Beginning of freshman year.
The coffee shop was as it was almost every other day- filled with the normal customers getting their normal coffees. Beside me was my usual vanilla latte with a hint of caramel added in. This little coffee shop was almost two miles from the private school I went to, but it was the best coffee in the whole city.
I thought him strange from the moment he walked in. For starters, I had never seen him anywhere near this place before. He obviously wasn't a student of any of the private schools in town, so I had to assume he was one of the public school kids. His blonde hair stuck up in an almost unnatural way, and his blue eyes seemed to have once held a brightness that was currently dulled. If I had had to make a guess, he was hungover.
He shoved his hands into his jean pockets and walked up to the counter, occasionally glancing around at the rest of us. "Coffee. Black. Please.."
"What kind?" Sal, the man behind the counter asked, which seemed to take the boy by surprise. I suppose he hadn't expected to have a coffee shop ask him what kind of black coffee he wanted. Most other coffee shops do have a signature black coffee they serve, but this one had all the different varieties to choose from.
His eyebrows wrinkled together in confusion, and his eyes darted around as if looking for some kind of coffee menu to order from. I stifled a laugh and straightened up a little.
"Sal! Give him a cup of Sumatra. I think he'll like that," I spoke up after managing to compose myself. The boy looked gratefully over at me, nodding at the suggestion.
Coffee in hand, the young man came over and lingered near the empty chair across from me. "Could I please sit with you, miss?" he finally worked up the courage to ask.
I smiled and nodded at him, pleased to have a bit of company with me. "Of course. The name's Freya, by the way. Who are you?"
"Mathias. It's nice to meet you, Freya! I…I've never seen you around at school. Are you even in school? I mean, you look like you could be older.. I don't know."
I laughed quietly. "I go to a private school a bit away…"
Mathias asked Freya out after their first meeting, but she rejected him. He spent the next few weeks going there every morning to ask her out, and she finally accepted. Her parents immediately disapproved of the relationship, and tried to tighten their grip on her. Out of rebellion, Freya ended up sleeping with Mathias at a young age. This resulted in an accidental pregnancy. Her parents told her that she had to either get the child aborted, or leave. She chose to leave.
Beginning of sophomore year.
The tears streamed down my face as I made my way to his house, the only place in the world I could think of going to at a time like this. I knocked on the door, vainly trying to compose myself before he could answer.
"Freya?" I could hear the worry in his voice as he answered the door. "Freya, my love, what is it?"
Another round of crying started when his arms were around me. My fingers curled desperately into the fabric of his shirt. It took me almost an hour before I had calmed enough to actually speak.
"Mathias," my voice was unsteady, "I found out today that…well, I found out that I'm pregnant. And my parents…they kicked me out. I didn't know what else to do, so I came here.. What…what do you think we should do?"
A long moment of silence, the only noise was the pounding of my heart in my chest. Several things crossed my mind in that long moment. Did he even care? Was I right to leave my parents? Did he even want to be a father? What if he decided to end things now? Where would I go, who would I turn to?
"I'm going to be a father?" he asked hopefully, eyes bright, "Are you serious, Freya? We get to be parents? That's so awesome! Oh god… I need a job!"
Freya started working full-time at the coffee shop, and Sal let her stay in the spare room at his house. Mathias got an after school job as a salesman in a clothing store. Since he was such a great salesman, he was easily promoted up after he graduated. Kasandra was born on February fourteenth. Freya and Kasandra lived with Sal until Mathias was out of high school and working full-time.
End of senior year.
Everyone called them the "terrible two's" and one could certainly understand why. Kasandra had been running around Sal's house all day, never seeming to grow tired. Sometimes she would drag out her toys to play with, but mainly she stuck to running. And she wanted to be chased. Chased around everywhere, me following her every movement. She loved being the centre of my attention, just like her father.
"Mamma! Se!" she called out from our bedroom, and I once again set aside the book to go see what my daughter was going on about. She held up the picture I kept on the nightstand, smiling up at me. "Jeg fant pappa!"
I kissed her forehead and sat on the edge of my bed. "Tak, Kassy.. That is your pappa. He'll be here tonight, did you know? It's Friday. He'll come and take us to his house to see bestefar and bestemor. We'll have a nice supper, like every other Friday."
I had barely finished speaking when the front door opened, and Mathias could be heard calling out for the two of us. Kasandra carefully set the picture back down and rushed off to see her father, starting to tell him of her day.
He picked her up as she spoke and went into the back room where I was, kissing me lightly on the cheek. "Seems like you two had an exciting day! Are you both ready for more excitement?"
This was always the highlight of our week.