It’s Happening

One snowy Christmas Eve, we were working to close up our respective shops in Suburban Square mall. In desperate need of respite, Britta ran to Starbucks before it closed. She knew there was only one barista that would make hot chocolate that was burning hot. Little did she know that it was Simon who scalded his hands to make it for her. As he handed her the drink and the snowfall made an icy wonderland outside, Simon looked at her and said, “Look at the bottom of your cup.” She looked at the bottom rim, saw the words, “Caution hot,” and thought, “wow this guy is a smart-Alec for cautioning me to watch out for my hotter than the sun chocolate.” With total obliviousness, Britta walked out the door and headed back to City Sports. By the time she had walked back to her store, the hot chocolate was much too cold. She threw out the cup. A handsome stranger, on a break of his own and no longer wearing his green apron wandered into City Sports. But Britta was ready to shoo any more customers out as the vacuuming had begun. “Can I help you sir?!” She asked passive aggressively. The faster he made his purchase, the faster she could get home. He looked at her and knew she had no idea what was on the bottom of the cup. “Oh!” He gasped, “I guess you didn’t see.” And with that he turned to the door to leave as Britta continued to the vacuum.

She hadn’t. She hadn’t seen him or the number on the bottom of the cup. She hadn’t yet seen that the hot chocolate cup wasn’t half empty. But after he turned around and made his way out the door, she finally realized who the man was. Britta sprang back to the trash to find the bottom of that darn cup. Someone had taken out the trash already! So she dove into the dumpster, searching through clear plastic bags for that green mermaid. Finally, she grappled the bag with chocolate liquid gurgling through and the smeared etchings of a number. There it was. Her future. It was smudged with hot chocolate and she still couldn’t make out all the numbers. The doors to Starbucks were closed. The employees were mopping. Simon’s playlist was jamming over the loudspeaker. It was the fun, chill, hardworking environment you know Simon excels at creating. The sound of rattling and pounding of the door came. Was it another crazy customer trying to get a fix of coffee before Christmas? An employee opened the door and said matter-of-factly, “We’re closed.” “I know. But...there was this guy and ....here...can you give him this...” And with that she shoved a scribbled phone number through the door and ran away. The rest you know. A boy called a girl. They talked for hours, dated for years, loved for lifetimes.