Make That Two, Please

Alexander

I woke up quite anxious today.

I brush my teeth and get ready quickly, trying to wear something more casual, so I put on a navy blue polo shirt and khakis. I part my hair on the side and apply a little bit of the hair products I use. Then, I blow dry my hair, just for a couple of minutes. I splash on my cologne, put some lotion on my hands, grab my handbag, car keys, and head out. 

I listen to some music while driving to the university. I am early, just as I planned to be. I hope our meetup doesn't turn out to be as awkward as Natalia thinks it would be. I wonder what she thinks of me… I already broke the silly rules of the assignment and researched about her on the internet. The girl is a ghost. 

The only social media I was able to find her in was a page from a band called Cake Mix. I remember seeing a few fliers that fell from her backpack in the elevator, and one had that name on it. I saw some music notes and poems, perhaps they were songs, now that I think about it. So I was able to use that information to my advantage. However, she cannot find out I cheated.

After finding a nice parking spot near the coffee shop, I park and get out of my car. The smell of coffee puts me at ease as soon as I enter the shop. I sit at a small table in a corner of the opposite side of the door I got in. Now I just wait. She'll probably be late, she seems like the type who is always late. 

I look at my watch and see it is 6:45 am. This place opens super early compared to most places. I think they open at 4 am. The familiar waitress who is usually here every morning when I have time to drink my coffee here (instead of taking it to go) comes to take my order. "Hi! A vanilla latte with double espresso?" She asks with a sweet smile. 

"No, thank you…" I tell her, politely. "I mean, not yet, I am waiting for someone. Give me a few minutes, please." She nods with a smile and leaves, while I sit patiently, looking at my surroundings. I notice there are only three people here, and two of them are professors. 

The door opens and I look in that direction. I check my watch again and I cannot believe she is here early. It is 6:50 am and Natalia Díaz has made it to our first meetup on time. When she sees me she smiles and comes my way. 

Natalia is wearing a black Batman t-shirt, gray cargo pants, a black biker leather jacket and black boots. Her pink hair is styled in two pigtails and her make up, if any, is very light. She looks like someone who is ready for the end of the world and has become the leader of a zombie killer crew, like a character from a Terminator movie or a woman in a modern video game.

"Good morning", she says to me as she reaches my table. "Good morning!" I say, standing up and suggesting for her to sit down. She smiles and sits down. Once she is seated I do the same. "Where is your survival bag with weapons and hiking gear?" I ask and she grins. "I don't need to save the world today. Man, are you ever going to let that go?"

I smile. "That means you don't work today, right? By the way, if you don't mind me asking, where do you work?"

The waitress comes our way and Natalia says she doesn't work today. She wants to answer my other question but she waits, noticing the waitress. 

"May I take your order now?" The cute girl asks and I signal Natalia to order first. "Hi, I'm going to have a large hot caramel macchiato and a blueberry scone, please." The waitress looks at me and asks, "A large vanilla latte with double espresso and an everything on it bagel with cream cheese?" I smile and nod. Natalia speaks up. "Wait, I changed my mind, sorry…" (she apologizes to the waitress). "Make that two, please. I'll have what he's having." 

The waitress scratches her little note, smiling. "No problem", she says to her. "Thank you!" Natalia says back, looking apologetically happy. Once she leaves, Natalia answers my question. "I work at the gas station on the corner of the street you first enter before you get to the main road to campus. It's like 10 minutes from here, driving."

I know what gas station she's talking about. 

"I don't like walking with that heavy backpack if I don't have to", Natalia explains. "I wouldn't like that either, that thing is dangerous!" She laughs and I stare at her, admiring her beautiful smile and amber big eyes, with natural long eyelashes. She's pretty. I wonder how she would look with a natural hair color and conventional fashion.

"So, what else do you do other than study and work?" I ask as if I don't know she's not only in the Slam Poetry Club here, but she's also in a band, and she's the lead singer. 

"Well, I am in a small band. We play a mixture of techno with classical music and rock. We do some cover songs sometimes, but we do it in our style. We mainly do originals. I compose and one of the guys does too." Oh, now I get it. So that's why they are called Cake Mix, because it's a real mixture of music. "Cool, do you play or sing?" I try to act like I wasn't stalking her on their page. "I sing." 

The waitress comes with our food and sets it on the table, and we both thank her. "How did you join the band?" Natalia gets a butter knife and spreads cream cheese on her bagel. "My dorm mate and friend, Taylor. Her brother Chris is in the band, he plays the keyboard and does the second voice. I have a small little battery keyboard under my bed and I play it sometimes. Taylor knew this, but she didn't know I sang." 

"One night I was taking a shower and I thought I was alone, so I was singing loud. When I came out I found Taylor standing outside the bathroom door and she said to me, "you have to audition for my brother's band, they need a singer, and you can really sing!"

"Cool! You can play the piano too!" I spread cream cheese on my bagel and then take a bite of it. Natalia takes a sip of her coffee. "Well, a little. I'm not great." She eats and drinks some more and I stare at her lips as she bites into the bagel. Now I'm thirstier than I was… for some reason. 

"Is it kind of hot already or is it the coffee?" Natalia comments, as she takes off her jacket. She slides her jacket off her arms and I see a huge sleeve tattoo on her right arm. Her arm is covered by orchids, different orchids, all kinds of colors too. I stare at her tattooed arm for too long and she notices it.

"Do you want to get a closer look?" At first, I think she is being sarcastic, but then I see her face and I realize she's being serious. "No, that's okay", I assure her. She grins. "My arm won't bite, and me… well, I'm being fed already." I smirk, taking one more glance at her arm, and then I occupy myself with my cup of coffee.

"So, tell me about yourself. What does Alexander Bailey entertain himself with in his free time?" I smile at her choice of words. "Not much. I like to exercise at home. I have a gym in my house, but I also like to run along the shore on the weekends, preferably at dawn. I enjoy reading, watching movies, playing video games and doing puzzles."

"Interesting", Natalia says to me as she drinks her coffee. 

"So, are you from here? Florida?" She continues to ask me about my personal life. "Yes, born and raised. How about yourself?" "Well, technically I am, but we moved to Chicago when I was a baby. I just came back here for my studies. My grandparents still live here, so we used to come every winter, for the holidays, and some summers too."

"When you say we, who are you referring to?" Natalia looks at me quizzically and then answers "oh, my mom and I, and now my little brother." "How old is your little brother?" Natalia finishes her coffee and says "four." I am surprised with her answer. "Wow! Four? That is a huge difference in age between you two! Your mom must still be young and very healthy!" She nods and looks down, while finishing her bagel.

"What about you? Any siblings?" I finish my bagel and answer "no, I'm an only child. My father and my mother divorced when I was a kid. Then, she remarried when I was in high school... but I don't think there's going to be a baby surprise for us." I laugh at my own silly joke.

"Where are your parents from exactly?" Natalia asks shyly. "My grandparents came from Vietnam when they were really young. My mother was born here and my father is originally from Wisconsin, he comes from an Irish and English family. He is a Historian. I lived with him for a while, during high school. Now I live with my mom again... and her husband. She is a psychiatrist and my stepfather is a politician. He is actually running for mayor."

Natalia doesn't say anything and that makes me feel awkward. She seems uncomfortable. I hope she doesn't feel like I'm bragging, because I am not. I get anxious and change the subject. We talk about silly things, regarding school, our food and then the city, which leads to the mention of my stepfather running for mayor again.

I notice Natalia gets a little uncomfortable at the mention of my stepfather's political campaign. I must sound like I am still bragging... I swear I am not. 

"What's your little brother's name?" I ask, trying to bring her back to the conversation. Her eyes light up at the mention of her little brother. "Aidan", she says with a smile. "Aidan; cool name. Where is your family from?" "My mother's family came from Venezuela and my father was Albanian."

Was? Why did she say he was? I look at my watch and see it is almost 8 o' clock. "Is it time to go?" Natalia asks me. "Yes. Wow, time really flew!" I tell her, surprised at how quickly and smoothly our meet up went! Natalia nods, smiling, "yeah, it really did!"

Natalia takes her wallet out of her bag. Is she trying to pay? Before she takes the money out I quickly say I got it. She shakes her head no. "This was not a date and I also owe you for spilling your coffee yesterday." I wave my hands and signal the waitress, who is coming our way, not to take her money. "Nonsense!" I say with a smile, giving the waitress my card so she can charge me. 

When she comes back I sign the receipt and take my card. Natalia says thank you, shaking her head. She puts on her jacket and we both stand up. "Do you mind if I walk with you to class?" I ask her. "Not at all. This was nice... and to think I pictured you being rude and a know it all!" She says kind of embarrassed and I chuckle.

"Well, you still don't know me very well... give it time", I tell her, joking. She laughs and I add, "I thought you were going to be obnoxious, super sassy and with a terrible attitude, but you know how to behave." Natalia's eyebrows raise and she gives me a certain look, like she is surprised by my judgment. She pretends to be offended. Or is she really?

When we get to the building and enter, we both look at the elevator. Even though we know it is fixed now, we continue to head for the stairs. We walk up the stairs, laughing, because we are afraid of taking the elevator. I stay behind while Natalia flies through the stairs. 

"You are used to these!" I say, surprised. She catches her breath and nods. "I always take the stairs, yesterday was an exception, cause I was late." "See? You jinxed it!" I tease her. "Come on, keep up, Mr. Bailey. Aren't you a dawn shore runner? Show me what you got? Or are you falling behind on purpose to enjoy the view?" 

I shake my head and laugh. I'm not going to deny the fact I was checking her out, but I am not going to admit it either. I start running up the stairs, catching up with her and passing her. Then, she chases after me, competing to see who gets to the last floor first! We reach it at the same time and find ourselves out of breath, so we laugh while trying to catch our breath together.

Some people pass by and look at us weirdly. Suddenly, I come to my senses, realizing that for a few minutes I had forgotten my place. Our behavior is too wild. I try to shush Natalia, but she keeps laughing. Now I am embarrassed, even though I feel like laughing too. My face is hot and Natalia finally stops laughing, noticing my embarrassment. 

"You're as red as a tomato", she says to me and I smile shyly. 

We continue to walk to our classroom and once we get in we take our separate way.

When the class is over, I kind of wait for Natalia so we can walk together again. This time there will be no running. She sees me waiting up and meets me. "Did you miss me?" She says, sarcastically. I tilt my head and say "meh". Natalia giggles. 

"So, I was thinking, maybe we can do more hours today, since I don't work." 

I think about her suggestion for a second. "What days do you work?" I ask, curiously. "Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And most Saturdays I perform at the local bars with the band."

Hmm... I calculate the time and my plans. I suppose it is better to get a couple hours or more today, since I don't know what kind of things my family have planned for the weekend. I don't want to leave the assignment hours to the last minute and then have to cancel because something came up.

"That's a good idea. Text me when you're free", I finally tell her. Natalia smiles as we walk down the stairs, and I stare at her. "I have band practice today", she says. "Would you like to come?" Of course I want to come. I'm super curious, are my immediate thoughts!

We reach the first floor and before we exit to go our separate ways, I answer "sure", very calmly. She smiles and asks me if I can meet her at the coffee shop at 4:30 pm. "I can", I respond quickly. 

We both look excited as we exit the building and take different destinations. "Great! I will see you later, Alexander!" She yells, while walking away, but still looking my way.

Today was different! 

I have a lot to write in my journal. I should start writing now, so the information is accurate, while my experience with Natalia is still fresh in my mind. Plus, I'll have to see her later and then write some more in the evening. 

My head is spinning. I have never met anyone like her before. This wasn't bad at all. I don't know why I was so hesitant to have her as my partner. She's not bad. Sure, she is unconventional, but not as strange as I thought she would be. I am definitely looking forward to seeing her later.