Ellie shivered as a gust of wind greeted her as she stepped out of the taxi cab. She pulled her thin sweater closer to her body, suddenly regretting not bringing a jacket. After paying the cab driver, she made her way into Starbucks.
Being in Manhatten, New York, the the small coffe shop was a little busy, but since it was two o'clock, it wasn't too packed.
"Hello, welcome to Starbucks," A tall brunette girl said as Ellie made her way to the counter. "What would you like?"
"Hello, may I have a grande iced coffee with milk?" Ellie, said smiling back at the girl while reaching in her bag for her wallett.
"Of course. That'll be $2.95," Ellie handed her the money. "Ok, it'll be ready soon"
"Thank you," Ellie said.
Turning around, she scanned the room for a place to sit. Finding a spot at a table against the wall in the middle of the room, she made her way over. Just as she sets her bag down on the floor, she hears her drink called. Retrieving her drink, she came back to her spot and pulled out her laptop.
Running her own photography business wasn't easy. Well, she hadn't actually started it yet, she just bought the place she's going to run it at and now she's trying to think of how to set it up. She needs to design the room layout, buy furniture, get business cards, and yada yada. It was going to be expensive and it'll take hardwork, but it was her dream and she was determined to make it reality.
After about 20 minutes of looking up furniture online, Ellie was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a feeling she had of someone staring at her. Looking up from her laptop she looked around the room for the peeper, and found a man, sitting across the room, watching her.
When they made eye contact, his eyes grew a little bit, embarressed that he was caught looking at her. He smiled awkwardly at her, and blushing, Ellie returned the smile. Looking back down at her laptop, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. That man certaintly was had longish dirtyblonde hair and a beard. That's all Ellie really noticed; she didn't want to stare for too long. He was attractive though, she knew that.
Not feeling his eyes on her anymore, she decided it was her turn to peep. Pulling her eyes away from her laptop, she looked in his direction, his head was turned away from her so she couldn't get the details of his face, but his the back of his head was pretty handsome too. He was sitting with four other guys. One of the guys, sitting infront of the mysterious man, had dark brown hair and the same beard as him. They were probably related. Ellie drew her attention back to her laptop, getting too scared to be caught staring, and just as she looked away, she saw him look towards her. She prayed in her head he didn't see her.
When she saw him look away from the corner of her eye, she sighed. She wasn't very good with socializing with guys, especially good-looking ones, even though it was just eye contact. She was far too shy and awkward. She always managed to embarress herself.
Still watching from the corner of her eye, she saw the guy sitting to the left of the guy who had the same beard as the attractive man, say something to him. Trying to block out everyone else in the coffeeshop, she listened intently. She could kind of hear what he was saying, but couldn't make it out. It sounded like a different language. The attractive man replied and she could here him a little more. Yup, it definently was a different languge, but which one. French? Spanish?
Italian. She figured out it was Italian. Upon realization, the blush that never left Ellie's cheeks, grew. She just got stared at by a seriously good-looking, Italian man. A small smile formed on her lips and her self confidence rose, but so did her self consciousness.
Grabbing her cup to take a drink, she realized it was empty. She should probably leave, since more people will come in and need a seat, but she was scared to. What if she tripped and fell on her face? What if some guy ran into her and got coffee all over her clothes? She sighed, now she really didn't want to leave. Maybe she could stay till they left? Nahh, that'd be too obvious, she got there before them, and they don't even have their drinks yet.
Coming to the conclusion that she shouldn't stay she started to put her laptop away. Picking up her bag and grabbing her empty cup, she felt his eyes on her again. Without thinking, she looked back at him. He smiled sweetly at her, and she melted. Returning the smile, and blushing evenmore, she stood up.
Walking to the entrance of Starbucks, her worst nightmare happened. A guy sitting at a table she was about to walk past, didn't see her and scooted his chair back right into her path. She collided with the chair, falling over it, and landing flat on her back. Cringing on the ground, she heard the whole room gasp and desperatly wanted to just die right there.
Not wanting to open her eyes, she just layed there. Hearing chairs scoot across the floor and footsteps, she knew she was surrounded by people. Ok, she thought. This is extremely embarressing, but the more I lay here, the more embarressed I'll feel. I just need to get up and run out the door. Ok, I can do this.
Doing a countdown in her head, she opened her eyes, ready to jump up and run, but what she saw stoped her. The Italian man was bent over her, with an extremely worried look on his face. Shocked, Ellie just stared at him. He was even more attractive face to face. After a few seconds, a sad smile formed on his lips, and he extended his hand for her to take. Ellie, still stunned, took it, and boy; was his hand soft.
He helped her off the ground, and suddenly asked, "Are you okay?"
Ellie was dusting herself off and making sure she had her bag(her cup went flying somewhere) when he said that. She looked up at him, shocked. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine, thank you.
He smiled down at her and said, "You're welcome"
Almost melting from his gorgeous accent, she smiled back. Not wanting to, she realized she should probably leave now. She gave him another smile and turned round to walk away. Just then did she realize there was a huge group of people around her. Blushing madly, she whispered some "excuse me"s and made her way out. Finally reaching outside, she wanted desperately to go back in and just see that guy again. But it was too late now, it'd be rediculous to go back in just to look at a guy.
Blowing her bangs out of her face, Ellie went to the end of the sidewalk and tried to wave down a taxi. After a few minutes, one finally came to her. She opened the door and was about to get in, but she felt someone watching her. Looking at the window of Starbucks, she saw the Italian man looking at her. He smiled at her, and she almost melted for the third time. Smiling back, she climbed into the cab. She told the driver where to go, and as he drove away, she looked back at the coffeeshop. The man wasn't there anymore, but for some reason she had a feeling she'd be seeing him again soon. Whether that was good or not, Ellie didn't care.
