Back then we got coffee a lot. I think whenever she asked, except for one occasion I said yes. That one time I had wanted to say yes, but I had been slammed with finals. If it were an exam I could take an hour off studying, no big deal. But what I had done was procrastinated on a final project that we had begun 8 weeks before.
I didn't have time to breathe, let alone grab coffee with another person.
Looking back now, I totally could have taken an hour off just for a breather. It wouldn't have affected my grades that semester much anyway. But back then every minute felt so precious. I felt like a man in the desert pining for drops of water.
Maybe I wouldn't have made good company anyways. What would I have talked about anyways? Just made a theatrical display of how stressed and fucked I was?
She never saw that side of me. Strangely I didn't mind being the slacker bro in front of everybody else but with Jean I felt wrong presenting such image. In front of her I wanted to be someone else.
It had now been seven years. Now I was a different person.
We wanted to meet at the same cafe that we used to meet at, but that location had since closed. So we went to another local joint. It was late morning. Bright white lights. Everybody dressed up for the holidays.
