"Mmm… Can I get this cup out of your way or do you want to keep holding it?"

Anne looked up from the notebook she had been reading for the last hour, startled by the waiter's voice. She had not realized the empty coffee cup in her hand as she was focusing on her pharmacology notes.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I did not mean to scare you," the waiter apologized.

"No, it's fine," Anne started and nervously adjusted her glasses, "I was just studying."

"Yeah, I figured. What subject?," he asked, looking over her shoulder, "you have a lot of molecules drawn in there."

"Ahh… mmm… pharmacology."

"Pharmacology? That sounds difficult," he said.

"It's not, once you understand the basics," Anne replied.

"I remember my AP Chemistry class, and it was a sovereign pain in the …," the young man said but stopped when he noticed his boss looking at him disapprovingly.

"Oh, shut. Excuse me…," he said and when he walked away, Anne finally breathed. She did not like talking to strangers, especially good-looking guys who seemed interested in what she was doing.

She was in her favorite coffee shop in Boston as the whole aesthetic reminded her of her mother, and she went there frequently. But in all that time, she had not seen this waiter.

Anne sighed and returned to her notes. One more hour and then she should get ready to go home. She had already invested most of her day on getting ready for her summer tutorship.

Anne was not very keen on teaching, but one-on-one interactions or small groups worked better for her. She did not need the extra money, but her desire not to go back to New York, "home", and her advisor's pressure to boost her curriculum made her stay in the city and do it.

"There you go," the waiter's voice sounded again and Anne jumped on her seat.

"Oh, shut, I keep doing that! I'm so sorry," he said.

"It's… okay. Don't worry about it," Anne replied and adjusted her glasses once more.

"I brought you this to apologize for scaring you before," he said, pointing at the new cup, "I hope you like it. If not, it's totally fine."

"Oh…," she said.

"Also, if you don't want to drink it, I get it. I'm a total stranger and you might think that I put some weird things in your drink… but I didn't, I promise," the waiter rambled on.

"Okay…"

"Okay… well, I'll leave you with your molecules."

He left once more before Anne could say anything else. He had looked very cute, he even blushed a little bit while he talked to her.

Perhaps it was not the smartest decision but Anne took a sip of the drink. It was amazing.

"Oh my god!," she exclaimed, loud enough that she alarmed the rest of the people at the coffee shop.

"What happened?! Are you all right?!," the waiter asked as he turned to her rapidly.

"Yes! This is very good!"

"Thank you, it's a special recipe."

Anne frowned an instant and he assured her for the second time that he had used all natural and legal ingredients.

"Okay, if you say that one more time, I'll stop drinking this," Anne said and he laughed. She had made a joke, and it had worked! Mae would be proud of her.

"So, why are you studying right now? Are you taking summer classes?," he asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm tutoring high school students and freshmen."

"Interesting. Where do you go to school?"

"Harvard, I just finished my junior year."

"Nice… I go to UMass... I also finished my junior year."

"And what is your major?"

"I have two. Computer science and history."

"Two majors? That's... not common," Anne noted.

"Yeah, it's not. A lot of work but so far it's been fine. And what about you?," he continued.

"Biology and chemistry."

"Oh! Look at us, two over-achievers with double majors," he chuckled.

"Yeah, you could say that," Anne replied, "So, you said that you had taken an AP chemistry class?"

He nodded. "I did. I wanted to do biochemical engineering, but that class just did not work for me. But computer science and math... That just made more sense to me."

"But you just said history."

"Well, studying the past is one of my passions. I really like studying how things have changed and how they had stayed the same," he answered.

At this point, he gave Anne a big smile and her blood rushed to her cheeks. Two adorable dimples have shown in his face.

"What about you? What do you want to do with your degree?," he said.

Anne opened her mouth and then closed without saying a word.

"I guess that's a dreaded question. I also don't like being asked that. Sorry," he added.

"I want to cure cancer," Anne said almost immediately.

"That's a very important quest."

"I know it sounds ambitious but I want to do what I can to help."

"And I'm sure you will," he said. Anne smiled at him, he reciprocated, and the dimples showed up again.

"Well, I have to go back to work. It was nice talking to you," he added.

"It was nice talking to you too," Anne answered sincerely.

"My name is Frederick, by the way," he finally said and extended his hand to her.

"I'm Anne," she replied and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Anne. See you around."

"Yes."

"Good. Maybe you can teach me something about chemistry," Frederick finished with a wink.

He waived casually and Anne was left alone, wondering what had happened.