Second Impression

That Wednesday morning, I woke up with him on my mind. I’m not sure why, but he gave me a strange feeling the day before. I just kept replaying the interaction in my head like a broken record. I had never really been the "dating type," and I’d never even had a boyfriend. But Charles… seemed different. At least I had hoped so. Having never dated, I had no real experience to tell if he was actually a decent guy.

Getting ready for work that morning was a chore in itself. But somehow, I managed to be done in time, leaving my apartment a little before 5:30.

I called up my friend Alina on the way to the café. She happened to pick up, thankfully.

"Hey, Claire. Good morning," she answered in her cute Polish accent.

“Hey, Alina. I’m good. So, I wanted to ask you what you thought about that weird guy yesterday.” My vague question left her silent for a moment.

"Uh... who?" her confused tone confirmed she had no idea who I meant.

"You know, that kind of awkward guy from the café yesterday? He didn’t know what he wanted to order and made the whole place feel uncomfortable." I tried to explain it based on how I remembered it.

"Oh! Yeah, I know who you mean," she said after a second. "He was quite odd, in my opinion," she added sincerely.

"Yeah, he was a bit odd. So, what was your impression of him?" I was curious to hear her take on it.

"Well, it seemed to me like he was just attracted to you, maybe. But he could’ve just been a socially awkward person," she suggested, a bit uncertain.

"Hm, okay," I said, contemplating her response. "Well, are you going to come in today?" I quickly changed the subject, realizing I was thinking about him more than I wanted to.

"Actually, I can’t. I have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on and some more assignments I got yesterday. I probably won’t be able to come in until after 1 or 2 p.m." I could tell she felt bad, knowing she'd be leaving me alone with my thoughts.

"Okay, that’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, Li," I tried to sound as cool with it as possible.

"Are you sure? I can try to come in sooner and do the rest another day," she selflessly offered. "Especially since Mikaela's out too," she added like I was already aware.

"Wait, what!? Mikaela's out for the day as well? Why didn’t she tell me!?" I complained, unintentionally causing Alina some anxiety.

"Uh, I don’t know. She just texted me last night. Said she had a family emergency or something," she explained, almost like it was her responsibility—which only made me a little more upset with Mikaela. "But anyway, I can come in if you need the help," she offered again, clearly not ready to let go of her convictions.

"No really, it’s fine. I can take care of things for half a day," I tried convincing her, even though it was hard not to accept her help. She was always risking everything just to help people, and I couldn’t do that to her.

"All right, but just call me if you need help at all, okay?" I sighed at her expected reply. I knew telling her no would only make her insist more, so I agreed, and we hung up.

After hanging up, the silence that filled my car was haunting. I was going to spend the rest of the dead-silent morning in the café, with no one to keep me distracted from those thoughts.

I made it to the café a bit before six and got everything ready for the day. I always found the morning routine at the café to be the most peaceful and relaxing part of my day. Everything else I had to do to keep the place running was tedious and hectic. But that morning time—those two quiet hours before opening at 8—were mine. I'd spend them baking treats and desserts, getting the coffee started, and filling the café with cozy, warm vibes. Normally, I’d do all that with Alina. We’d mess around a little and talk about whatever came to mind. Sadly, I had to get through that morning alone. It wasn’t terribly unpleasant… but it wasn’t all that great, either.

Somehow, I managed to stay so focused on my morning prep that I didn’t think of Charles once. But that quickly changed when the first customer of the day walked in.

“Hey!” he called out, with a little more enthusiasm than I think he meant to.

"Hello, welcome in! What can I get for you today?" I asked, pretending I didn’t remember him to keep things from feeling awkward.

"I’ll get a... hm... maybe you could surprise me again," he said, assuming I remembered him. I did, but that’s beside the point.

"All right, one surprise comin’ up!" I said, throwing an army salute for some reason. I was acting so out of character again. I knew he could tell that I wasn’t normally like that. Who couldn’t? I made it so obvious that I liked him just by acting all silly.

“Great! Can’t wait to see,” he said, looking so hopeful. So hopeful, I was afraid he was going to ask me out and I’d have to turn him down.

It hadn’t been anything personal. He was handsome and all, but I wasn’t in any emotional place to be ready for a relationship. I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d even say if he did ask me out. I didn’t want to break his heart. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Then again, don’t they all? I just wasn’t ready to deal with that—not after losing my parents not too long before.

Okay, well… I guess eight years is a pretty long time. But to me, it still felt like I had just lost them.

“So, do you own this place?” he’d caught me off guard just as I was topping the drink in my hand.

“What was that?” I’d asked, trying to contain my nervousness—though I’m sure it was already obvious.

“I was just asking if you owned this café,” he repeated, scratching his neck nervously.

“Oh, uh… yeah, I own the place,” I’d nodded—probably a little too much as I said it.

“Nice. Do you like what you do here? I mean, is it... you know,” he’d chuckled nervously, like he’d already accepted he couldn’t think of the right words.

“Yeah, it’s great. Well, it’s more enjoyable when my friends are here with me, but absolutely. I love running this café. Also, I can’t exactly back out after pouring all my savings into this place, you know?” I’d tried to make the conversation feel a little more natural.

“Yeah, I can understand,” he’d said, biting his lip as he trailed off in thought.

“Really? What do you do for a living?” I’d tilted my head with curiosity. “By the way, your drink.” I slid the cup across the corner of the counter.

“Thanks,” he said with a small, thoughtful smile that filled me with a warm feeling of appreciation. “Uh... well, I’m actually a lawyer. But I mean that I get it—it’s not easy to just change your career after investing everything you have into something.” He’d nodded so much through his explanation that it made me certain he’d noticed my obnoxious nodding earlier.

“Sounds like you speak from experience,” I’d chuckled. “Well, I hope you enjoy your drink and have a wonderful day!” I’d tried to end the conversation as smoothly as possible.

“Yeah, thanks. But, I wouldn’t say it’s from experience. I don’t want to change my career entirely—just the firm I work for,” he added, just as I’d hoped he wouldn’t.

He had taken a quick sip of the drink. “Wow, this is phenomenal!” he’d exclaimed—clearly exaggerating.

“That’s really nice. But trust me, there are better places in town,” I’d said, seriously hoping he’d leave before I became an even bigger nervous wreck.

“I guess I’ll never know,” he’d replied as he walked toward the door, leaving me wondering—and maybe a little nervous—about what exactly he meant by that.

“Oh! My bad. I forgot to pay for this.” He had turned back around—to my dismay. I really wished he hadn’t. At that point, I would’ve been fine with him robbing me, as long as he left. I wasn’t sure I could hold my composure much longer.

“No, I’m sorry. That was my fault. I can’t believe I forgot that,” I said, shaking my head dramatically. “You know what? Let’s say it’s on the house.” I prayed to GOD he would just accept it and leave. He did, and I was just about to turn around when he stopped in his tracks before reaching the door. I mentally sighed, fearing what he would say next.

“Hey, I actually wanted to ask if you’d go out for a cup of coffee with me sometime. Or… maybe something else.” His voice had suddenly turned nervous.

“Uh, I’m not really—” My brain had short-circuited. I had absolutely no idea what to say. He just stood there, awkwardly waiting for a response, and I couldn’t think of anything. “It’s... not exactly the best move for me right now, if you know what I mean,” my brain attempted to reboot.

“No, yeah, of course. That’s totally cool,” he said, trying to play it off—but it was clear it stung.

“Well, I do think you’re nice, but… you know what?” I swallowed the lump of impending regret in my throat. “How about you come here every single day for two weeks straight, and then I’ll go on one date with you.” His eyes immediately lit up with joy, which only made me regret what I’d said even more.

“Okay, will do. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He’d twisted on the heel of his slacks and practically hopped out the door like a little boy who’d just gotten an ice cream cone. He was finally gone. Yet I hadn’t felt as relieved as I thought I would. I only thought about him more.

I tried dealing with customers over the next few hours without thinking about it too much, but the thoughts refused to depart from me. I remembered that I had prayed to GOD for a genuinely nice guy earlier that year—but I hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. Then again, I also considered that he could’ve been a test. Maybe he wasn’t the one GOD had in mind for me, but perhaps he was meant to help me get comfortable with dating before the real one came along.

Thanks be to the Lord, because Alina had shown up just shy of noon. Although she was quite timid and didn’t talk much, she’d gone on about how she’d been planning to surprise-visit her parents in Poland. I knew how much that meant to her—especially since her parents had practically disowned her after she professed her faith in Jesus to them. I’d tried to be supportive at the time, despite dealing with my own emotional damage. Thankfully, she ended up healing on her own and was finally ready to go back.

She explained that she wanted to stay for a week, trying to reconcile with them and convince them that her faith was a good thing. I’d been honest about how great I thought that was, but I was afraid to tell her I didn’t think her parents would be so willing to listen, considering their previous reaction. Fortunately, I didn’t have to. Several customers had walked in, and we were forced to give our attention to them.

Before the first person approached the counter, I had already concluded that I should leave everything up to GOD—and trust that both our situations would turn out perfectly according to His will.

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