It was a stormy weekday night and Everett and Alondra sat at a wrought iron table, the covered, outdoor patio sheltering them from the downpour. As the hours passed and cup after cup of coffee was downed, the rain thickened, and so did the conversation. Flashes of lightning illuminated the dark corner they sat in, providing opportunities to steal glances of the new face in front of them. They remained, lost in endless conversation, well past the café’s normal closing time, as lightning was striking buildings there in the town square. The rain eventually lessened enough to make a dash for the car. Everett’s car was in the shop, and he had borrowed one from a friend. The driver’s side door didn’t open from the outside, meaning he and Alondra both had to clamber in through the passenger side, the pair of them thoroughly soaked upon entering. Neither was quite ready to say goodnight, and their remaining hours together were spent on an unsuccessful hunt for tacos, an activity that would encompass many future dates, beginning with the second one two days later. Alondra was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia in the same year that Everett was born in Baytown, Texas. Though being from different worlds it seems that their paths had many opportunities to cross. Everett had spent two years in South America, traveling to many places that Alondra had also visited. And Alondra had spent four years receiving her undergraduate degree in the Houston area, where Everett is from. Having applied to many Graduate Music programs around the country, Alondra, dictated by finances and other factors, ended up at UNT in Denton. Everett, meanwhile, had recently accepted a job as a jeweler in Dallas, and inexplicably moved to Denton, despite the long commute. The webs of their journeys seemed finally ready to connect, as fate would no longer let them escape each other.