The Funny Thing About Love
Prologue
None of this would've happened if I hadn't gone into Caribou Coffee that day. I would've been saved a lot of pain, but I would've missed a lot of happiness too. Throughout most of this, I would've wished I had never gone in and bought that tea. But in the long run, I don't think I've ever made a better decision.
I did go into Caribou that day. And that's why I believe fate must exist, because I hate Caribou. But I went in anyway. And that seemingly small decision changed my life forever. One chai tea, one cappuccino, one rainfall, and one second of looking at the wrong place led me to the sweetest, most beautiful boy I had ever met.
Coffee, Tea, and a Boy
I was running down the nearly deserted street, bent over with a newspaper over my head in a fruitless attempt to ward off the rain.
It's freakin' L.A.! I mentally shouted at the sky. It's not supposed to rain! I came here to get away from the rain!
Just then, I spotted a Caribou Coffee on the end of the street. I hated Caribou's coffee, but it would be warm inside, and would provide shelter from the rain.
So, making one of the best decisions in a long time, I walked into the store.
I stepped into line and ordered a chai tea latte. I waited, in no hurry to go back out into the rain.
Finally the drink was done, and I walked out the door.
Or rather, I started to. My mother texted me, and I glanced down at the phone to read the text. It said two simple words. Call me.
And in that one moment of losing my concentration, I bumped into someone. His coffee spilled all over my sweatshirt, and my tea spilled all over him.
I gasped, "I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay."
I looked up. A boy my age with ashy brown hair and the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen stood in front of me.
He gestured to me and said, "I'm sorry about your sweatshirt."
I looked down.
Damn. That was new.
I looked down at the brown stain on my new white UCLA sweatshirt. Shoot.
I sighed. "No, it's my fault. I should've paid more attention. Here, I'll buy you a new coffee."
"You don't have to-"
"No really, its fine," I cut him off. "I want a new tea anyway."
So we got in line and ordered our drinks. I looked up at him and asked,
"So where do you go to school?"
He grinned. "Same as you. UCLA."
I must've looked pretty freaked out, because he explained,
"It's on your sweatshirt."
I stuck up my nose at him.
"How do you know it's not my brother's, or I'm still in high school and just want to go to UCLA?"
He smirked.
"You're too sure of yourself to still live at home."
I looked at him stubbornly.
"Maybe I'm just really mature. But, as it happens, I do go to UCLA."
He grinned, so cocky.
"What's your name?"
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
He smiled. "I'm Toby. Toby Cavanaugh."
I smiled back. "I'm Spencer."
Somehow we ended up sitting at one of the tables, talking and laughing, drinking our tea and coffee.
The rain kept coming, harder and harder. Finally I stood up, reluctant, but knowing I had to leave.
"I'd better get going. I still have a ways to walk, and I don't have a ways to walk, and I don't have an umbrella. Just this." I held up my sodden newspaper.
He stood up too, taking a set of keys out of his pocket.
"I'll drive you."
"Oh, you don't have to-"I started.
He grinned at me.
"That's what I said about the coffee."
I giggled.
"OK. You got me there.
He had a fancy car.
I bet his family has money. I thought.
But whatever. My family did too.
I looked out the window, at the raindrops sliding down the glass. I loved rain, just not walking in it.
"Where do you live?"
I grimaced. "The farthest dorm from campus."
He raised an eyebrow.
"What?" I asked defensively. "It's a long walk to classes, and-"
"Not that," He cut in. "I live there too."
We both looked at each other and laughed.
I cocked my head to the side.
"It's surprising we haven't met before."
Still grinning, he nodded, and started the car.
I fiddled with the strings on my sweatshirt. It was super-comfortable, and I'd loved it.
White, with a yellow UCLA on it. Now there was a brown splotch on it.
I sighed.
He glanced over at me.
"What's up?"
I plucked at my sweatshirt.
"This was new."
He looked over at me and said sympathetically,
"I'll buy you a new one."
"No, no," I insisted right away. "It's fine, it was my fault. Really it's fine."
He didn't answer, just shook his head, smiling, as if I were the most amusing thing he'd ever seen.
He pulled into our dorm building's parking lot. We both jumped out of the car and ran toward our dorm building.
I slipped, and fell right in a puddle. He turned around, laughed, and reached out a hand to help me up.
I grinned wickedly, and reached up and flicked water into his face.
He blinked, surprised for a minute. Then his face burst into a wide grin.
"Oh, you'll pay for that!" He scooped up some water in his hands and tossed it into my face.
He grinned smugly at me.
"How'd you like that?"
Quick as a viper, I reached out, grabbed his wrist, and yanked him down into the puddle with me. Then I jumped up and ran toward the door.
He caught me, when I was halfway there, and pushed me down toward another puddle. I pushed him back, and we both collapsed against one another, laughing.
We walked up to my dorm floor, soaking wet. He said goodbye, and went up to his floor.
Smiling to myself, I walked in to my dorm room.
…And was immediately grabbed by a blonde whirl of energy.
Hanna, my roommate, yelled at me,
"Where the hell were you?" Then held out her hands in a STOP position.
"More importantly…Who was that boy with you?" She squealed.
Hanna was the classic dumb blonde. She was street smart, but not book smart. As opposed to me, who was book smart, but not very street smart.
She didn't need to be. Hanna understood fashion, clothes, and every other part of that world, way beyond the average dumb blonde. She was just the right mix of pretty, sarcastic, nice, and ditzy to get what she wanted. Boys practically fell at her feet. She was going to be a personal shopper, and succeed fantastically.
She blinked her dark blue eyes at me.
"Well?" she asked impatiently.
I sighed, and gaver her the story. Despite the fact that there wasn't much to tell, she bombarded me with tons of question, topping it off with every bit of gossip she'd ever heard about him. Which, surprisingly for Hanna, was not much.
"And I heard this girl in my English class mention a Toby Cavanaugh, and SHE said, that her friend said, that her friend's friend heard a teacher say that she heard from HER friend, that his family is, like, superrich. So, do you like him?"
I looked at her sternly.
"Hanna, you know I just broke up with Alex. I'm not looking for another boy in my life right now."
"Well, it looks like one just wandered in anyway," she said slyly.
She just laughed and rolled her eyes at me when I glared at her. She flounced into the kitchen, grabbed a bag of Doritos, dumped it into a bowl, and brought it into the living room.
"I think this calls for a romantic movie marathon," she said sweetly.
"You're just looking for an excuse to ditch homework for the night," I teased.
She grinned. "So true. Now, we have Titanic, The Princess Bride, Just Go With It, and Some Like it Hot. That, and the Doritos, should do nicely."
I grinned, and popped the movie in.
Right when Buttercup and Westley were kissing, I sighed contentedly.
"Remember the first time we watched this? We were ten, and we were sleeping over at my house." Hanna and I had been besties forever, along with Aria and Emily, who had chosen NYU and Colorado at Boulder.
She grinned at me.
"That was such a simple time. God, I miss elementary school. That was before middle and high school though. We were the Queen Bees, huh Spence?"
I rolled my eyes. "YOU were the Queen Bee Han. The rest of us were just your… worker bees."
She snorted. "What the heck does that mean? Worker bees."
I sighed and rolled my eyes again. "We weren't the queen bees. We were the Queen Bee's friends."
She grinned. "Whatever."
At midnight, our movie marathon was over, the Doritos bowl was empty, and Hanna was asleep on the couch.
I smiled at her softly,covered her with a blanket, and stood up to go to bed.