Chance Encounters

eleven

Dedicated to Ashley bc I'm still psyched about her reading this and leaving all those long, awesome comments that I honestly don't deserve. Thank you so so so so so much <3 

Chapter 11

As soon as we stepped into Coffee Overdose, the smell of brewing coffee and buttery pastries made me forget every bad thing that happened so far.

Coffee Overdose had always been a cozy place. The lights were dim, casting a soft orange glow on the whole café. It wasn't too big, neither was it too small and there was always something playing over the speakers. Usually something soft and mellow, just like the rest of the place. While I usually hated sappy love songs, some were bearable enough when paired with some coffee and bagels. 

Behind me, Austin had the same reaction with the aroma. He looked around the place, as if surveying his surroundings, and seeing him do that compelled me to do the same. I let my eyes roam. I'd always loved how the walls were painted with different quotes and words and random sentences, all written differently and randomly. Some were in cursive, some were in an imitation of a font, some were simply handwritten. The words overlapped and added a genuine uniqueness to the whole place, along with the small paintings and drawings and weird illustrations covering the spaces that didn't have words.

Standing there in that warm, kind of fuzzy place, I had almost forgotten what we came here for anyway. I was only reminded of our mission to find the Idiots when Austin shifted beside m. "You think they went here?"

I wasn't positive for sure, exactly, but Tori happened to find the barista here cute, so she often went here with me. "Maybe."

"Their coffee any good here?"

I smiled. "One of the best."

He didn't seem to take my word for it, but we moved closer to the counter anyway. 

The tanned, good-looking barista greeted us with a smile. "What can I get you guys?"

Austin ordered his coffee black, which surprised me for some reason. I wasn't sure why, but I just didn't think our similarities extended to our coffee preferences. I ordered the same, trying to ignore the slight questioning look Austin sent me.

"Is that everything?" The barista looked at us with a polite smile on his face.

"A red velvet cupcake for me," Austin replied before turning to me expectantly.

I was still iffy about letting him pay for my coffee, let alone ordering something else along with it, but the smell was tempting, and so was the prospect of eating something to take a break from the stressful night and relax. Almost reluctantly, I ordered a bagel.

Then, before I forgot, I said, "Oh. Also, is there any chance that you might have seen my friend drop by earlier?"

The barista looked at me. "Your friend?"

"Asian girl. She was with a guy."

His eyes narrowed, brows slightly creasing together as he contemplated this. I tried not to take note of how scrunching his face like that didn't make him less good-looking, but it was so glaringly obvious and hard to ignore.

His face cleared, but when he spoke, he sounded reluctant. "I think I might have seen her."  

Austin seemed happy to hear this. "Really?"

The barista nodded. I could feel him looking at us doubtfully, but he was masking it behind a polite smile. 

I tried not to sound too eager when I asked him if he had any idea where they were headed.