Chapter 3: Nice to Meet You 2

For the first time in what felt like a very long time Laura woke up with a smile on her lips. She beat the alarm sounding. She beat the garbage trucks. She beat the transit authority buses. Ahead of the city’s early a.m. sounds, she was excited to start her day. With the extra time she decided that she would stop off at a neighborhood cafe on her way to orchestra practice.

She was surprised that she even remembered that it was there, because she never had the time to go in before. The cafe was called Cup Full and in addition to being early for everything else, she arrived at the cafe twenty minutes before they opened. She was craving a cappuccino and a croissant. It looked like she was not the only one arriving at the cafe in hopes of getting an early start to her day.

A bookish looking man, around her age, arrived at the entrance at about the same time. He had round tortoise shell glasses and some kind of laptop bag slung across his shoulder. She thought he might be a teacher, a writer, or a regular white collar worker.

She greeted him with a cheerful “good morning” and he nodded his head as an acknowledgement then looked down, clearly showing that he did not want to make eye contact with this chipper female stranger.

Normally not being the type for small talk, a small voice inside her pushed through, “Hi. My name is Laura”. This must have also been quite unexpected from the gentleman, too, because he looked up.

The awkward silence stretched for minutes, and Laura was about to lose her good mood when she heard his tenor voice almost whisper, “Alex, my name is Alex.”

This time he held her gaze with a serious yet cordial demeanor and the deepest chocolate brown eyes that she had ever seen. Her emotions were mixed and confusing. Was she happy about meeting him or not? She wanted his attention but his interest in her upset her at the same time. It was so soon after Luke, her ex. Luke was gone but Alex was here now.

6 a.m. The group of cafe customers waiting outside and grown from two to twenty. This line was the reason she probably never came here. Now she had another reason to stay away.

In they went, one by one, pushing through the doors to the counter shouting out their beverage orders, controlling with coffee what they could not control in their lives. She did the same and moved to wait for the barista to call her first name.

The gentleman, this Alex person, did the same. She had learned her lesson about chatting with strangers so she remained silent. As though he could read her thoughts of regret, he addressed her with his own effort at trying to be cafe-line friendly, “Laura, are you a professional cellist?”

She had almost forgotten that she had the cello with her and that she had told him her name. Those brown eyes of his had phenomenal powers.

“Yes, Alex, I am. I play with the local orchestra, am part of a string quartet, and teach students privately.” In what must have been Alex’s quiet world, Laura must have told him her entire life story and moved from silent zero to sixty.

“That’s very impressive,” he gushed. “Do you have time to have your coffee here or are you rushing off to somewhere important today?” lightly suggesting that he did not make the cut of the important list. Laura was surprised yet delighted at the invitation.

“Yes, I am running ahead and not behind today.” This was true. Alex treated her to her coffee and croissant and chose an out of the way table so that he could make up for his previous rudeness.

“Climate change,” he offered as an introduction to their cafe conversation and a remedy for coming off as aloof earlier. Laura was confused. “I was thinking about an article I read online through one of my news feeds. It was about climate change. Sometimes I can get lost in my thoughts. Apologies,” he explained.

“Accepted and forgiven,” she said. Things were starting to look up again. Rehearsal started at 9 a.m. so she had time to explore more about the mysterious Alex. It turned out that he had season tickets to the orchestra she played in and was on the board of directors at the school where her after school music students studied.

“Small world,” she stated.

“Indeed. You are not a regular at Cup Full Cafe, so I could have missed out on a really special cafe treat,” he continued.

“Oh yeah?” Laura wondered, quickly finishing up her continental breakfast and looking forward to spending more time with Alex, who was the modern example of a true philosopher-king.

“I did not know their cappuccino was as good as it was, either,” she concluded.

“No,” Alex said, mustering up the necessary courage to break through from his normal quiet to more assertive, “I meant that the cafe treat was you, Laura.” This quiet man was turning out to be quite a surprise.

“Well, if you are ever interested in a back stage pass or the opportunity to attend an orchestra rehearsal of an experimental piece, I could arrange it,” she shared.

“Orchestra groupie? I’d like that. I’d like that very much, especially if you are there,” he said, enthusiastically appreciating her offer. Laura almost forgot that she still had to get to rehearsal and the time flew by.

Her easy two hour conversation she had with Alex, once he let down his barriers, was an experience of pure joy. She got up from the table to go but dropped her bag and the music for her string quartet fell out onto the floor. He knelt down and picked it up for her while she gathered the other things that had fallen out of her bag.

“Wow. This piece looks challenging. Are you going to showcase this at a concert?” he inquired.

“Yes, someday. I hope...you did not say that you read music, too! Do you play?” she asked.

“I used to, but that is a conversation for another day, I’m afraid,” he coyly responded and then added, “I would like for there to be another day with you, Laura. This is more fun than I’ve had in as long as I can remember.”

“Likewise, Alex,” she said.

“How can I get in touch with you again? I’d love to be able to pick your brain about music and other things,” he trailed off.

“Just not climate change!” Laura quipped with a smile indicating her mutual desire for another chance to be with Alex in the cafe, the concert hall, or anywhere else he chose.

“Okay. Yeah. So...we could...I mean tonight would probably be too soon, but maybe tomorrow...,” he struggled for the easiest way to ask for what he wanted from her most right now: her phone number.

But she made it easy for him, “Here’s my card with my cell number and email address. Maybe you...could call me sometime and we’ll continue...we’ll continue,” she searched for the right words, at which point he interjected politely, “The conversation we started today! I am best reached by cell phone, text, or email, but this card has my contact information if you wanted to get in touch with me again. I’d really like that, Laura.”

“Let’s see who can contact whom first. That way we’re both winners,” she suggested to Alex with a wink. After that, he kissed her hand and they left the cafe together to go in their separate directions, hopeful and happy about the real possibility of next meeting and finding their way back to each other.