It was a sunny, cold Saturday afternoon in November. There had been a bit of early snow that was still on the ground. I was on my way home from work when the smell of some kind of spiced coffee drink lured me towards a little cafe.
I was rooting around in my pocket to see if I had enough change to feed my caffeine addiction when suddenly from behind me someone put their hands over my eyes and said "guess who?"
"Oh my god," I said, "did I stumble into a movie or is this something people really do in real life?"
"Oh shut up," said the voice. "Be a good sport and play along."
It was a girl's voice, and it was definitely familiar but I couldn't quite place it.
"Can I have a clue?" I said.
"Who do you know that lives near here?" she said.
"Oh!" I said, "Nikki?"
The hands moved away from my eyes. "No fair!" she said, "the hint made it too easy."
I turned around to see for myself, and it was definitely Nikki. She's a very distinctive person.
Nikki is short. Barely five feet tall. I like to tease her about that a lot. But for her size she's a dynamo. She tackled me into a pool once, and even though I saw her coming and braced for it she took me down anyway.
She was a third year sociology student at one of the local universities. I'd first met her just over two years ago when she was doing frosh week. She came into my store doing some kind of freshman scavenger hunt. She was cute and charming (and just a little drunk) and we hit it off right away.
She started coming into my store on a regular basis to bug me, and we'd gotten to be friends outside of the store too. I would definitely have considered asking her out, but she'd had the same boyfriend since I met her.
They were high school sweethearts, and decided to go to the same university. Against all odds, they had survived as a couple so far. I'd met him a few times. I didn't have anything against him, except he seemed a little boring. Especially for someone like Nikki, who was anything but boring.
Case in point, Nikki liked to dress in flamboyant colors. For example today she was wearing a bright green parka and a neon yellow hat. Bright pink sunglasses and lipstick completed the ensemble.
"Geeze did you have to stand on a box to reach my eyes?" I asked as I finished looking her over. Like I said, she's short. I tease her about it often.
She kicked me in the shin. Which she often does in response to my teasing.
"Ouch," I said, "you may have crippled me."
"Oh no," she said in mock concern.
"You could at least buy me a coffee to make up for it," I said, gesturing towards the cafe. Yes I am that shameless when it comes to getting enough caffeine.
"Not from here," she said, shaking her head. "I've got better stuff at home. C'mon."
She led me around the block a couple of streets over to her place. It was a typical student house, meaning it was always at least in moderate need of repairs and cleaning.
One of her roommates was outside making a snowman in the yard. She looked very cold, but smelled strongly of pot and booze, which might have been influencing her decision to keep building.
We passed by without comment and went inside.
Nikki led me to the kitchen, dropping her parka and hat on the floor along the way. Underneath she wore jeans and an actual tie-dyed t-shirt. Sometimes I wanted to ask her what decade she thought it was.
As she tossed her sunglasses on the counter and started making coffee I noticed that the place was quieter than usual. When I mentioned this she nodded. "Two of my roomies are at a film festival for the weekend and Greg is at his parents' house."
Greg was her boyfriend. "You didn't want to go with him?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I was going to go, but I wasn't really in the mood to deal with his mother. Plus we had another argument."
"You and Greg? What about?"
"Oh you know already," she said, looking frustrated.
"The same thing as last time?" I asked.
She nodded.