From Diamond to Coal

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

Even though James didn't like the thought of him falling into such an easily followed routine, William simply couldn't help himself. He had always liked his little patterns of behavior; it was comforting to always have a general idea of where he was supposed to be.

He worked long hours and his company was growing at an exponential rate. He didn't know how far everything was going to go, but he had already far exceeded his own expectations.

He honestly hadn't expected his little idea to start a company would end up as one of the most successful companies in the world. He had almost over night gone from borderline poverty to amazing levels of wealth.

It was kind of frightening.

Which is why he fought to be able to pretend that he was just a normal person, some of the time at least. He didn't want to lose his sense of self and just become some kind of human shell.

So he donned jeans, a tee shirt and a zip-front hoodie and pretended that he was just a guy. He liked wandering through the grocery store and shopping for himself. He liked going to the library and book stores. He liked walking through the park and seeing people enjoying the day.

Mostly, he liked going to his favorite coffee shop, A Shot In the Dark. They knew him there, though it was simply by the name "William" and he figured they thought he was some kind of college student or something. Which actually made him happy.

Graduating at fifteen meant he had missed a lot of the college experience. He'd been too young for anyone to really want to hang out with--except RJ, who was another prodigy and two years his senior--but he'd been just old enough to realize that he was missing out on all the good stuff.

So he tried his best, now, to play at being a normal person. His dream was to somehow be seen as just another face in the crowd.

Pushing open one of the double doors that led into A Shot In the Dark, he couldn't help laughing when Cindy, his usual barista, saw him and pointed. "Got you covered, babe. Go sit down and I'll bring it to you."

"Thank you," he said, looking around to find a free table. The place was pretty packed for this time of day. It made him wonder if something was going on.

He felt a frown tugging at his lips when he realized there was nowhere for him to sit. He really didn't want to just grab his coffee and go, but that was what it looked like was going to happen. Maybe he could drink his coffee in the park?

"You can sit here," a voice said.

William turned to see a blond man sitting at a table to his left. "Really?" He was already walking over.

The guy smiled at him, flashing nice teeth. He was good-looking and William couldn't help running his eyes over what he could see of the man's body. He really wasn't into the idea of sitting with a serial killer or something.

William pulled out the empty seat and sat down. "Thanks. I didn't know what I was going to do."

"I was surprised by how busy they are myself," the man said. He had a newspaper folded under his elbow and he was wearing a dark gray suit. Up close, he had the beginnings of crow's feet and faint smile lines around his mouth.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" William asked.

The man shrugged. "I guess there's some kind of convention or something going on a few blocks from here. Most of these guys came from there."

"Huh." He held out his hand, "My name's William."

The man's hand was warm and dry against his own, his handshake firm. "Alan. Nice to meet you."