Sandie Parker is a freshman at Seattle university in downtown Seattle, she is an english major and her goals in life are to live a simple minimalistic life and she hopes to make it as a writer. She has had a few of her writings published but nothing big and nothing she is particularly proud of, she mostly keeps her writing to herself. Sandie was thinking about Graham again. Graham was a boy in her class, he is tall, he has light blue eyes and the most adorable smile. She spends many afternoons reading, writing and studying at her favorite tea shop, Sweet Leaf Cafe. Sandie walked over to the window of the tea shop with her favorite tea in hand, chamomile, and sat down at a little wooden table with two industrial looking chairs and looked out across the crowded city street that once surrounded her. She had always hated gloomy Seattle because of the constant rain and overcast, the only thing Seattle offered her was a great college. Seattle was a place that always made her upset because of the sad looking outdoors, it ruined her vibe. 

       Then she saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was Graham Edwards, the boy from class. Sandie gulped and felt her cheeks blush, she had never talked to him outside of their classes that they had together. she glanced down at her warm cup of tea to try to hide her red cheeks. Sandie was a small, almost fragile looking, tea enthusiast. Her friends saw her as quiet and agreeable, an angel is what people called her, she was “perfect” according to her peers and teachers. But not even a seemingly perfect person was prepared for what Graham had in store today. The clouds rolled across the sky, making Sandie irritable. Sandie grabbed her laptop and a tattered book from her bag; she began thumbing through it in attempts to look busy. As Sandie sat at her little table by the window raindrops streamed down the glass and Graham grew closer as he walked down the concrete street, he caught a glimpse of Sandie in the window of the tea shop as she looked back down at her book. Graham happily waved at Sandie through the steamed up window. He walked into the shop and right up to her and asked “Hey do you mind if i sit?”, still thumbing through the tattered book and trying to seem cool Sandie replied “sure, have a seat.”, not knowing why he even wanted to talk to her “Thank you” he shoots back with a smile. Sandie glances up from her book for the first time since graham sat down, she smiles and watches Graham get up to get himself some tea. At first, she thought to herself that she would just quietly read her book, write a little bit and enjoy his company in silence but that was not the case. He returned a few moments later, with his chai tea, and immediately started a conversation about their college classes, how their school is going and pretty much anything he could think of. They talked and talked for hours and drank many teas, Sandie even convinced him try boba tea, which he claimed to like but he just “doesn’t like the texture”, Graham wasn’t really a tea drinker anyways. Sandie began to wonder how he even knew about this hole in the wall tea shop, it’s definitely out of his way, he’s mentioned that he lives in an apartment across town. After talking for hours it had gotten dark and Sandie said goodbye and began walking back to her dorm, and graham to his apartment, she was thinking about the fun she had with Graham and how she hadn’t really seen him much outside of class and about how she loved his company because of all the meaningful conversations they had and the laughs shared between them. She planned to sit next to him tomorrow in philosophy class. 

       The next morning Sandie woke up to another gloomy rainy day, she slumped out of bed and got ready for her morning class. Her normal class attire was sweatpants and a sweater or hoodie but today she decided to look good, she told herself she just wanted to look presentable for once but deep down she knew she wanted to look good for Graham but she wasn’t going to admit that to herself. she put on her black skinny jeans, a white fitted shirt, a cardigan and contacts in place of her normal glasses which she only wore when reading anyways. She left her dorm around 9:30 to be early to her 10 o’clock class and still have time to stop for some tea. She got to the tea shop, waited in line, ordered and then was off to see Graham, she was excited and hoped he would sit next to her after their fun time together at the tea shop. When she walked into her philosophy class she was one of the first ones there and had planned to get a seat in the middle of the room in hopes that graham would want to sit next to her. But when she was walking up to the row she had chosen she noticed graham was already there. “Hi, Graham, what are you doing here so early?” she asked. “Oh, um, i was kinda hoping to get here early to save you a seat.” He said shyly. “funny, cause i had the same idea.” Sandie she blushed. So she sat down next to him and pulled out her laptop and book. “you look really nice” Graham blurted out. Sandie stunned by how awkwardly cute Graham was said “thanks, u look good too” as cool and calm as she could. he smiled. Then, before they could continue their conversation, their professor walked in and lecture started. Sandie noticed Graham glancing over at her every so often. She couldn’t believe that Graham could actually maybe like her, she is a college student who has never had a boyfriend or even kissed a boy, pathetic she thought. But this boy was different, she felt a genuine connection to him.

       All because a cup of tea.