I’ll keep the name for myself, but for you reading this, I will call the barista Jordan. Jordan and I texted each other for the rest of the day. I replied back without a game plan, without a map of where I was going with it all and because I will not disclose the barista’s name; I will disclose a few of our first texts and my commentary (in parentheses). They are the original texts with very little alteration, only screening personal information. Jordan: I’m impressed you knew what car was mine Me: I’m a pretty observant person (It was creepy, definitely creepy). Jordan: Your notes are on the back fridge at work Me: Lol oh good! I thought they might have gone unnoticed. Jordan: Lol nope they were definitely not unnoticed (Please insert the biggest most stupid grin here, thanks). Me: By the way the notes were for the coffee shop as a whole…totally not for you (totes). Jordan: Haha oh no no I didn’t think they were for me, the coffee shop as a whole thought they were cool and enjoyed em ( I’m sorry WHAT?!?! This is not how this was supposed to go, who else had seen these notes? I need to move countries and change my name and probably my face as well at this point). Me: I’m not a fan of ambiguities they were for you I was very obvious! (Leave no room for doubt). Jordan: Haha you were not obvious at all actually, I wouldn’t haven’t thought it was for me (Yeah right). Me: Mm I think you might be a bad liar. Jordan: Lol what makes you think I’m lying? (YOU ARE GORGEOUS *eye roll) Me: Because I was very obvious with the notes! (I left it in the cup where Jordan had written my name and made me my latte it was obvious right? I’m afflicted by false modesty). Jordan: You were, but not obvious who they were for (*eye roll). We talked about our names and their meanings. We talked about growing up, our families, our culture and our bias that comes with it. Jordan asked why I had left the notes, my answer was that I was intrigued, I was curious and at the same time it was all unexplainable. But I shared a quote that popped into my head about the way that I felt. I will paraphrase it but if you’d like to read it, it’s somewhere in the pages of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel- Love in the Time of Cholera. When I saw Jordan, I was disturbed that no one else stopped to stare like I did. Why no one “else’s heart was wild with the breeze stirred” by Jordan’s walk. I had meticulously observed every one of Jordan’s gestures not wanting to miss anything, not a smile or a frown or a yawn, not even a nod. But I found it hard to approach “for fear of breaking the spell”. We talked about writing and decided to write letters to each other since the magic and mystery of the sticky notes was no more. We discussed books, and art. Jordan had studied art and sculpture none other than in the in the same college I was studying. Although I hated “making art” or what teachers taught me was “art”, I had always appreciated art. I had gone to some art shows in my school, but we had never crossed paths. Even if we did, I don’t think I would have noticed Jordan. The before the accident me was only concerned with herself. We talked about our careers, our obsessions; coffee and palo santo mostly, our insecurities, our plans or lack thereof, and just like that I was 6 months into my remission, summer had come, and I was completely intensely and very much in love.
