I had a bit of fun with this one. It has a touch of the ridiculous about it, I must admit, but hopefully people can still enjoy it. The start is slow, but from there it goes from zero to a hundred fast.
Carpe diem!
I stared blearily at the erratically scrawled message on the bathroom mirror. After a few seconds the memory started to materialise, pushing through the fog inside my head. That's right. I'd scrawled it there hastily late last night in a moment of drunken clarity. You know what I mean. Those moments where an idea makes perfect sense and you wonder why sober you had never thought of it. I'd written it using some lipstick I'd dug out of a drawer in the bathroom cabinet. I wondered now whose it was and how it came to be there. Probably a relic from a past girlfriend I guess. I shook my head. That wasn't the point. Drunk me had left sober me a message, and now I had to decide whether to listen to the half cut rambling bastard, or do what I'd been doing every week for the last six months and pussy out.
Carpe Diem!
I guess I should introduce myself properly. My names Tyson, Tyson Jones. But everyone calls me Ty. I'm an accountant at a large firm in the middle of the city. For the last six months I've been buying my coffees from a small cafe six blocks away from where I live. Every morning I make the long walk down to pick up an overpriced flat white before crossing the street to wait at the bus stop. Must be some amazing coffee, huh? Wrong! The coffee is mediocre at best.
You might ask why would someone walk six blocks for some mediocre coffee? Most of you have probably already guessed why.
A girl.
And not just any girl.
Her name was Shazza.
I know, you're probably thinking "no one has every waxed lyrical about a girl called Shazza" and I may be the first, but here goes.
Shazza is the girl at the checkout who takes my order each day. She's about five foot five with long brown hair and the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen. Her body is slim and toned. Somehow she manages to make a polo shirt, pencil skirt and cap look like a sexy ensemble. She seems to have an aura about her, a certain energy. For those few moments each day, it's as if time stands still and unfortunately so does my brain, as I turn into the most incoherent imbecile to ever walk the planet. Shazza doesn't seem to care though, she just laughs and smiles as I stumble along.
I paused to look at the mirror a moment longer.
"Fuck it."
I then proceeded to follow my normal strategy which was to defer any important decision until the last possible moment and pray that in that moment I will be struck with a bolt of clarity or reason.
Twenty minutes later I found myself back in front of the mirror. I'd showered, shaved and necked a berocca by this point. I looked past the words, examining my reflection. I tried to psych myself up. I mean look, I'm no body builder, but I'm in decent shape. I have short blonde hair and light blue eyes. If I'm being honest I don't think I'm too hard on the eyes. The problem is that compared to the goddess who serves me coffee I look like a bag of potatoes.
I sighed as I rolled the sleeves of my white dress shirt back past my elbows. I had on my best pair of tanned dress pants and a brown pair of RM Williams.
My eyes focused in on the words again. Suddenly I was filled with a surge of energy.
"Fuck it!" I said out loud. "You miss all the shots you don't take."
I'd been walking in every day and passing up my opportunity. Well not today. Today I'm shooting my shot.
I grabbed my wallet, phone and keys off the kitchen table and headed out the door with my head held high and a sense of purpose to my stride.
So the problem with sudden surges of confidence, is that they don't always last as long as you'd like. The longer I walked, the less I felt confident and the more I felt nauseous.
Six block later, I ground to a halt in the alley that ran adjacent to the coffee shop. I looked down, checking my watch.
8:20
I had a ten minute window to get in, get shot down and get out. Otherwise I'd miss my bus and be over an hour late for work.
At this point you may be judging a little and wondering why I was hitting the piss on a Sunday evening before work. But hey, no one's perfect.
I'm in the unfortunate situation many people find themselves in, where their job is too good to give up, but not good enough to make me want to get out of bed in the morning. I was well paid, with good benefits, but zero opportunities to move up the ladder. The job too, was relatively simple, after six months I had a handle on what was required and I've pretty much been coasting ever since.
Anyway, I digress. So I'm standing in an alley
and I looked up at the sky searching for a sign and can you believe it there were zip, zilch, nada. Apparently the gods had bigger issues than my pathetic love life.
I began to weigh the pros and cons. If this went badly I would lose my thirty seconds of magic every day. On the plus side, I could get a coffee from the place on my block that actually sells nice coffee for almost half the price, and I'd only have to walk 50m to catch the bus. That still wasn't enough of a pro, but then I had a thought.
Regardless of what I do, one day things will change. She will quit, or move. Anything could happen. If I asked her today, then at least it would be on my terms. I wouldn't just turn up one day to find her gone, ripped from my life.
I practically charged out of the alley and around the corner.
I slowed myself as I entered the coffee shop, being careful not to slam the door. My gaze turned to the front counter.
It was empty.
I could see the tops of a few baristas heads behind the machines, but I knew none of them were hers.
My chest constricted with fear. Was this the day? Was I too late?
Then she appeared like a vision, gliding out from the back kitchen.
Our eyes met and she gave me a warm smile.
"Hey Ty," she greeted me.
"Just the usual?"
"Mmmhm." I nodded awkwardly stepping forward to the register.
"Great," I thought. " The mindless idiots back."
I looked at her as she punched in my order. I took a slow steadying breath and shot my shot.
"Hey Shazza," my voice came out choked at first but grew in clarity as I spoke. "I was just wondering, I mean I've been meaning to ask you. No pressure of course but I just thought."
I was blowing it. I gave a long sigh. I raised my eyes, staring into those deep blue orbs. They seemed to calm me and I felt a weight lift off my chest.
"Would you like to get a bite to eat with me sometime?"
Shazza paused, staring at me intently. Her eyes travelled up and down my length. I got the sense that she had never really looked at me in all this time, at least not as a potential romantic suitor. In one simple sentence I had changed the whole dynamic of our relationship.
She seemed to hesitate, undecided.
"I totally understand if it's a no. There'll be no hard feelings," I said. Trying to soften the blow.
Then she gave me the thrill of my life. "No I'd love to get a bite, I'm actually due to finish in fifteen minutes if you're free now?"
I hesitated for the barest of seconds before blurting out "Yeah, absolutely. That sounds great."
Shazza gave me a smile and it damn near melted my heart.
"Why don't you grab us a table and I'll see you very soon."
"Ye-yeah no worries. Absolutely." The words seemed to fall out of my mouth awkwardly as I attempted to keep a lid on my excitement.
She gave me another one of those smiles and then tilted her head to the side seeming to peer around me. It was then I realised that a line had formed behind me and I was holding up traffic.
"Oh god. Sorry. Sorry, sorry." I apologised profusely as I shuffled to the other end of the counter where I knew my order would be served.
A few minutes later my name was called by a short, dark haired barista and I stepped forward to receive my coffee. I peered back towards the register, hoping to make eye contact with Shazza, but she was busy taking a customers order.
The cafe was filled with white square shaped tables with black chairs. I picked a table only a few steps from the counter and sat down. Immediately I realised my mistake. I'd sat with my back to the counter meaning that every time I wanted to see Shazza I would have to turn myself around, making it bleedingly obvious that I was pining for her. I sighed and accepted my fate. After a few more minutes of waiting I did what everyone does when they find themselves alone in public. I whipped out my phone and started to mindlessly scroll through social media. I don't know why but it seems like the modern day version of a security blanket, as if by having my phone out I'm telling the rest of the world "Hey I have friends and people who care about me and a job. I'm not just some loner sitting at a cafe."
Oh yeah... My job. I hastily scripted a rather convoluted text message about an imaginary illness. I sent it off to my manager and put the phone back down. Would she be pissed? Absolutely! But opportunities like this don't come around every day and to quote the Thundamentals, "I ain't employee of the month."
I went back to waiting. Another twenty minutes went by and still no sign of Shazza. I figured it had been long enough, I twisted in my seat hoping to see her striding towards me with a big smile on her face. No such luck. She was still standing at the register taking orders. I checked the time. It was ten past nine, already ten minutes after she was meant to finish. "No problem," I told myself "maybe she's just waiting for a lull so that she can get away. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation.
I went back to waiting. I pulled my phone back out. I had my adult safety blanket and as pathetic as it sounds, I felt a little better. Instead of looking at it, I began to survey the café, observing the other patrons. A couple had sat to my right. They looked to be early forties, both of them were wearing fitness gear and appeared to be in good shape. The woman had long dark hair and a tanned complexion. The man had shoulder length blonde hair that hung loosely. I didn't want to assume that he was a surfer, but he certainly would have fit the stereotype.
Diagonally to my left was a group of three tables that had been joined together. Sitting around it were eight elderly women who I surmised were part of some sort of book club.
There was another table against the wall directly in front of me. A young couple who looked to be about twenty were seated there. I could only assume that they were madly in love, based on all the excessive hand holding and long meaningful pauses, where they stared lovingly into one anothers eyes. I rolled my eyes. Okay maybe I'm just a bit bitter because my date was now thirty minutes overdue...
I checked over my shoulder. She was still at the checkout and once again I failed to catch her eye. I turned back to the table and stared blankly at my phone. I started to wonder if this was a set up. Get me sitting over here on the hook and then they would all put bets on how long I'd wait. I looked around suspiciously at all the staff but they all seemed engrossed in their work and paid me no notice. I looked back at Shazza. Surely she wouldn't... I examined the line of customers banked up back to the door. She certainly had a reason to keep working. "Screw it," I thought. I had nowhere to be and while there was still hope, I wasn't giving up.
Another five minutes later and my confidence was starting to waver again. Then I heard a voice come from beside me.
"Hi Ty, this is for you."
I looked up to see the young dark haired barista who had served me before. She smiled at me.
