Carlos was taken off-guard, but he merely gave the other a contemplative frown before reaching out to comply. “Uh… alright,” he said.
“Oh,
that’s so thoughtful of you!” she grinned. “You just barely met them,
and you’re already just jumping right in to do so much to help.” She
smiled at him across the table, and took a sip of her tea. “You must
have such a kind heart…”Carlos shrugged a little awkwardly. “Well, it was the only
way they’d let me study them,” Carlos admitted. “But they are really good – I’d
love to help them out!” He glanced at Selina’s tea and realized that he should probably get up to go order something. But he worried that it’d be a bit rude to go make his order while they already had a conversation topic to go on.“Oh- Oh my gosh! You probably want something to drink, don’t you?” she exclaimed, having noticed his eyes flickering over her cup. “Oh, it was so rude of me not to wait, I just… I was just nervous, needed something to help calm me down, so I… I ordered before you got here…” She bit her lip, frowning. “I’m sorry… Would you like to get something?”
Carlos smiled sheepishly at her. “Yeah, I would like to,” he
said. “I just didn’t wanna be rude. I promise, I’ll be just a second – it’s
okay.”She nodded, giving him a small wave of approval. “Yeah, no, that’s fine, take your time, take your time, it’s alright, go ahead,” she stammered. Her face was growing hot. How had she been so inconsiderate and unobservant? They came here for coffee, and she completely forgot that the entire other human entity that was accompanying her didn’t have coffee. She must have looked so rude and foolish. This just all seemed to be going so terribly… ‘Great first impression, Selina, way to go,’ she thought to herself.
Carlos’ smile grew wider and he pat the table. “I’ll be
back,” he said quickly, standing up and hurrying over to the register. He
thought he’d probably just get a standard coffee with milk – something simple
and quick.Although she felt as if things were falling apart, she felt her heart flutter when he smiled. She couldn’t help but smile back. She leaned back in her chair, holding the tea to her chest. He was just so sweet. She really hoped something came out of this and that she could develop some sort of relationship with him. Friendship or otherwise. He seemed like a genuinely good person, and she’d be happy no matter what. So long as they left this coffee shop on speaking terms.
Carlos made his order and gave his name. He paid for it and
then came back to the table.
“Okay – that’ll just be a minute,” he assured Selina. “So…
um, what are you up to? Work or school or… what?”
The Perfect Scientist 