Scene III

The bell finally saved me from the terrible boredom of Psych. 101. I was ready to hit the cafeteria for a much needed cup of coffee, and possibly even a bagel. On my way there, I thought about how terribly the campus was mapped out. I mean, what kind of masochistic person would want the cafeteria all the way across the HUGE campus from the dorms? It was the only lace within a few miles that had decent coffee. I thought they should either move the cafe, or move the dorms so that they were side by side, thus making it easier to start my long day of academic success.

During these deep thoughts, I ran into something tall and hard. I looked up and saw a concerned face peering down at me. Now, I am about 5'2, so I'm used to bieng the shortest person in a crowd, and therefor, I am used to being ran into. I mumble an apology, and continue on my way, until I hear a very deep, very male voice behind me say, "Hey! Wait up!" and footsteps coming up behind me. I then heard him say, "Hi, my name is Chase, sorry for running into you. What's your name?"

Have you ever had a moment when you knew a reply was required, but you had nothing to say, so you just stood there, dumbfounded and a little afraid of what might happen? Well, this was definitely not one of those moments. I sighed, turned around and said, "My name is Veronica, but everyone calls me Ronnie. As fun as this has been, I haven't had my first cup of coffee, so I'm going to go remedy that as soon as I get to the cafeteria," with that, I continued the ridiculous trek to the cafeteria.

"Ronnie, wait up! I'm actually headed the to the same place that you are, and I would love to share some coffee and possibly even some good conversation, if that's okay," I looked up, and I saw Chase smiling. Smiling! At this ungodly hour of the morning, I could barely stand, and speak, much less smile. I guess you could say that before about 10:00 AM, I'm a bit of a zombie.

"I can't guarantee the converstion, but the coffee sounds divine," with that, I walked on, and Chase walked beside me, he was quiet up until we got the cafeteria, and then he opened the door for me. He opened the door for me! I thought that only happened in romance novels and old movies like Gone with the Wind. I walked in and he followed behind me as I got onto the tis of my toes to view how horrendous the line was. To my dismay, the line was just long enough to be way too long.

I heard Chase behind me, "Okay, here's the deal: I have a friend who can get us moved up to the front of the line,so tell me what you want and I will get it to you as fast as I can. I know how important that first cup can be, so I will treat my mission with the uptmost importance. You can just pick the rendesvous location," I looked up, and he was off to retrieve the coffee.

I picked a little table that looked inviting and was closed off from the rest of the caefteria by what looked like some sort of unsaid boundary. It seemed like all of the other patrons had gotten seats as far from that table as possible, which was weird because that table had the best view of the rest of the cafe. I moved to sit in the cheap plastic chairs that surrounded every table in the cafeteria, and then I heard an annoying voice say, "OhmyGod! What is that thing doing at our table?"

In that moment, it was like the whole cafe went silent. All eyes turned to see what great crime had been comitted, and seemed to take in one collective breath. I don't know why the voice sounded so angry with me, but I knew the anger was unwarranted, and therefore, totally punishable by a court of me. I turned, took in the obvious popular daddy's girl in front of me, and  said, "Why is it that this morning, everyone has a complete disregaurd for my 'no conversations before first cup of coffee' rule? I'm going to let your first offense slide, but next time won't be so.... diplomatic. Now, run along, before I have to do something that you'll regret."

This girl had the audacity to laugh like I had said something that I didn't actually mean. Crap. Here I was, minding my own business, just trying to score some caffiene, when this pod person had to go and ruin my morning.

"Who are you, where did you come from, and what the hell are you doing at my table? Let me guess, you're just a little freshman who mistakenly stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. now, I'll let your first offense slide this time, but next time you won't be so fortunate. Now go, before I change my mind."

"If I leave, you're gonna go with me," I said, already forming a plan, "and you won't like your exit strategy. I have comitted no offense, and I refuse to be removed from the premises just because you're PMS-ing, and I also think you need to be enlightened to the fact that the world does not, contrary to popular belief, revolve around you."

"Exscuse me? What's your damage? Do you have some sort of mental illness?"

All of the sudden, I heard Chase's voice, "Hello, Madelyn. I see you've met my friend Ronnie. Ronnie, this is Madelyn, my ex-girlfriend. Madelyn, this is Ronnie, a friend of mine. Now, Ronnie, why don't we go over to my table, to appease her majesty. It's been lovely seing you again, Madelyn, hopefully I'll never have the pleasure again," Chase offered me his hand, and I took it, tossing one last glare over my shoulder at Madelyn.

"I know it's none of my business, but why did you date her? She doesn't exactly seem like your type," I said as Chase handed me my cup of coffee. I took my first sip, and I realized the whoever made this was quite arguably the best barista ever, and I was going to make friends with them as soon as possible.

Chase looked at me over the rim of his own cup and said, "She was an old flame from highschool, and when we met at orientation, I realized that she was the only erson I knew here, and we just kind of.... bonded, I guess. She wasn't like this in highschool. She had her moments, but she wasn't this mean all the time. It was like when she got to college, everything changed. She went from sweet, pretty, and sociable, to a party-girl within 3 months of her first semester. Enough about Madelyn though. Tell me about yourself, Ronnie."

I took another sip of my coffee, and said, "I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you tell me who made this glorious cup of coffee."

"Actually, my best friend Max made it. He says he's a coffee genius, because he always knows how to make the best cup for every person, even if he's never met them," he said this with a comical look, almost as though he couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Well, I think Max and I should be room mates, because I would pay his rent to live with someone who had his particular gifts," I looked up at Chase again, and I saw consideration in his eyes.

"Actually, Max and I are in desperate need of a room mate, and I think he would love to have you, just as much as I would."

"Seriously? My room mate is kinda nuts, and it would be awesome to not have to deal with her and her crazy friends," I considered his offer, I was gonna have to get a job to pay the rent, but didn't everyone have to at some point?

"So, are you interested? It's okay if you're not," Chase had this hopeful look in eyes that reminded me of a small child.

"Sure! I'd love to move in, but I kinda want to meet Max first, you know, 'cause nobody wants to be surprised with a room mate."

"Of course! Come on, I'll take you to him now. He's working though, so you might have to wait for a sec," he offered his hand, I took it, and lead me through the big group of people that was waiting for Max's delicious coffee concoctions.

We finally pushed, shoved, and weaved our way through and made it to the counter where Max was working. When we got there, I saw two guys. The guy that was taking orders was in my highschool, I think (I wasn't popular enough to really know anyone), and the guy that was making drinks had a slender, athletic build, and what looked to be a very handsome face. I really hoped that Max was the latter, I know, I know, I'm shallower than the average kiddy ool, but I can appreciate a handsome face. Chase waited until there was a lull in the crowd, and looked at the second barista, and said,"Hey Max, you're not gonna believe who I found today. I think I've found the room mate we've been searching for. I give you, Ronnie," he'd been standing in front of me, and when he stepped to the side, I saw Max, and let me just say, it was one heck of a view.

He had the greenest eyes, and I was right about that handsom face. He looked like he was going to be whisked off to his photo shoot for GQ any minute now. While he was looking at me with those mesmerising eyes, it felt like he was trying to figure out what kind of a person I was, or he was trying to decide if he could stand to live with me. I kind of hoped he would say yes, because I could not stand a whole semester with the girl I shared my dorm with. She seemed nice enough at first, but then she kept having all of these people come over to our dorm, and I was sick of trying to not spill plastic cups full of various liquids every morning in my mad dash to make it to class.

With a final, thoughtful look, Max said, "She looks like a good room mate. After my shift I'll meet up with you and her at the Quad, and we can go to the house and discuss this arrangement. Oh, I almost forgot, hello Ronnie, my name is Max, and I am pleased to make your acquiantance," and with that, he grabbed my hand, and covered it with his much larger one. When we touched, I felt a little shock, and I knew it would be interesting to be his room mate.