Rising Above

By: Keri


Chapter One

The coffee shop was inviting, with its deep brown wooden chairs and golden hue lights. The dark forest green was a perfect accent against the ivory and caramel pin stripe wallpaper. People buzzed around in the small store like bees in a hive, welcoming the homey sensation over the frozen world outside. As the bus jolted to a stop, Yami clutched the seat in front of him. His neighboring rider was a bundle of jackets, scarves, and mittens. He couldn't even identify the sex of the person chilling beside him by how much cotton and wool type materials engulfed them.

"Excuse me," he said after clearing his throat, "This is my stop." He grinned as the mass of clothes squished themselves to the seat without being able to fully clear the way. With mercy, Yami jumped over the remnants of the barricade and gracefully headed to the back exit doors. Stepping off lightly, he noticed the bus-waiting benches were thoroughly packed. The masses looked almost like penguins, the way they huddled for warmth in the biting cold. Yami smirked at the thought before pulling the hood of his jacket up over his tri-colored mess of hair. Whether he tried to conceal his golden bangs or not, they always manage to escape the hood and fall into his face.

His nose was frozen by the time he walked across the wet street to the coffee shop he had been eyeing. As he entered, a departing customer held the door open for him. "Thank you," he said, gazing passed the bangs to the helper. A man in a suit was talking on his phone, but he grinned back at him before departing. Yami looked around and noticed a lot of men and women in suits, buying their coffee, shifting through papers, and eyeing their clocks nervously. Before entering the café any farther, Yami caught his reflection in a small mirror at the entrance. As he pulled his hood back, he lightly brushed the bangs away from his face for the millionth time. He brushed off whatever lint and snow droplets he noticed on the black jacket and grey skinny jeans. His converse, well they were converse, he didn't have to touch those up. He was waiting for someone important at this coffee shop, so he tried his hardest to dress casual but smooth – if that made sense.

"Order up!" One of the baristas shouted through the mass. Yami looked up and checked out the line. It was pretty long. He wondered if it would be rude to get into the line before his friend had arrived, so he could save a place. After a few seconds, Yami shrugged it off – he was a rebel, why should he care? In fact, why was he so nervous? His friend had known him for years, they even lived together at one point, what does it matter if he is in line before they get here or not?

Yami gently face palmed himself. If it weren't for the damn butterflies in his stomach, he'd probably be on his game. Truth is, sleep hadn't been kind to him for not only the past night but for the last week. Ever since he found out that there was a month long winter break in this apparent form of out-of-the-country school called 'college', he has been restless. Yami sneakily glanced over at the watch the person was wearing ahead of him. Ten more minutes, he just had to wait a few more minutes and he'll be content. Briefly he considered the possibility of his companion getting lost, but there was no way, this was their usual spot.

Minutes crawled by, and Yami spent most of it exchanging glances between the menu and the door across the room. He would catch his impatient fingers drumming a solo on the counter and would stop himself as the woman standing beside him gave him death glares. He made it to the cashier in eight minutes, and was caught off guard by the, "Hello welcome to CoffeeCoffeeCafe, how may I help you this morning?"

"Erm," Yami stumbled, but then collected himself, "Yes, can I have a Turkish Coffee, no sugar and a small White Chocolate Latte with a shot of raspberry syrup?"

The girl beside the counter grinned at him, her blond hair was tucked neatly into her visor, "So opposites do attract?"

As Yami fished money out of his wallet, he looked up in confusion, "Huh?"

Another girl behind the counter giggled and the cashier shook her head, "Oh it's nothing. Your total will be $7.80."

"Here is a $10," a young man suddenly said, cutting in front of Yami, "You can keep the change ma'am."

The girl looked from the handsome young man to Yami before smiling and ringing up their total, "Thank you, have a great day you two."

Yami stared at the newcomer with shock, not being used to surprises.

Yugi smiled back at him, "Are you just going to stand there blocking the line or are you going to thank me for the coffee?"


=] Just an intro to a story I had to write before going back to my Anatomy book.

To those who have favored me as an author or to those who have reviewed, read, or bookmarked my stories – thank you very much. After such a long hiatus, it was refreshing and heartwarming to see my inbox still getting updates.