The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 13

Six Years Ago

She had two months left and she was done. So many years of schooling had finally paid off; she was hardly even stressed about her exams because she knew what she was doing. She had finally accomplished the one thing she had spent eight years on. Since she was in early high school, she knew what she wanted to do. Having pursued it and finally achieved it, she couldn't have felt better about herself. Many hiccups along the way had not stopped her, thanks to the urging and persistence of her ever-caring brother, Nick. Alice had done internships and really knew that the career she chose was the one that she loved. She was never going to regret the long days, the hard work, the effort, the learning, not even the student loans that would take her years to pay back.

She gripped her coffee, the fourth of the day and it was hardly mid afternoon, and picked her books up off of the counter after she'd paid for her drink. Turning around, she avoided the people in the line up behind her at the coffee shop. She was a regular there, the barista's knew her name and her orders throughout the day. Regular coffee in the morning, iced coffee midday, and soy caramel macchiato's in the evening. She tipped well, she was friendly, people liked her. It was a small coffee shop just two blocks away from the university; many of the students liked to relax or study there. Walking around the long line, she went for the door, but as she reached for it, someone pushed it open and it knocked the books from her hands. With much experience in similar situations, she managed to not spill her coffee all over her, as she had time and time before.

Her coffee held high in the air to make sure not a drop was spilled, she let her books fall to the ground. Her first instinct a few years ago would have been to angrily pick up her books, but eight years of psychology and learning to keep down any unnecessary conflict, she simply smiled at the man who was staring wide eyed. His apologies spewed out as he crouched down and picked up her books. Alice picked up a few as well, and both of them came to a stand, facing each other. His soft eyes studied her, and he looked abashed, nervous, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." She smiled. "Clearly you need a coffee."

He laughed, sort of awkwardly at first, and then nodded. "I definitely need a coffee."

"I haven't seen you here before; the soy caramel macchiato is perfect here."

"Well... thank you." He smiled. "Uhm,"

She raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear what he was going to say.

"Want to... have a coffee with me?" he asked.

"No," she replied, she had a class to get to.

"Oh." He nodded. "I, uh, I understand."

"Meet me here at 7 tonight?"

"Oh!" She was throwing him for a loop, but it was keeping him on his toes. Her bright smile was warm, welcoming, something that came naturally to her. "Yeah, definitely."