“May I have one Café Americano? Make that a large please.”
As the barista encodes my order, she takes several glances at me from time to time.
“Do I know you from somewhere?”, she finally asks me.
I get a slight shiver as if a cold breeze lightly passed my neck. “You’ve probably taken my order for more than a few times now, so…” I clear my throat to make myself sound more convincing, “And I do order the same thing every time.”
She adjusts her apron and says “I guess that does make sense; you just look so familiar to me that’s all. Are you sure we didn’t—” she gets cut off by her manager clearing his throat behind her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Will that be all?” she asks me with a smile on her face.
God. That smile.
“Yes, that’ll be all. Thank you…”, I take a quick look at her name tag, “—Laurie”.
I pay for my order and walk to sit down on the bench by the waiting area. This isn’t the first time she has asked me that; the effect is probably wearing off. It’s been 3 years since I projected my power onto her memory, and yet she never fails to make my heart skip a little.
After I drink my coffee, I travel to the headquarters of heroes. Heading into the building after a while keeps my hopes up for a new mission for me. Upon entering the building, I’m met with multiple heroes and heroines. Those with capes and those without, those with such colorful costumes and those whose monotone colors act as a stealthy disguise. I then walk up to the Board of Missions to sign up for one. Huh, interesting… a label that reads “Mission for Pairs.” I see someone has signed up already and all that’s needed is another pair. “Meet up at 6pm this Friday in the Conference of Heroes room” can be read at the bottom of the paper.
I have about 15 minutes until the meeting and the conference is all the way on the other side of the building. I sprint, making it to the conference room. I check my wristwatch and find that I’m just in time for the meeting.
“Not bad” I hear a voice behind me saying.
It’s her. What is she doing here?
“Laurie?” I pause in disbelief. “Hey there, didn’t know you were a hero,” she says while looking at me up and down.
“Well, I didn’t know you were one either,” I reply, scratching my head, “Since when?”
“Since 2 years ago. I found out about my power then a bunch of men in suits showed up at my door,” Laurie says, then she asks me “What’s your name again, I know I put it down on your cup earlier, but I forget easily.”
“I’m Andrew,” I extended my hand to shake hers.
“It’s nice to meet you, Andrew,” she extends her hand to shake mine.
That simple action might have been the biggest mistake of my life.
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