'Okay ... where is this leading?' Em is totally confused now.
'Don't you see? They're perfect for each other!' I squeal. 'The drinks? What are you going to do with them?'
'Not the drinks,' I say, exasperated, 'the people. The people who drink these drinks are PERFECT for each other.'
'Really? You think so?'
I nod. 'And I'm going to prove it. I'm going to hook them up.'
'Who?' Em asks.
I sigh and roll my eyes. 'Gavin and Simone!'
''Simone?''
'Yeah, Sarah's friend,' I say.
'Ohhhhhh ...' A smile spreads across Em's face. 'I can kind of see that! A little coffee matchmaking, eh?'
'A little Espressology' I answer, smiling back.
We arrive at Jen's apartment and knock on the door.
No one hears us because the music is turned up and we just walk in. The place is packed, mostly with Columbia kids whom I don't know. Katie and Ava disappear almost immediately into the crowd and leave Em and me standing there. Someone slips a cold bottle of beer into my hand.
Yuck. Beer is gross. I look up.
'Thanks,' I say to the cute blond boy smiling at me.
He looks familiar.
'No problem. Jane, right?' he asks. 'Yeah,' I reply.
'Do I know you?'
'Cam. Cameron White. I sit behind you in English. Of course, I haven't seen you in a couple of weeks.' Oh ... now I remember this guy. He's in my English class at the college.
'Yeah,' I say. 'How's class going?'
'I can't complain. It’s pretty easy really. We only have the four papers to write this semester. Are you coming back to class?'
'Oh yeah ... for sure. Just been busy. Well, there's my friend. I'll talk to you later.' I zigzag through the crowd away from him, setting my unopened bottle of beer down on an end table, and run smack into Simone.
'Hi,' I tell her. 'I was just talking about you a little while ago. That's so crazy to run into you here.' She looks at me like I'm a psycho. 'Do you remember me?' I ask. 'I met you earlier tonight ... at Wired Joe's?' She's still looking at me like I'm going to drag her out to an alley and turn her into soup. I pull my long dark-brown hair away from my face and twist it up on my head. 'Now picture me with a blue apron on and a foaming pitcher in my hand.' A look of recognition comes over her face and she smiles.
'Oh yeah, you made my coffee earlier. It was good.
Thanks.'
'Sure. Glad you liked it. Hey, listen, are you single?'
She looks at me funny again, 'Not for me, of course!' I quickly add. 'I just know the PERFECT guy for you.' She relaxes.
'Oh, well, I generally don't do the blind date thing ...'
she starts.
'You wouldn't really have to. Just let me introduce you. Come into Wired Joe's the next time I work.' I quickly go over my schedule in my mind. 'Monday afternoon around sixish. His name is Gavin and he's so awesome; he comes in and gets a drink about that time every day. You can get a look at him first and decide if you want to meet him. Then I can just casually introduce you. I swear you guys are PERFECT for each other,' I repeat.
'Okay. Why not? I can at least come in and get a drink, right?' she says.
'Cool!' I'm jazzed that my first Espressology test is about to take place. 'I'll see you then.' I smile and head off to find Em.
3
'My classes are so, so hard.' Em sets her elbows on the small wooden table and rubs her eyes with the back of her hands. We're sitting at a table next to the bathroom at Wired Joe's, waiting for our shift to start. There is an inch-long string sticking off the seam of Em's black fake-leather shoe and it is driving me crazy. I must get her away from SuperMart shoes and into a decent shoe store. 'I was up until three a.m. working on a paper for my lit class.'
'I know what you mean. I'm tired, too,' I say with a yawn, stretching my arms over my head. Though I'm not tired from school, but rather from catching up on last week's TiVo HD All My Children episodes last night.
'How are your classes going?' Em asks. How are they going? Good question.
'I just got off the phone with my mom and she asked the same thing,' I say, attempting to avert the question.
'And what did you say?' she persists.
Well, shoot. That didn't work. 'Um ... okay. I guess.'
'What's wrong? Is that chemistry class at the college getting you down? I heard that it's hard.'
'No ... not really.' It can't get me down if I'm not there, right? Em looks up at me quizzically and props her head on her right fist.
'Why haven't you been talking about school lately?'
She studies my face. I hate when she does this.
'It just isn't that exciting,' I lie, trying to look innocent. Em's eyes narrow and she rubs her chin with her index finger. 'You're the one with all the interesting classes.
You know how boring my schedule is,' I add. My classes are on the other side of the school from Em's, so even when I do go I rarely see her.
'Really? Just nothing exciting to talk about? What are you studying in your classes?' She continues to look at me.
Uh-oh. Her stares are relentless–I'm doomed.
'What?' I ask, shifting uncomfortably in my chair for a few seconds. 'Oh fine, fine! I haven't gone to classes in a couple of weeks. Happy?'
'Jane!' she says, exaggerating the 'a.'
'Why haven't you been going to classes?'
'Because,' I whine, 'they're boring! When will I ever need to know how to make a cheese souffle? And I suck in ceramics. Even my grandma wouldn't want one of my spun pots. Seriously. None of this stuff will matter when I'm designing red-carpet gowns in fashion school.'
'You can't skip classes, though. You'll get kicked out of school.'
'I haven't gotten in trouble yet.'
'Yet is the key word here,' Em says, and frowns. 'And what about your college credit courses?'
'I don't like the college either.'
'Why not?' she asks.
'It's ... not what I expected. I want to go to school to study fashion, not stupid English and chemistry. And the people are weird. It's all like, people who couldn't make it into real colleges and old people returning to school. I just don't like it,' I say, pouting now.
