The Girl At The Cafe

Another love story

            Alex Hyde spent most of his time working. He worked for Writer Magazine and gave helpful tips and advice for writing certain genres of writing. His most popular, by reader’s perspective, was his column about how to write a romance novel. The formula for any good story is applied to a good romance, along with a few secret ingredients.

            He was staying up late that night working on the novel he’s been working on for the past year. Only three finalized chapters and seven other unfinished ones. It was hard, he had his characters and he had his plot. But what was missing? What ingredient had he missed? He wasn’t the type to waste his time finding love, even though he enjoyed writing about it. Almost as if he had some sort of hidden passion to give… but no one to give it to. Not that he didn’t want love; he just didn’t try to find it. He wanted something true, not some quick action girl who will only last a few weeks. He wanted an emotional and mental connection with the other. Sure, he had plenty of female friends. But he did not connect to them on that upper level.

            An hour after staring at a jumbled chapter, he went to sleep irritated. Lying in bed, in and out of consciousness. It bugged him deeply that there was something missing from his writing. His literary agent said it was fine as it was. All it needed was a little editing, but Alex didn’t want to stop until he found that missing puzzle piece and added it to the writing for the whole picture.

            The next morning he woke up an hour before his alarm clock was set to go off. He sighed heavily and got up reluctantly, going through his morning routines in a grumpy manner. He got dressed and left his small apartment thinking deeply to himself about what the possibilities were for his missing piece. He was sure Da Vinci was looking for a missing piece in some of his works, but how come he found it and he couldn’t? Mona Lisa was perfect because he took his time detailed everything… wasn’t that what he was doing? He glided along his writings, his eyes absorbing every word making sure every small detail made the reader picture what was happening. It was perfect… almost.

            He was on his way to an interview to work for the local newspaper, The Gazette. But first, he wanted to stop by the new café that opened up in town.

                        Alex pulled up to the café and parked the car. Slowly he got out of the car and looked around. There were maybe five cars total parked in front of the café, and Main Street was full of life.  He entered the café taking in the nice cool air and got in line behind two other people. He looked around at the yellow walls with paintings on them. It reminded him, strangely, of Jazz. Small tables around the room and a few booths against the walls.

            “Next!” A female voice rang.

            He looked up to notice he was next in line. He walked up and then looked at the cashier. Alex stopped shot and gawked at the beauty. She was blond with brown eyes and sun kissed skin. Her blond air waved careless as a small breeze rolled through the room. Her bright brown eyes gleaming with happiness and knowledge. Her pink lips was curved into a small, with her bright smile illuminating his writers block.

            He had his answer, he stumbled across the one thing in his life that he needed and now he felt.

            “Uh, hi. Can I have a bagel.” Alex asked reluctantly.

            “Sure.” She walked away. Her perfectly shaped body walking confidently away from the now nervous, and doubtful Alex.

            A minute passed when she came back and laid the bagel on the counter.” Is that all?” She asked with her smooth, gentle voice chilling Alex.

            “Yeah. Uh, how much?” He asked looked at the bagel instead of her.

            “That’ll be two dollars.” She said.

            He paid for the bagel and walked out of the café with his heart jumping around and racking against his ribcage. He leaned against his car and picked up the bagel. When he did he noticed something written on the paper plate the bagel was on.

CALL ME!

            Underneath the small message was her number. Alex looked up and looked towards the café. Unfortunately, the café had dark sun windows so he couldn’t see through it. He felt his face go red and it was because he was sick. Lovesick… and he loved it.

Author's Note

Well, this was a class assignment for character development and here it is. However, there was another part to it, this was the rough draft. Part 2 was to finalize the character, so I came up with Say It Isn't Love.... same guy, same problem, same cafe...just longer, more descriptive, and different events. So if you liked this, check out the Prolog to Say It Isn't Love! Thanks!

Reviews

[(Blank)]

I'll send you a massage.

~S. E. K.

[Rory CJ Frankson]

*************************************************************All Stars *******************************

Very well set out this short, it it extremely well structured. The character development was immediate, and maintained. I was drawn into the setting of his career and of course, empathetic. To the writer. The one thing I felt it didn't need, was the bold font. Yet only a personal thing and really, no bearing on the quality of the story presented. To me the content spoke boldly of the potential of this writer, not needing emphisis that to me, said... "read me".

Well, it took me a while to recover from 630 some odd read requests, to say
I truly enjoyed this read. As a love story, I hoped that the character found in this Blonde 'brown eyed' girl, a love and passion missing in his stories. To have those type feelings in a short number of paragraphs, shows. That here is a writer... that can. Good work Dakota! I will back track, and look for:

'Say It Isn't Love'

Truly well scripted friend...

********************************************************** Hope springs Eternal ****************

Write On / Right On! Romon in review at page 30. Awesome find. Peace

[Ron]

Pretty story this, it scrambles along in a jolly manner with a sweet refreshing, ending. It would fit nicely into a longer work and sets out a good stall for more in the future.

[nono]

Well I just think this is better than any of the the short stories I have ever written! I bet you got an A+ Tell me you got an A+ RIGHT!?! OTHER WISE I'LL HAVE A TALK WITH YOUR TEACHER! lol I like this so descriptive wonderful job!

[Jazique]

Awe that is nice. Wonderful job on the descriptions and still straight to the point with a good ending.

[Ardeth Lane]

Cute!