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Every morning Adam Parrish gets up at 5 AM to begin his day. He gets out of bed and takes a shower before his roommates can steal all the hot water. Then he gathers all his stuff for the day and heads to the coffee shop down the street where he gets a large vanilla dirty chai latte and studies and does homework until his first class at 10 AM. This has been his routine for the past 4 months since starting at college. He loves the consistency and stability this simple routine has offered him.
Adam had had a hard time adjusting to college life at first. The hard work and effort needed to succeed wasn’t a problem. Adam had worked three jobs while in high school. No, the difficult part to adjust to was having to live with three complete strangers and having no privacy of his own. He had moved out of his parents trailer before his senior year in high school and lived on his own in a tiny one room apartment above a church. He was used to a certain amount of privacy and quite. But the first week in the dorms Adam had nearly lost his mind. There was always someone around, some noise being made. Food disappeared from the refrigerator and things inexplicably moved on their own. Adam was overwhelmed to say the least. He just needed at least an hour a day of peace and quiet away from his roommates.
So one morning Adam woke up earlier than normal and gathered all his stuff and set off aimlessly off campus and down the main strip. He had only walked a few blocks when he stumbled across a small coffee shop. He wandered in and fell in love with it immediately.
It was a nice, cozy coffee shop. It had about 8 or 9 tables spread around the open area with really comfortable looking chairs around them. There was a steady stream of customers coming and going. Most people taking their coffee to go instead of taking advantage of the seating. The noise of coffee beans being ground and brewed hummed in the background. But it wasn’t the chaotic disarray that Adam felt while in the dorm. This was a practiced and perfected flow of energy. It was strangely calming to Adam. So he had ordered a coffee and found a comfortable chair to commandeer and thus his daily morning routine was born.
A little over a month after Adam had started going to the coffee shop he noticed that he wasn’t the only one who seemed to start every morning there. A man who looked to be about his age came in around the same time Adam did every day. The man was tall and sharp looking. He usually wore all black and had a buzzed head. Adam thought he looked a little out of place in the brightly colored coffee shop, but the man seemed to feel at home. He had probably been coming to the coffee shop longer than Adam had.
At first Adam just ignored the man. He had a lot to do and the whole point of coming to the coffee shop was to get some time to himself. But every few days Adam noticed that the man would choose a seat slightly closer to Adam’s table. After the first month of seeing the man at the coffee shop he smiled and gave a small wave to him after ordering his coffee and making his way to his usual seat. The man seemed surprised that Adam had acknowledged him and gave him a strange look, his normally sharp features softening slightly. Ever since that day they always silently acknowledged each other, but never said a word to the other. Even when they started sitting at the same table together daily each working on their respective tasks. Adam didn’t even know the man’s name, but still he continued to sit in comfortable silence with the man every day while he did his school work and the man read a book or wrote in his journal.
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Adam had been running a few minutes late getting to the coffee shop one morning and was surprised to walk in and find a coffee cup already sitting on the table in his spot. Adam’s first thought was that the man was meeting someone else and had bought them coffee, but when Adam made eye contact with the man he nodded towards the chair silently letting Adam know the coffee was, in fact, for him. Adam walked cautiously over to the table and lifted the cup to his mouth and took a sip. He was shocked to find the satisfying taste of a vanilla dirty chai latte coating his mouth. His eye went wide and he looked over at the other man who was smiling at him. He gave Adam a nod and went back to reading his book. Adam felt like he should say something, at least thank him for the coffee, but he didn’t want to disrupt the comfortable thing they had going on between them. So he drank his coffee in silence and started on his school work for the day.
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A few days later Adam was at the bookstore when he saw a book that he thought the man at the coffee shop would enjoy based on some of the stuff he had seen him reading previously. After some debate Adam decided to buy the book and planned on giving it to him the next day as a silent thank you for the coffee.
Adam arrived 15 minutes early to the coffee shop the next morning so he could place the book in the other man’s spot before he arrived. Adam tried to focus on his school work while he waited but he found himself looking up every time the little bell on the door chimed indicating that someone had entered the shop. After what was at least 15 minutes after the normal time they both arrived Adam started to feel a little disappointed. After another 20 minutes had passed he gave up on any hope that the man was coming today. Adam was surprised at how disappointed he was that the man did not show up today. He chalked it up to the anticipation of giving the man the book and not that he had started to look forward to seeing him everyday and enjoyed his company.
The next three days happened the exact same way as the first day the man didn't show up. Adam arrived early, couldn’t focus on his work instead focusing on every one that came in the shop, and left more and more disappointed that the man did not show. He was starting to think he had done something wrong and had offended the man. Was he upset because Adam hadn’t verbally thanked him for the coffee? Or was he just weirded out that Adam continued to show up and sit quietly with him every day? Whatever the reason, Adam found himself falling into a bad mood every day he didn’t show.
After the fourth day the man didn’t show Adam went back to his dorm room nursing a foul mood. He flopped himself onto the couch and exhaled loudly. He knew he was being ridiculous. It shouldn’t matter that the man stopped showing up to sit in silence with him at the coffee shop. How was he so upset about someone when he didn’t even know their name? As he was moping on the coach his roommate Noah walked in and plopped down next to him.
Noah was the human equivalent of a firecracker. He was loud and had so much energy. He never stopped moving and was always rattling on about something or another. Adam didn’t know how he had so much energy, he never seemed to stop or get tired. Adam wished he could siphon just a sliver of the boys energy.
“Hey Noah,” Adam offered, trying to not let his mood effect his interaction with his roommate.
Obviously he wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his frustration because Noah quickly asked what was bothering him.
Adam didn’t really know how to explain what was bothering him without it sounding crazy. He hadn’t mentioned the unspoken arrangement between him and the coffee shop man to anyone before, but now he felt like he needed to tell someone, if not just to get out some of the frustration. So Adam told Noah about the man at the coffee shop.
“Hm,” Noah offered unhelpfully once Adam had finished explaining the situation.
Adam tried to resist rolling his eyes. He shouldn’t have said anything. It sounded ever more ridiculous when he said it out loud. What had he expected Noah to say to help the situation?
“Sounds like you have a crush,” Noah said after a minute of silence.
Adam blanched at that.
“What?! No! That’s ridiculous Noah. I haven’t even said 2 words to the guy.” Adam protested. But as soon as he started to deny it he realized that maybe Noah wasn’t completely wrong. Shit, had he subconsciously developed a crush on him. That would explain his bad mood at him not showing up the past few days.
Noah must have seen the transition and realization in Adam’s face because he slapped Adam on the back gleefully and started hounding him for more information on the mystery guy.
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The next morning Adam got up and prepared for the day. He tried not to think about the possibility of seeing the mystery man again, this time with the new knowledge of his crush towards him. Adam finished getting ready early and couldn’t sit still so he decided to head to the coffee shop early.
Adam arrived 20 minutes earlier than his normal time to the cafe. He sat at his normal table and pulled out all this stuff, including the book for the man. He pushed the book over to the other man’s side of the table and opened his text book. Adam really did try to study, but his eyes kept glancing to the door, his hands straying to the book on the other side of the table. After several minutes of not getting any actual studying done, Adam pulled the book back to his side of the table. He had gotten an idea. He ripped a scrap of paper out of his notebook and scrawled a note on it and put it in the book. Just as he closed the book and pushed it back to the other side of the table he heard the door chime. He looked up and saw his mystery guy walking to the counter to order his coffee.
The reality of what Adam had just done sank in when he saw the man come into the coffee shop. He had just written a note asking his crush out and stuffed it in his book like a middle schooler. Adam started to panic and was about to reach for the book when the man sat down at the table, grabbed the book while smiling at Adam and put it in his bag.
Adam tried to return the smile, hoping he didn’t look pained. Maybe he should ask for the book back. Tell the man the book wasn’t actually for him. It was for a friend. But no, Adam knew that wouldn’t work. The book was clearly for the man. Who else did Adam know who would read a book on animal husbandry? Adam hadn’t even known what that was until he had seen him reading a book on the topic a few weeks ago. He had gone to the library to research what it was before his first class that day. Adam silently accepted that he was stuck with the rash decision he had made and could only wait for the response.
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Several days had gone by and the man had been reading the book Adam had given him every morning. Adam had waited for a response the first day. The second day he would have just been happy with an acknowledgement that the man had at least seen the note. The third day passed with not so much as a look that said the man had encountered the note. Adam wasn’t sure if the man really hadn’t seen the note, or if he was choosing the ignore it and pretend he had never seen it. Adam didn’t know which one he would have preferred. If the man had seen the note, he was still showing up to the coffee shop every morning and sitting with Adam so he couldn’t have been too upset about it. If he hadn't seen the note Adam didn’t think he had enough courage to try and ask him out again any time soon.
On the fourth day, Adam arrived at the coffee shop to find a very nice planner sitting in his spot. Adam looked around the cafe but didn’t see his coffee buddy anywhere. He sat down with his coffee and picked up the planner.
The planner looked very expensive. When Adam picked it up he was surprised to find that it was bound in real leather. The cover was embossed with silver lettering and the year below. Adam ran his finger over the lettering which read “quoniam amicus meus capulus” in a neat cursive script. Adam smiled to himself as he flipped through the pages of the planner to the current date. He faltered when he arrived on the page laying out the current week. In a rushed scrawl across Friday there was a time and address written along with a signature. Ronan. Adam finally had a name to call the man he had been crushing on for weeks now.
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The rest of the week crawled by at a snail’s pace. Adam was anxious for Friday to arrive. Ronan disappeared from the coffee shop again, which did not help with Adam’s anxiety. Several times Adam pulled out the planner to make sure that there was still a time and address written and he had not just imagined the whole thing. He read the entry over and over again, memorizing the address. Despite Adam’s curiosity he did not look up the address to see what it was. He wanted to see what kind of place Ronan thought he would enjoy in person.
Adam pulled up the GPS on his phone and typed in the address. The GPS told him the address was just a couple of miles from campus. Usually Adam would bike or walk that short a distance, but he didn’t want to arrive to what he was assuming was a date all sweaty. Adam also wasn’t sure how to dress for where ever it was he was going. That had almost been the thing that had nearly caused him to say fuck it and look up what the address belonged to. But Adam had torn his closet apart and chosen to dress in a button down shirt and a pair of his nicest jeans. On his way out to the cab he grabbed a blazer just in case the place was nicer than he expected from someone who wears leather and black tanks exclusively it seemed.
The cab came to a stop outside of the same bookstore that Adam had bought the book he had given Ronan from. Confused, Adam pulled out the planner and flipped the address written inside. He read the address again and matched it to the address on the outside of the building. This was not even close to what Adam had expected. He had expected maybe a dinner date or even bowling. A bookstore wasn’t even on his radar. After checking the address one more time, he paid the cab and walked inside.
Inside Adam walked through each row of shelves, keeping an eye out for Ronan. While walking through the store he notices a sign near a cluster of chairs. Curious, he walks over and reads the sign. Adam’s heart falls as he reads the sign. The sign was advertising a book talk and signing by a big time engineer.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Adam was an idiot. This was not a date at all. Ronan had written the time and address for this book signing because he thought Adam would be interested in it because he was always studying his engineering text books at the coffee shop. If Adam hadn’t have been stupid and looked up the actual address he would have seen the advertisement of the bookstores webpage and known it wasn’t a date.
Adam turned from the sign, intending to leave the shop. As he turned he ran into something solid. He staggered back a little and looked up to see Ronan standing there smiling at him.
“Hey. Sorry I’m late. One of my cows has been in labor the past few days. She finally gave birth a few hours ago. I wasn’t sure I was gonna be able to make it and I would have felt like a complete ass. But alas, here I am.”
Adam just stared at Ronan. He wasn’t sure if Ronan was making a joke or if he was serious. Adam had thought that Ronan just liked reading about farming stuff, he didn't think he was an actual farmer.
After a few seconds of Adam not responding Ronan’s smile faltered.
“Shit. You didn’t realize I was going to be here too. I knew I should have specified in the planner that this was meant to be a date. My brother said it would be cuter if I just wrote the time and address and you would know it was a date because of the note. I can leave if you want?” Ronan had started rambling nervously, his cheeks forming a very attractive blush.
Adam’s brain finally caught up to what was happening and he basically shouted at Ronan.
“NO!” He said, starting to laugh, “No. Sorry! I’m just shocked is all. I had started to think that I had assumed wrong and this wasn’t actually a date after all. I mean, do you always take your dates to the bookstore?”
Ronan’s blush deepened, “No, just the smart ones.”
Adam started to blush in response.
“So….” Ronan started.
Adam realized Ronan was waiting for him tell him his name. He had forgotten that Ronan didn’t know it yet.
“Adam. Adam Parrish.”
Ronan smiled, “Ronan Lynch. Well Adam, I think the book talk is about to start. Shall we?”