Rosemary was just a girl living in a small town, but something was missing. She was short, and stocky with brown hair, brown eyes, and an upside-down smile. With a 4.0 GPA in high school, and now in college, she wanted to keep it that way. Coming from a poor family, she would have to pay for it. Down the street was a little coffee shop that filled the air with the scent of fresh grounds. And whenever she didn’t have to be at college, she would be there, working to pay for it.

  Today was just a normal day, but as she clocked into work, she noticed a familiar name on the schedule. Nick. “I wonder what he could possibly be doing here”, she thought. Nick had been the most popular boy in class. His family was filthy rich, and he had been a jerk all through school. She remembered the last time she saw him. Graduation day, summer of last year. He had invited her best friend to a party, but not her. When she asked her friend about it, she said that some people just weren’t to his standard.

  After clocking in, she began cleaning her work station. 4:30 was his clock in time, and it was 3 o’clock right now. She sighed, “maybe he changed”. “Two iced caramel frappes!” her coworker yelled. “Coming right up!” she replied, leaving her thoughts behind. Time sped up, as she tried to keep up with all the orders, until she finally had a moment to breathe.

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  And then it happened. The door opened again. But this time, it wasn’t a customer. There he was, in full uniform. Lanky, with baggy blue jeans, and long wavy blonde hair. They locked eyes, and as she gazed into his bright, emotionless eyes, she had a brief daydream about making out with him on the hood of his car. He quickly looked down at his watch with a serious expression.

  He walked up to the counter like he owned the place. “Hey, I’m supposed to start today?”

  “U-u-um,” she stammered back, unable to speak. She glared at him. Her coworker jumped in. “Come right back this way.” Rosemary, dismayed, began frantically cleaning her station, having already wiped it down multiple times. She didn’t dare to look in his direction. He didn’t even seem to notice who she was. Had she changed that much since high school?

  The night dragged on. While he completed onboarding, she continued working, trying not to think about what had just happened. When the time came to clock out, she quickly did so, and left in a hurry.

  Pedaling on her bicycle as fast as she could, she tried to erase the incident from her mind. But the more she thought about it, the harder it was to stop. She liked how confident he was, but she knew he would never go for her. She had to play it cool though or he would think she was weird.