Click to Subscribe - By L. M. Augustine Page 0,19

the name “Mary’s Coffee Shop,” they had one job. One. And they failed.

I lean back and try to relax in my chair. It doesn’t work, though, because my heart is pounding too hard for me to be even remotely calm. I can’t stop thinking about Harper, what’s going to happen, how I’m going to react to seeing her. Will she show? Or will I sit here, waiting, for hours and hours? And if she does show, how is it going go to go? Will I work up the courage to tell her how I really feel? If I do, will she reject me? Or say yes and we make out passionately? (That would be the preferred option.) Or worse, what if she doesn’t react at all?

Then another thought hits me: she said she only lived twenty minutes away, so will I recognize her when I see her? I shake my head at that. I don’t know a Harper in real life. Of course I won’t recognize her. Still, even as I think it, I have this inexplicable feeling that I already know her.

After a few more minutes of silently freaking out and getting into staring contests with the old ladies, a message from Harper in our chatroom comes in. I let out a breath of relief I didn’t even realize I was holding. At least she isn’t dead.

on my way, she says. sorry. was caught in traffic. see you in a minute.

get ready for epicness, I respond. I’m smiling now, because above all the anxiety I realize this is really happening. I’m really about to meet the girl I’ve been thinking about, dreaming about, for longer than I can even remember.

okay, I’m here. remember to watch for the I <3 Sam Green shirt, Harper replies a minute later.

Of course. Don’t doubt my skills.

Oh, I already do…

Now my whole body is on overload, and I can feel my skin tingling with anticipation. Holy crap. This really is happening. Instinctually, I glance down at my own meet-up shirt, which is really just an old white T-shirt with “Harper Knight Is Cooler Than Pizza-Eating Cows” scrawled across it in fading blue sharpie, as I promised.

I take a sip of water, my eyes trained on the door, trying to remain calm. But I can’t. I mean, she’s here. She’s here! OH MY GOD SHE’S HEEEERE! In less than a minute, I remind myself, I’ll meet Harper Knight for the first time.

Just like that, there’s a sound at the coffee shop door. A jolt of energy rushes through me, and I lean forward, my fists anxiously clenching and unclenching. I take a deep breath, waiting. The door rattles again, and this time it swings open a sliver, then a little more, until it’s finally open all the way. I wait, and my heart seems to leap in my throat. A girl steps inside, but as hard as I try, I can’t see her face. Still, I wait.

My whole body is on alert now, and all I want is for the anticipation to end, for me to just meet her already. The smell of vanilla coconut permeates through the room, and I recognize the smell, I’m just too distracted to say from where. I can’t look away as Harper turns toward me, slowly, like in all the best cliché chick flicks, and I see…

I stop.

I see… Cat?

Cat is walking toward me?

My heart sinks. Why is Cat here? And where the hell is Harper?

“Hey,” she says as she approaches, in a shy, embarrassed kind way I’ve never heard her speak to me with before. Her face is red and glossy, and her vanilla scent engulfs me as she nears the table. Actually, I realize, this is her flirting voice. Weird. Maybe she just came from an impromptu date or something?

“Hey?” I frown, but she just blushes and sits down across from me. I have no idea what’s going on. Please tell me Cat didn’t find out about Harper and is here to talk some sense into me about meeting her.

“Oh,” I say, still entirely confused. “I’m actually expecting someone…”

Her blush fades a little, and she looks at me now, her jaw tight. “You don’t notice?” she says flatly.

“Notice what…?”

She closes her eyes like she’s debating telling me something, takes a deep breath, and whispers. “My shirt.”

Painfully slowly, she lifts up the writing for me to see. My heart rate slows, and then races again. I <3 Sam Green, it reads in big, loopy letters. The shirt Harper