Max hadn't meant to end up at a place called Beans & Prose.
He hated the name. It was trying too hard. Like it was curated for a "10 Best Cafés for Brooding Writers" listicle.
But all the cafés in his neighborhood were packed, and this one had two things: an empty table and strong coffee that didn't taste like sadness.
He plopped into the booth, tossed his phone next to his laptop, and stared at a blinking cursor that mocked him like an ex with receipts.
Writing scenes about love was easy when it was fiction. Writing them now—when you were accidentally kind of falling for someone you'd never met—was another thing entirely.
His phone buzzed.
Ellie:
Remind me never to become a detective.
Max smirked.
Max:
Noted. Stick to coffee. You're probably less dangerous that way.
He started typing again, but stopped when a barista walked past wearing a red apron.
He blinked.
For a second just a second, he swore he saw her.
Ellie.
The Ellie he had never actually seen.
But in his head, he had built her. Somewhere between their texts and her weird stories about customers, he'd started imagining her.
Red apron. Light freckles. Eyebrows that didn't know how to chill.
He shook his head.
"Nope," he muttered to himself. "Get it together, man. She doesn't even know what you look like."
Still.
He couldn't help but glance again.
The barista wasn't her. Too tall. Blonde ponytail.
Of course it wasn't Ellie.
She worked at Brew & Bloom.
Where was that again? He had meant to look it up.
Another text buzzed in.
Ellie:
Also, random thought. You ever feel like you almost met someone you weren't supposed to? Like… the universe moved the pieces too early, then changed its mind?
Max read it once.
Then twice.
He felt it in his ribs.
Max:
Yeah. Like you were a second too soon to bump into fate.
He didn't hit send.
Instead, he watched the barista laugh at something. A sound that didn't match Ellie's voice in his head. He sighed, deleted the text, and sent:
Max:
That's the most poetically sad thing I've read all week. You should copyright it before Taylor Swift does.