Chapter 1: Love At First Sight

My first thought this morning was, 'What am I going to do with my life?'. I've felt so useless lately, considering all I do is work for my dad as an electrician. Sure, I get paid pretty well, but CEO is the position I really wanted. A position my dad wouldn't allow either me or my brother, Luke, to have unless we first found a 'dependable wife', his words, not mine.

Honestly, I wasn't in the business of searching for love at the moment. My goal is get my dream job before I try to settle down with anyone. But of course my dad wouldn't let that happen, not in a million years.

I, for one, had to start my morning off with a nice cappuccino. Unfortunately for me, there are no decent coffeehouses in town, at least none that I've tried. You'd have to drive all the way to Chicago just to get a somewhat decent cup of coffee. I guess I'm so picky cause I grew up in a 9 bedroom, three-story mansion with only one other sibling and I got literally anything I wanted as a child. I've only ever had the best of the best, so settling wasn't an option for me.

Reluctantly, I forced myself to try a new place in town that opened up a few weeks back. I can only hope their coffee isn't like every other garbage juice in town.

After roasting all the coffee shops I could think of in my head, I had finished my morning routine and was driving downtown to the new coffee shop, literally a bore. 

It didn't take long to get there, but I still couldn't spend too long there or I'd be late for work, and my dad won't even tolerate a five-second tardy. But just as I got out of my car, a Mercedes-Benz by the way, I took one look at the quaint little shop and thought, 'Hey, this place doesn't look so bad, compared to the other alley dumpsters'.

I took my time walking through the door so I could really look at the place and get a feel of it. My eyes kinda wandered around as I walked blindly toward the counter, which was only about fifteen feet away from the door. As soon as I halted right in front of the counter a girl approached me, only I was too busy scanning the menu skeptically to acknowledge her.

"Good morning! Welcome to Claire's Coffee. What can I get ya?", her soft, innocent voice gave my eyes no choice but to look down at her. When our eyes met, I couldn't say anything, my body just froze. What I felt inside in that moment I couldn't describe, just wow. 'Who is she?', was my first thought. I couldn't help but look at her from head to toe, well, head to hip if I'm being honest. Her golden-brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, her milky-green eyes accenting her beautiful olive skin. When I say I was speechless, I mean this girl left me speechless. I have never laid my eyes on a girl like her before, especially since all the girls I know are posh little princesses more in love with their daddy's money than any guy could satisfy.

"Are you still deciding?", she quickly, but kindly interrupts my thoughts. "Uh, I", I stuttered like a five year old at a gourmet candy shop. "Uh, could I get a plain cappuccino, please?", I asked, my voice still slow as if in disbelief. "You sure you don't wanna spice it up with some creamer or maybe a pod?", she asked, further shocking me at how much she cared about something so insignificant, especially when it wasn't even for her. "Uh, no thanks", I said politely, still baffled if I might add. "Not even some whipcream and cinnamon?", she questioned incredulously. "Uh, no, I'm fine. But thank you!", I kinda shouted the last part. "Okay Mr. Uh, I get that for you right away", she teased with a gorgeous smile that felt like it lit-up the room.

I retardedly continued standing around, all up in my head, trying to process everything that just happened. "Excuse me, sir, you're holding up the line", an older woman snapped me out of my thoughts with her bitter tone. "Oh, sorry", I said, quickly moving out of the way. "Yeah", she stretched with contempt in her voice. "Yeesh, the desperation of some people, just for coffee", I mumbled to myself.

I was just about to take a seat at a table near the counter when I heard, "Mr. Uh, your cappucino is ready!". I felt a little embarrassed at that, and I'd normally say something, but she made all my defenses fall like I was under some sort of spell.

I strolled over to the counter to grab my coffee and leave a tip, but I should've known it wasn't going to be that easy. "I put some whip cream and cinnamon, you'll thank me later", she said with another dashing grin, covering the left side of her face as if telling a secret. "Oh, thanks. You know I just might like it", I finally found the confidence to say something other than uh. "So it's oh now, huh?", she joked, her green eyes giving a little twinkle. I chuckled a little nervously and kind of stood still for a second before remembering to put a tip.

"Oh wow! A twenty. Big baller, eh?", she joked some more. "Well, thank you very much Mr. Oh. I hope you like it enough to come by again", she said gratefully, twirling around to take care of the next order.

I can't believe how much she amazed me. I just kept standing there like a deer in headlights, not knowing whether to leave or ask for her number. Well, today was my unlucky day because I did neither.

"Is there anything else you need?", another girl popped up in front of me. Glancing at her name tag I read, 'Alyssa'. I wanted to know the other girl's name but she was too busy now. I'd have to come back again to find out. I can't believe I'm actually gonna visit a coffee shop more than once. "Sir?", she tried to get my attention again. "Do you need anything else?", she repeated, a little more annoyed this time. "No thanks, I was just leaving", I said abruptly, quickly turning around to walk out. "Alright, come again!", she yelled out. Well I was definitely going to come back. Nothing made me want to do so more than her. I just had to see her face again and hear that silky voice.