It was a brisk morning in late December and Jamie was at his normal café, at the normal time, getting his normal order: medium black coffee and a bacon egg and cheese sandwich on a croissant. Jamie had always been one for routine and normalcy and if you'd met him in high school, he would have been the nerd. When he grew out of acne and learned how to dress well, he became quite the catch, although he still stuck to his every day pattern. He worked a high end IT job and hung out with computers all day but he had human friends now too. Standing a few inches shy of six feet, Jamie had slender build with lean muscles. His dark hair was cut short and he was clean shaven, showing off his sharp cheek bones and jaw line.
He gave the barista a friendly smile as she prepared his order. Jamie didn't know it but today would be different. She was there, a woman Jamie had never seen before. She was petite and wore a long green jacket over a short dress with every color flower printed on it. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and thought to himself, 'Short skirt under a long jacket? That's sexy.' She looked around his body at the breakfast display case and he noted the way she chewed her lip and looked in deep thought regarding her choice of early morning sustenance, which amused him. She had wavy brown hair, deep brown eyes and full lips. She was only about five feet tall but he could tell she had a shapely figure under her coat.
"That will be $5.75, please." Jamie snapped back to reality when the barista told him the cost. He patted his pockets and his jacket, looking for his wallet but coming up empty.
"Shit," he muttered under his breathe. "I forgot my wallet. This is just perfect. Happy Monday," he said with a mix of sarcasm and disappointment. He tried his pockets again but no luck.
"Here," a loud voice came from behind him. He turned around to see the deep thinking woman holding out her debit card. "I'll pay for it. No one likes Mondays, why make them worse?" She had a genuine smile on her face, more than happy to give her debit to card over to pay for a stranger's breakfast.
"I really couldn't." He tried to push the card away but she moved around him and gave it to the woman behind the counter.
"Add a medium caramel latte to the order and," she turned to face Jamie, "whatever he says is good for breakfast. I just can't seem to make up my mind." Jamie stood there with a surprised expression, looking for words and not finding any. After he didn't speak for several seconds, she turned back and said, "I'll just have whatever he's having."
The barista rang up both orders and swiped the debit card. The woman signed the receipt and turned to smile at Jamie. "I'm Emma, by the way." Emma stuck her hand out to Jamie and he took it.
"I'm Jamie. Thanks for the coffee, Emma."
"No problem, just helping out a fellow Monday morning zombie." She laughed at her own joke, a hearty laugh that made customers turn their heads and Jamie instinctively smile. They chatted for a few minutes while their orders were made, lifting the fog from the weekend with their easy conversation.
"So how can I pay you back for the coffee," Jamie asked Emma as he sipped the dark brew in front of the coffee shop.
She thought for a moment and then finally said, "How about you buy coffee tomorrow? Same time, same place?"
"Sounds perfect," Jamie said with a smile. Emma nodded and they said goodbye, each walking in the opposite direction of the other.
Jamie and Emma got coffee every day together for two weeks before Jamie finally worked up the courage to ask her out on a real date. She said yes without a moment's hesitation, beaming from ear to ear at the proposal. They had a nice dinner, took a walk through the local park, and kissed under the stars on a park bench.
He was mild mannered with a quiet disposition but he had a wild side if the moment struck. He always pulled funny one-liners out of nowhere, which never failed to get Emma laughing. Her big brown eyes showed her every emotion and when she smiled it was always with genuine happiness. When Jamie took Emma out to meet a few of his friends for drinks, they told him that Emma was a firecracker that blew color into his gray-scale life.
She was a lighthearted and kind person, always helping out friends and family. More than once since she and Jamie started seeing each other, Emma paid for a stranger's coffee or helped carry an elderly woman's groceries to her car. Jamie didn't know what she saw in an Average Joe like him but she simply told him, "You make my heart flutter" and that was good enough. She taught middle school English, which requires a special kind of person, a person that Emma embodied fully.
Emma's outgoing, warm personality complimented Jamie's more reserved and quiet composure. She listened to his stories with rapt attention and he calmed her, just with his presence, after a long day at school. They had quiet dinners, went to night clubs and raves, and took picnic lunches in the park. When they were in bed together, there was an ebb and flow of energy between them. Sometimes they made love and held each other tenderly while other times they fucked like animals and collapsed sweaty and tired on the sheets. They complimented each other and every day was an adventure, a fast paced, whirlwind adventure.
"I have a great idea for Valentine's Day," Emma said one night. She and Jamie were in bed together, Emma's head tucked next to Jamie's and his fingers gently stroking her back. "Let's cook dinner together. I'll bring the ingredients to make my mom's chocolate lava cakes and we can have whatever you want for dinner. What do you think?"
"Can we do grilled steak and garlic mashed potatoes?"
Emma sat up and looked at Jamie. "Hell yes we can have steak!" The look of happiness in her eyes was so pure, and only from the mention of steak, that Jamie immediately felt better. "And did you know, garlic mashed potatoes are my favorite kind of potatoes?"
She rested her head back down on Jamie's chest and snuggled closer. Jamie wrapped her tighter in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "Steak it is."
Jamie spent all week preparing for Valentine's Day. He looked up 'How To Cook the Perfect Steak' on Youtube, pre-ordered a bouquet of red roses and went to wine shops on his lunch breaks. Emma read poetry books to try and find the perfect quote to express how she felt about Jamie, bought new lingerie that made her feel like a vixen, and went to chocolatiers to find the best blend of chocolate for her cake recipe.
On Valentine's Day night, Emma went to Jamie's apartment with a bag of groceries and a bright smile. Jamie answered the door and his jaw dropped. Emma was standing in the doorway wearing a white button down shirt with a high waisted black skirt, black ankle boots and her long coat. Her hair fell down around her shoulders and she had on a subtle but sexy shade of rosy lipstick. He could see her dark bra through the shirt and it gave her a sexy teacher look. Jamie was wearing dark blue jeans with a similar white button down, top buttons undone to show off his slender chest. "Short skirt," Jamie said with a wink.