Alaska || Auston Matthews

twenty

ALASKA

I left Steph's shortly after Mitch and Auston left for practice because Steph had classes. In fact, she's had classes all week. However, I'm not too upset about it because I've been enjoying my alone time. It's good to take a break from the people you just spent five days with. 

Now there's about a week of winter break left. In some ways, I wish we had more time off, but then again, I find out if I'm able to graduate early as soon as we go back to school, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm actually extremely excited to start applying to colleges and start taking classes, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to enroll anywhere when it's this far into the school year. But I'm not one to take no for an answer, so I will be doing a bit of persuading and negotiating in order to take classes somewhere.

The only other thing coming up is my birthday this Saturday. I'm finally turning nineteen! I would be going back home (as in Pittsburgh) to visit my dad, but he's away on business. That means my birthday plans are up in the air. I haven't really told anyone that it's my birthday because I hate drawing attention to myself. So hopefully the day will pass without any fuss.

The Leafs have a game tonight, but I've decided to opt out of going because like I said before, I'm just not feeling the whole 'interacting with other humans' type of thing. In fact, the only thing I have planned on this lovely Thursday night is grabbing a bite to eat at my new favorite coffee shop and doing a bit of college prep. 

My mom and Tom went are out on date night, which means they probably won't be back for a while. However, it's almost eight o'clock and I haven't eaten since breakfast, so I might as well get a move on if I'm planning on getting to the cafe before the odd late night rush gets there. 

I swing my legs over the edge of my bed until I can feel the cool hardwood beneath my feet with. On tingly feet, I stand up and stretch as I pad over to my closet. Changing out of my ratty pajamas I still have on from last night, I slip on yoga pants and a crewneck sweatshirt. I pull my hair up into a high ponytail with a scrunchy before slipping my laptop into my backpack and throwing on a pair of sneakers.

I make sure I grab my wallet and keys on the way out the door, along with my phone. I jog over to my car, getting in quickly due to the cold weather. Once I'm inside, I turn the key in the ignition and then shift my beloved Jeep into reverse, backing out of my spot. Another gear shift brings me to drive, allowing me to round my driveway and accelerate onto the main street.

Humming along to some pop song on the radio, I focus on the road ahead of me which is filled with the usual downtown Toronto traffic. Luckily, the traffic moves along fluidly and I arrive at the small coffee shop just before 8:40. 

The strong smell of black coffee and fresh pastries suffocates my senses as I walk over to an empty table by the large windows that cover the front of the shop. I set my bag down, claiming my seat before getting in line with my wallet and phone in hand. 

My eyes scan over the menu board, written in different colored chalk, for something to eat and drink. After a minute's debate between a sandwich and a soup, I decide on the tomato soup with bread and a plain black coffee. The line creeps along, but soon enough it's my turn to order.

The worker, whose name tag reads Anthony, smiles and asks what I would like. I rattle off my order that I had been practicing saying in my head. Anthony happily enters everything into the computer before giving me a grand total. I hand over the appropriate amount of money and take my receipt. 

Satisfied with my choice of meal, I make my way back over to my seat and plop down in the wooden chair. I then pull my laptop and notebook out of my bag, placing both items on the small table with care. I quickly log into my laptop and open up a new window in Safari while opening my notebook to the section I designated to the ever so complicated college search. Lists of different majors, colleges, books to read, places to visit, and things to do take up the hefty, yet organized section.