Page 53 of Shattered Saint
She stared at me for a moment and said, “Yes to all those things. How do you know how I take my coffee?”
I shrugged. “It was just a guess.” It wasn’t really, I just remembered how she’d ordered it before.
I moved so that I could get up and walked over to the coffee shop portion of Beyond The Page and stood at the counter, but no one was there. After waiting there for a few moments, I walked away and came across a woman restocking books in one of the aisles. She looked up before I could walk away.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
I glanced down at her name tag and saw that her name was Harlow. “I’m just looking for whoever is running the coffee station.”
Harlow checked her watch before she said, “Courtnay should be back… right now.”
Just as the words left her lips, I watched as someone circled the counter before stopping behind it.
“Thanks.”
Harlow gave me a smile and then said, “It was no trouble at all.”
I turned and walked back to the barista and ordered two decaf coffees and some cake pops as a small snack for both Bianca and me. Once everything was ready, I paid and walked back to where I left Bianca and our things. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.
“Coffee and cake pops… is this a date?”
Her hands flew up to her face as if she was shocked that the words came out of her mouth. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and I was sure that behind her hands she was blushing.
I shook my head. “I don’t date.”
My words seemed to pull Bianca out of her stupor. “What do you mean, you don’t date?”
I shrugged as I gestured for her to pick which cake pop she wanted. When she did, I took the other and sat down. “I don’t date. There’s nothing more to it.”
“Have you been celibate then?”
I scoffed. “Absolutely not. I just don’t date anyone.”
It was kind of funny watching it all click for Bianca because the range of expressions that crossed her face was comical. While I waited for her to reply, she did the opposite, instead choosing to stuff the cake pop into her mouth.
It took her a moment to chew, swallow, and wash the food down with some of the coffee. Then Bianca asked, “So why don’t you date?”
I shrugged in response. “I guess I just don’t believe in the whole idea. The time that you need to put into making relationships work could be better used elsewhere. I prefer to keep things casual and take things as they come. No strings attached, if you will.”
“But aren’t your parents happily married?”
“They are as far as I know.”
“Then did a relationship that you had color your outlook on this?”
“Nope. I’ve never been in a relationship.”
That news seemed to surprise her, but she didn’t say anything, instead choosing to take another drink of her hot coffee.
Bianca coughed and then spoke. “I guess that makes sense. I mean, I get where you're coming from, but there are those relationships that last for decades because both parties worked hard at making it happen, and then there's also the reward at the end when two people finally find their happy ending.”
I shrugged and nodded my head in understanding. I could see where she was coming from too, but I still wasn’t convinced that dating was something I wanted to do.
Before I could respond, Bianca changed the subject and asked about our progress on the psychology project. We spent the next few minutes going over what we’d done and what we still needed to do.
By the time we were finished talking about the project, our cake pops were long gone and most of our coffee was as well. Bianca moved to gather her things, and I followed by packing my stuff up.
After we’d cleaned up, I walked her to her car. She turned to face me before she got into her vehicle.
