PS: To my Resting Coffee Face 2

"Her name is Erin."

Suddenly I was pulled out from my momentary trance as the waiter out down my streaming cup of coffee and winked at me

"What are you talking about, dude?" I abruptly replied, putting together my best I-don't -know-what-you're-talking-about look.

"Oh come on! You were ogling the girl for crying out loud. She is pretty, I'd go talk to her if it wasn't against company policy."

Erin. That was pretty name.

"Well does she come around often?"

The waiter scratched his head.

"Yeah. Almost everyday for a week now."

I thought for a while and looked at her. How I wished that I could just muster up the guts to sit beside her, act casual and start up conversation, maybe, even but her a cup of coffee.

My clothes were still soaked and now clung to bare my skin. But none of that mattered anymore, even the constant cajoling of the extremely loud group of students didn't bother me at all. Erin. I repeated myself as I took a sip from my cup and felt the coffee warm me.

I found myself returning to the coffee shop the day after that. I had thought that maybe she was not there anymore, but my heart leapt when I found her there still. She was still in the same corner, clad in a green dress holding up another book. I was beside myself with unexplainable joy.

I had countless times tried to think up of conversation starters; from "Hey, I am such a fan of Paulo Coelho." to the simpler "Hey, is this seat taken?" cliche. But none of them seemed to fit, and none of them felt quite right at that moment. I will never know why I passed up the chance to talk to her that day, but what I do know is that I found myself over and over that I'd talk to her and conjuring up excuses not yo afterwards.

I think basically ordered everything there was on the menu, from cheap brews to the pricier "pani is" just so I could stay there, look at her, and maybe finally muster up enough courage to even just say a simple "Hi!" This kept up for two months and the waiter whose name is Travis was always there to see me in my failed trials and pick at my self-esteem.

I also started to think that Erin was getting freaked that I was there staring at her and pretending to be busy with whatever, when the truth is that I wasted all my time picturing out how we would go about with our conversation. But one day, it happened, She didn't return.

"Did I scare her? Did she finally notice that I was there in every freaking day, staring at her? Did she that I was some ranging stalker who would jump at any chance to corner her in a dark alley? Or maybe it was because she had known that I secretly kept track of all the bloke she read in the coffee shop, from the uber thin ones to the ones resembled almanacs? Oh my god, was she going to sue me for all those things?!"

At first I convinced myself that maybe she was busy now, that one day she will return. But I waited for her still, and I saw not even a shadow of her. Although she stopped coming over to the coffee shop, I still waited for her every single day. I started to hate myself for not talking to her when I had all the chances to. I promised myself the moment she returns, I wouldn't put off 'till tomorrow that chance to talk to her.

I may freak her out if I told her that I knew all the novels she read by heart now. Or maybe she's make a beeline for the exit I'd told her that I watched her here everyday and had studied her facial expressions and I found it cute how she sometimes crinkles her nose when she read something she doesn't like. Maybe she'd even laugh at my face when I told her that I loved her; when the only things I knew about her novels and her first name. But I didn't care anymore if she would freak out, run or even laugh at me. I just needed to talk to her because everyday I pass up the chance to talk to her feels like torture.

To be continued...