They met in a coffeeshop

[Elyd]

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Michael wanted to bang his head on the table, but it wobbled and he was worried the half-full coffee cup would spill all over the pages he'd scattered across the two-seater table. The barista behind the counter glanced at him. His grimace of rage probably was making her worry about the table and other customers. Michael saw her glance at him, and he glared back before going up to order another latte.

As he sat back down at the table, Michael tried to figure out why he'd hit a wall on the revisions for this paper. It wasn't like he'd been trying to mire himself into a hole. He rubbed his temples. He'd already been there for two hours, staring at the draft. He would probably run out of things to cross out soon, too. Michael sighed and took another sip of his latte.

 

[Claudia Hawthorne]

Karen blinked, realizing she'd been staring at her laptop screen for half an hour and still, nothing had been written. Not. One. Thing. She let out a long, tired sigh and leaned back in her chair. "Maybe... No, that won't work." she mumbled, playing with her blonde hair. "Oh my God!" she groaned, and buried her face in her hands. "I don't think I'll ever get this bloody thing done with." she thought to herself, slowly getting out of her chair to order another coffee. She glanced at the two seater table with only one, male, seater. Karen raised an eyebrow and tried to get a peek at his papers, but bumped into a chair and knocked it, and herself, on the ground. "Jesus Christ can't you people put anything in a safe place?!" she yelled. "As if my effing morning wasn't as pathetic enough." she grumbled.

 

[Elyd]

Michael jumped and bumped into the table, sending a few papers flying to the floor as he heard the clatter of a woman falling over. The strange timing jolted him out of his bad mood into a good humor. "So, I take it I'm not the only one in a roadblock?" he said, getting out of his seat to help the woman back up. "You okay there?" He made sure she was back upright before he picked up the few papers that fell to the floor. "You know, I don't think I even remember what order this was in anymore... I think it's time to give up," Michael mumbled to himself and shuffled the papers back into a pile. "How about you?" he said more loudly, looking at the woman. "Could you use a break?"

 

[Claudia Hawthorne]

Karen blushed fiercely, wishing they might have spoken on less embarassing terms on her part. However, she chuckled all the same and nodded her head. "Is it that obvious?" she said softly, picking up the chair and putting it back in a more out of the way place. She glanced at her laptop and sighed, "I... Could definitly use a break right about now, I have this..." she stopped herself from going into a ramble about work, "Eh, nevermind. I'd rather leave work behind me right now." Karen stepped over to her table and closed her laptop and put it in the messenger back under her seat. After picking up her bag and putting the strap over her shoulder Karen returned her gaze to the man, "My name's Karen, Karen Murphy. What about you, overworked stranger?" she grinned.

 

[Elyd]

Michael smiled at her blush. "You're right. If I leave my work behind me for a moment, perhaps I'll get back to it with a fresh eye later." He sat back in his chair and took a sip of his latte, looking over at her. "Hello, Karen. I'm Michael Hall. Nice to meet you. We can't talk about work right now, so how about coffee? What are you drinking?" He set his cup down and shuffled the papers into a very straight stack. Funny that he still preferred paper and pen for his writing. Michael noticed Karen's laptop and wondered what what she was working on looked like. You could never tell with a laptop, like you could with a stack of paper. But he was an anachronism for his generation. At least she had put it away while they talked a moment rather than checking it every few seconds. "Do you come here often? It's one of my favorite places to work, actually. The barista and I glare at each other far too often."

 

[Claudia Hawthorne]

Karen took the liberty of sitting across from him at his table, she set her bag down at her feet and sighed. "I'm around the area a lot, but I don't get the chance to come to this little place here that often," she glanced at the Barista and smirked, "I'm sure you do, she doesn't seem very welcoming to be honest." Karen got up for a moment to grab her near empty coffee cup to bring it to the table, "Don't you have a laptop?" she blurted out.

 

[Elyd]

Michael smiled as Karen rearranged herself opposite from him. "You need a refill?" he asked. Taking a glance at her coffee cup, he decided that she did, and got up and ordered "whatever she'd been drinking" from the barista, who gave him a more suspicious glance than usual. He shrugged it off and sat down again with two coffee cups, putting one in front of Karen. "I can't say the barista and I have an understanding, but at least I usually get a lot done while I'm here," Michael said in response to Karen's comment.

He grinned as she blurted out what he could read on her face for the last five minutes. "I have an outdated desktop computer at home, which I sometimes use, but I've always been a pen and paper guy. I've never seemed to be able to get technology to work for me, so I write longhand. Professors are always frustrated that I don't answer emails." He shrugged. "It's just never worked out for me."