e beat the garbage trucks. She beat the transit authority buses. Ahead of the city’s early a.m. sounds, she was excited to st

Full and in addition to being early for everything else, she arrived at the cafe twenty minutes before they opened. She was craving a

. He had round tortoise shell glasses and some kind of laptop bag slung across his sh

ad as an acknowledgement then looked down, clearly showing that he

her pushed through, “Hi. My name is Laura”. This must have also b

was about to lose her good mood when she heard his

seen. Her emotions were mixed and confusing. Was she happy about meeting him or not? She wanted his attention but hi

wn from two to twenty. This line was the reason she probab

heir beverage orders, controlling with coffee what they could not control in thei

rangers so she remained silent. As though he could read her thoughts of regret, he addressed her

o with her and that she had told him her name.

and teach students privately.” In what must have been Alex’s quiet world, Laur

e you rushing off to somewhere important today?” lightly suggesting that he did not m

lex treated her to her coffee and croissant and chose an out of

s aloof earlier. Laura was confused. “I was thinking about an article I read online through one of my ne

had time to explore more about the mysterious Alex. It turned out that he had season tickets to the orchestra

orld,” s

ll Cafe, so I could have missed out on a

tal breakfast and looking forward to spending more time with

uccino was as good as it w

rom his normal quiet to more assertive, “I meant that the cafe treat w

or the opportunity to attend an orchestra rehearsal of

you are there,” he said, enthusiastically appreciating her offer. Laura

. She got up from the table to go but dropped her bag and the music for her string quartet fell out onto the f

ing. Are you going to showcase

d not say that you read music,

yly responded and then added, “I would like for there to be another day wi

, Alex,”

’d love to be able to pick your brain abo

cating her mutual desire for another chance to be with Ale

soon, but maybe tomorrow...,” he struggled for the easiest way t

ll continue,” she searched for the right words, at which point he interjected politely, “The conversation we started today! I am best reached by

k. After that, he kissed her hand and they left the cafe together to go in their separate directions,