10

Shoulder repeatedly. Hard. The pretty barista's brown eyes flew to something behind me, and I sighed. With a frown, I turned to face whoever it was.I froze as soon as I saw the familiar red hoodie.This time, the hood was down, and I could see her face clearly in the bright coffee shop lights. And much to my irritation, she was a total babe. Her dark blonde hair was tied into a loose ponytail with flyaway strands hanging in her face. If I thought the blonde from earlier had pretty lips, she had nothing on this chick. These were dick-sucking lips. Too bad they only spewed bullshit and venom.And her eyes—so clear blue they almost looked transparent—glared at me with pure hatred. They told me that if she could wipe me off the face of the earth, she would. She'd enjoy it too."Are you done?" she snapped, her voice cutting through the background noise of the coffee shop. "Some of us have places to be."I raised an eyebrow, my irritation flaring. "Calm down, sweetheart. Just getting my coffee."She scoffed, crossing her arms. "If you spent less time flirting and more time ordering, maybe the rest of us wouldn't have to wait so long."I smirked, leaning in slightly. "Jealous much? Maybe if you smiled more, you wouldn't have to wait in line either."Her glare intensified, and for a moment, I thought she might actually hit me. Instead, she took a step back, clearly struggling to keep her composure. "Just move, okay? Some of us have better things to do than stand around all day."I grabbed my coffee, deciding not to push her any further. As I stepped aside, I couldn't help but watch her as she placed her order, her annoyance palpable. She was intriguing, no doubt about it. But there was something else there, something that made me want to know more.As she turned to leave with her drink, our eyes met again. This time, there was something different in her gaze. It was still filled with anger, but there was a flicker of something else—curiosity, maybe?I shrugged it off, reminding myself that I didn't need any more complications in my life. But as I walked out of the coffee shop and back towards campus, I couldn't shake the feeling that our paths were going to cross again. And next time, it might not be so easy to walk away.The day went on, classes dragging by in a blur. But my thoughts kept drifting back to the girl in the red hoodie. There was something about her that I couldn't quite place, something that made me want to dig deeper, to find out what lay beneath that angry exterior.As the sun began to set, I found myself back at the park, the one place I could clear my head. Sitting on the same bench as before, I watched the world go by, trying to piece together the puzzle that was my life.And as I sat there, lost in thought, I realized something: maybe, just maybe, the girl in the red hoodie was the key to figuring it all out.