Headlights

02 Drinks

I'll write your name.

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Hailey felt like an idiot hiding behind a glossy edition of Vogue as she lurked around the Starbucks at the intersection of Morningside Drive and 125th Street. What was she doing? She could be doing so many other useful things—such as picking up her nephew and niece from their daycare center. She could easily make coffee in her brother's highly up-to-date kitchen, disregarding the fact that she barely knew how to use the microwave there. So what was she doing?

She was in it to meet new people, she told herself and rubbed her red lips together as she bit her lower lip.

She technically wasn't lying—who knew who she could meet in a café in a center of the world?—but that wasn't true. Not necessarily.

All right, maybe it was because of Green Eyes. She fiddled with the tube of lipstick in her coat pocket. Yes, maybe it was because a little part inside of her still believed in the movies and romance books, all of which her sister-in-law Maddi had given her for her birthday. Maybe she could see him again.

Maybe.

She took a sip of her scalding black coffee, wondering what the hell was going on in her head when she was ordering. She hated black coffee. Why didn't she take the chai tea option as usual? It was probably because she hoped for something out of seeing a pretty face.

How idiotic of her.

She hid her face behind her magazine when the door to the shop opened, letting in a stream of chilly winter air. It was getting colder now that it was getting closer and closer to Christmas. She didn't know if she appreciated it or not; no matter how she felt, there was no prospect of a white Christmas this year anyway. She resisted the urge to wrap her scarf around her face again.

Something pushed her to look up from her magazine, and so she did. It was a person in a black wool jacket. He had a Rolex watch on his wrist, she noticed, as he strode up to the counter. Her heart skipped a beat. She could barely keep her breathing regular as she watched.

Turn around, turn around, she chanted.

After a devastating moment, he did, but then her heart crashed back into her ribcage.

Oh my God. He had green eyes, but it couldn't possibly be him. She was sure Green Eyes had something more extraordinary in him, something that she had seen in him the other day. This guy—he looked almost normal. He acknowledged her eyes with a nod and seated himself at a coffee table three places away from hers. She bit her lip numbly and stood up, pulling her scarf around her. She couldn't stay now that he had seen her.

Pushing out of the coffee shop with her coffee cup and purse in hand, she stumbled outside, where the first wave of red-hot humiliation hit her square in the chest. She was sure her cheeks were rosy, but not from the cold or good health. Why was she being so unusually hopeful now? Maybe it was this Christmas cheer getting to her. It wasn't healthy.

She joined the steady stream of people on the streets and pushed toward the subway so she could go home.

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"Remind me again," Hailey said as she flashed her ID to the bouncer, who let her in without a second glance, "why we're here tonight, would you?"

Teagan, her friend, laughed. "Come on, when was the last night you were out? You're always housesitting for your brother or babysitting your niece and nephew whenever we ask." She walked purposefully toward the bar and sat on one of the high chairs. Hailey followed more slowly.