like to join me?" Comments are closed.
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