Two doors opened at the same time, ringing two bells hung on the doorframes. Two young adults exited two different coffee shops, side by side, one from a Starbucks and the other from a local café.
A vibrant young woman stepped out of the local café, a faint smile curled on her lips, holding a plastic cup of iced matcha latte. At the same time, a gloomy young man with messy hair exited the Starbucks, just off his shift, holding a steaming paper cup of Americano, a free drink offered to staff by the place.
Both cafés served the same purpose: fueling customers with either caffeine or sugar so the lack of sleep yesterday doesn't catch up. And when two similar stores sat right next to each other, competition was inevitable. If they had operated in different niches, there wouldn't have been as much quiet stares of resentment between the crews.
The woman and the man walked off in opposite directions, never once catching sight of the other. Had even a fragment of silhouette been noticed, they might've reunited right then and there, perhaps shared a coffee at the Starbucks and caught up. But... that moment never came.
The vibrant woman sipped her matcha with a contented smile, upbeat rhythms echoing through her headphones, her flowy black hair bouncing as she walked. The gloomy man, on the other hand, scowled after a single taste. He had added too much sugar.
The young woman reached a humble, inconspicuous brown car.
"See? Nothing happened to me," the young woman said as she climbed into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind her casually.
"Well, you're lucky," her father replied from the driver's side.
She gave him a wry smirk as she removed her headphones. "I mean, I'm seventeen, Dad. I can walk down the street alone for a drink. Nothing's gonna happen."
"I know you can, Sam. I was just hoping you'd buy me a drink since I drove you here."
"Oh..." Sam's smile faded briefly, then resurfaced awkwardly, "... sorry."
"I'm just joking." Her father chuckled.
"You can have half... after I finish the first half," Samantha offered with a grin, shaking the cup.
"How generous. But I'll pass on the backwash, Sam." He said as he deactivated the handbrake.
"Alright then. Alllll mine," she declared, taking a long sip as her father drove them home.
Across the street, the gloomy young man kept walking, head low, until he reached the fourth floor of his dorm building. He was a college freshman.
"You tryhard. Already got a part-time job," his roommate joked without looking up as he entered through the door.
The man ignored the remark, dropped his bag on the bed, and went straight to his desk. Whenever he's not working or studying, the Internet is his best friend.
"Yo, no greeting?" his roommate turned around lazily on his rotating chair. "Since we're living together, maybe we should get to know each other?"
All he received was a brief passing glare, then the man turned, sat and grabbed his laptop.
"Liammm," his roommate tried again.
"What?" He didn't bother turning to face his roommate.
"Caitlyn asked if you're free this Sunday. Maybe catch a movie?"
"Not interested," Liam replied flatly, flipping open his laptop.
"What do you mean, 'not interested'? She's hot, bro." He flailed his arms with an exasperated look on his face.
"I've got work." Another flat response, lethargic and emotionless from Liam.
"Then why are you gaming now?" He shook his head disapprovingly.
Liam booted up his favorite shooter game. His roommate rolled his eyes. Liam was tall, good-looking, on scholarship, but completely detached. One could only pay Liam a salary to get this nine out of ten to socialise.
"I don't get you, man. You should at least be texting her right now... tsk."
With that, the roommate gave up and flopped onto his bed.
Knockknockknock
"I guess I'll get that," he muttered, seeing as Liam was fully absorbed in his game, his fingers slammed into the keyboard like it's the keyboard's fault he's getting flamed in the game.
"Yo Tyler! Party at Sue's tonight. You coming?" said an excited voice from the hallway.
"Mike!" Tyler smiled ear to ear, "You bet. Wouldn't miss it."
"Your roommate wanna come?"
Tyler looked back at Liam, who was glued to his screen, his clicking noises could be reported to the authorities as pollution.
"You think?" he answered sarcastically.
"Haha! Fair enough. See you tonight!" Mike patted Tyler's shoulder with a friendly grin.
"Tonight?" Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Dude, it's already half past five, let's just head straight over."
"Ayy, that's what I like to—"
Liam didn't hear the end of that sentence. The door slammed shut, not that he was listening anyway.
———
"I'm homeeeee!" Samantha called as she stepped into her suburban house with her father.
"You were gone twenty minutes," her mom replied from the kitchen, preparing dinner.
"Hehe, I know. Mom, what's for dinner?" Samantha rubbed her palms together, like the hungry goblin she is.
"It's only 5:30. Why are you always hungry?"
"PE class was exhausting today, Moooom." Her expression changed from gluttonous to exaggeratedly exhausted within a blink of an eye.
"And you ate two bowls of pasta this afternoon," her dad added, patting her head.
"That settles it. We're jogging tomorrow. Dinner's meatloaf, by the way." Her mother emerged from the kitchen, a woman who ages like wine, still doesn't look a day over 30.
"Ahhh, alright."
Samantha plopped into her seat at the dinner table, waiting impatiently for the food.
She stared out the window at the orange sky, glowing with the last light of the setting sun.
So did he, Liam, gazing out from his dorm window.
Facing the beautiful sight outside, they paused to think, to ponder. They both wondered the same thing:
"Does she/he still remember me?"
...
...
"Yeah, no way", Liam concluded.
"Why am I even thinking about this?" Samantha wondered. "Mom! I'm hungryyyyy!" She slapped the table like it's its fault.
"It's not even dark out, Sam."
"Ah, I lost," Liam muttered to himself. He'd been distracted by his thoughts and tanked his ranked match. His online teammates were now berating him in chat, the messages included at least 50% of every existing racial slurs known to mankind.
"What a bother…" Liam sighed
"Still thinking about him after all this time, huh?" Samantha sighed to herself.
He/She wouldn't remember me. And honestly… it's probably my fault.