The Coffee Date

Chapter 4 - Meet Company

The eyes scanned to his computer just to his right where files had been opened an hour previous. Right. He had meant to go over them but decided to turn back towards the paper copies instead. Mistake. In the bottom corner of his screen the time 7:06am blinked back at him with taunting glory.

Nathan had taken a short break the evening before, seeing as he normally got off at five and remained at home until the next day when he would be called in again. Today, however, was different. His father had called him only a few short hours after he had gotten home and requested - more so demanded - that he come back in to see if he could make any more progress in the case he was working on. Despite being much farther ahead than anyone else in his department, for some reason his father decided that he needed to put in the extra work and extra time. Of course, it was him only. Everyone else was able to go home for the night.

The raven-haired male had remained at that office for nine and a half hours that night, only pausing once to take a small nap at his desk - which only lasted fifteen minutes before his computer 'binged' with an email and unfortunately pushed him awake.

"Dear God..." He groaned, running a hand over his features. "I can't do this." Obviously the statement was true, anyone could see it just from looking at his desk. It was a never ending cluster of pens, urgent sticky notes and dirty coffee mugs.

He glanced back at his clock once more. 7:08. He turned to the wall-scaled window from his office over-looking other cubicles. Silence. Stillness. This at least was promising. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, attempting to act as casual as possible just in case a fellow co-worker was lurking off to the side. They seemed to love dishing out info about him to his father. Lord knows that was always fun to deal with afterwards.

Finally he stifled a groan and snagged his jacket off his chair. He didn't care if he was ratted on at this point by some nosey, single mom. He needed coffee. Real coffee. Not that crappy water with a hint of caffeine that their office stocked. "I swear Hilda puts one coffee bean in that entire pot." He bitterly grumbled to himself. Maybe it was the lack of energy talking. Or maybe it was the lack of family support. Nobody could really tell.

But for now, one of those two problems would be solved in the next 10 minutes. At least he could only hope.

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The short brisk walk through crisp morning air was all Nathan needed to get the early, sleepy grumbles out of his system. How long he had been suffocated in that office he couldn't tell. Considering he was the only one who had been working there all night a coffee break seemed well deserved. Rather, it was necessary since he could barely keep his eyes open with tape as it was. The only reason he was standing right now was because of how the chilled wind was kissing his skin.

Side-stepping past a frazzled mom who was nudging her hot-chocolate-toting toddler out of the doors, Nathan was greeted with a kind, feminine smile behind the counter and a gesture to meet her at the till. Without hesitation he obliged. He could say it was because he was a gentleman, but in reality he just needed some energy. Kindly and softly the brunette gave his order, sliding a ten dollar bill across the counter and holding his hand up as she attempted to give him his change. A kind action and a reason to conserve some energy in not needing to dig out his wallet again.

Despite the calmness of the room around him one table was far more frazzled than the rest; the seat that harboured the hazel-orbed, wide-eyed gaze of a young woman who was clinging to her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird as if it was her life. A part of her couldn't believe her eyes. Things didn't work out this perfectly in life, it was insane to think that the same place and almost the exact same time would land the two strangers in the same spot. Serendipitous almost.