Coffee Buds

Prologue: The Coffee Shop

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'Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's caffeine.' - Anonymous.

Amanda was not the sort of person that acted on a whim. She had everything mapped up to a T and never did anything off schedule. She had the same breakfast—varying on each day of the week— and the same went for her lunches and dinners. Thus if her class schedule didn't interfere with her off school activities. She bought her clothes with the same texture—polyester— slept on silk sheets and pillowcases, bathed at exactly 6:45.

She never stepped out of her routines. Doing so would mean being sloppy, and being sloppy led to disorganization. And when she was disorganized, chaos broke and that usually led her into uncomfortable situations.

She always had to make sure she was prepared for just about anything. That was why she studied her lectures a week before the class so that she wasn't taken by surprise. If she had plans with anyone, she'd need a few days notice to get her affairs in order before she could go.

That was how her life worked. Order.

"You are so fucking uptight!"

The words played in her head over and over again. The words had come out of a guy she had tried to get involved with, romantically. Dating was the most out of character thing she allowed herself. Though she always made sure that her time with him was on her schedule.

Amanda lived by her schedule.

Her latest try at a relationship had decided to surprise her. Getting tired of meeting up when it was convenient for her.

To Amanda, he had ventured off schedule and ruined a pretty good study session and made her lose track of where she was. Now she had to rearrange everything and make sure that she was on track and had enough time to revise just before the exam.

Of course, he had been pissed that she was prioritizing her studies over him. And she was pissed that he showed up a few hours before schedule. Harsh words were exchanged and Amanda could barely get a hold on her emotions, nonetheless her thoughts. She never did anything when he walked out on her and the weekend that followed. It was the first time since her mom died that she lost track of everything. Her world was tilting to the side and everything was falling over.

She felt like she lost the little control she had over her life.

Amanda had no idea how much her ex's words had got to her until that Monday morning when she didn't feel like following her perfectly planned schedule. She opted out of using her normal route to school and took a turn instead of going straight. She hadn't used this route since she moved into the city.

She was capable of not following her schedule. She just chose not to. Now Michael could eat his words.

For the first time in a while she felt the thrill of excitement as she walked down the street. Everything was new in her eyes, from the pedestrians mostly focused on their phones, to the shops that aligned the street. Both new and old.

The chime of a bell caught her attention and she looked to where the noise had come from. A cute little coffee shop made of brownstone was nestled between two towering buildings.

The last time she stepped into a coffee shop was when she was seven years old with her mom. She took a deep breath to cool the pang in her heart.

She could see through the floor to ceiling windows that the shop had people of all kinds. It was welcoming. Curiosity got the best of her and she walked to the coffee shop. Caffeine wasn't something she needed like most of her fellow students. She ran on routine alone. It's not like she never had the urge to try on the drinks that seem to be saving people's careers and schoolwork, she just never had the time. It never would have fit into her schedule.

The bell chimed above her as she opened the door and stepped into the busy coffee shop. Loud chatter and coffee beans greeted her arrival. She looked around the room, and saw people sitting on the high tables, others were in line to get in their orders, and what looked to be hippies sitting on a couch on the far left wall. Most of the people looked to be business individuals and most of their focused was on their phones and once in a while taking a sip of their drinks.

The counter had two boys who looked to be her age if not older who worked in sync. One with white dyed hair was near the machines making various drinks, and the other one with cropped dark hair received orders, typed them down on the monitor and wrote them down on to go cups or shouted them to his friend, as he manned the counter.

Amanda checked her watch and saw that she had a little over half an hour to get to school. She could use some coffee or something. She looked to the board that had different drinks that the shop served and couldn't figure out what to order.

She had heard the names of the drinks as people conversed in the shop and her classmates, but for the life of her she didn't know what to order. Maybe it was a bad idea to come in here and not know what to do.

She looked to the baristas and caught the cropped haired guy's light brown eyes, and he offered her an encouraging smile. It was like he knew she was close to fleeing. His eyes didn't linger as he proceeded to write the person in front of him's order into the monitor.

Amanda found herself standing on the line.

She was sure she would get her order by the time she reached the front. They were like five people in front of her.

She looked to the board again and the words seemed to be blurring and disarranging. She bit the inside of her cheek. This was not the time for her dyslexia to act up. She had a handle on it on most days but sometimes this seemed to happen. Especially when she felt under pressure.

The line moved and her legs moved without her even noticing. She concentrated on the words on the board as they continued to move around again. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, counted to ten and looked up again. But it was too late, she was in front of the counter.

"What are your preferences?"

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CheekySally