The Fox or the Hound

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. The first one out of five that is. I turn it off and groan, my bones aching as I got up. Going to bed at 10:00 on my day off was a good idea, I think to myself as I pull off my pajamas and trudged over to my wardrobe to see what outfit I should wear today. I quickly decide on sweatpants and a T-shirt. I pull the clothes out of the wardrobe and pull on the pants, a bra and the shirt. As I sludge to the bathroom to put on deodorant and brush my teeth, I can hear other alarms in the dorm building go off. Looks like I’m one of the first ones up. This morning at the very least. I check my teeth before going back to my bed to pick up my phone and disable all the other alarms since I was already awake. I open up my messenger app and text my childhood best friend, Anne, that I was going to the Starbucks on campus. She always loves knowing where I am, to the point she begged me to download some app that tracks our phones so we can always check where each other are. But I still text her out of habit. Slinging the backpack over my shoulder, I grab my keys and wallet and walk out of my dorm. As I walk out the building, heading for my destination, I get a text from Anne. ‘You’re actually awake?’ I roll my eyes but giggled. It was a fair question. ‘Yes Im actually awake’ She was immediately typing as the message was sent. I just knew she was going to lecture me on my punctuation. ‘Its ‘Yes, I’m actually awake.’ but whatever.’ I smile but close my phone and focus on crossing the road. Drivers love to speed and about run everyone else over. As I pull open the door to the building, two guys run past and out the door. I stiffen but walk in. Surprisingly, this was my first time in here since freshman year. They had started to renovate it during the second semester. It looked really cool but I didn’t care that much about it as I barely came in here anyways. I head to the back of the line, already having my drink order in my head. I look down at my phone and see a message from Anne. ‘Boo!’ I raised a brow and looked up. Lo and behold, she’s right in front of me. I obviously jump and swat her arm. “Stop doing that! Sneaky piece of s**t!” She laughs at me. “You should already know that I’m going to be right in front of you.” I don’t respond to her teasing and just walk forward in the line. It’s moving fast so I’m at the register pretty fast. “How can I help you today?” Asks a pretty tired sounding guy. When he looks at me, his eyes widen slightly. “Just a medium iced coffee with caramel,” I respond and reach for my wallet but Anne pushes me away from the terminal. “And a medium chai tea latte with brown sugar syrup and oat milk.” She said, already having her card ready to pay. The guy, whose name tag read Hunter, was slow to type in the order as he was still staring wide-eyed at me. “You..” he started but seemed unable to finish. I glance between him and Anne. “Me?” Anne glared at him. “Dude, we’re trying to get to class.” He seemed to snap out of it and finished typing it in. Anne paid and we went to wait for our drinks. “What the f**k was that?” She asked me, as if I had any idea. “You saying dude or him?” “f**k you and you know I meant him.” I giggle and nod. “I have no clue.” She hummed. “Well, I don’t like it.” It always amused me how she never liked anything except for me. “I figured.” Soon, our drinks were called and we walked up to the counter. Hunter handed Anne her drink but wrote something on mine before handing it over. As I took it, I looked at what he wrote. Written in black sharpie was a phone number that one could only assume was Hunter’s. “What’d he write?” Anne asked as we walked away. “His number.” Anne glared at the cup as if it could help what was written on it. “I’ll buy you another drink if you throw that damned cup away.” She said. Her muscles were taunt so I knew she was holding back from just throwing it away herself. I laughed quietly. “I actually think I’ll text him.” She stopped dead in her tracks. “What?” I could tell she was pissed I even entertained the idea of texting the guy. Everybody that showed interest in me was immediately some terrible person. “He’s cute and plus, I want some kind of romance before I graduate.” She hummed. “Fine.. I can’t stop you.” I could tell she wanted to say more but didn’t allow herself to. “Thank you for respecting my decision.” But it was met with a grunt. I smiled at her which earned a small smile from her. I pulled out my phone and put the number in and saved it as ‘Hunter?’. After putting it in my phone, I looked back at Anne. “Besides, if he plays me or it doesn’t work out, I’ll always have you, right?” She grinned. “Always and forever.” The saying made me smile. We would always say that to one another, ever since we were kids. “Always and forever.”