Betrothed To The Brotherhood

Coffee Date

Iris was nervous.

“I can’t believe you’re going to meet him. What if he really is an old man?” Bristol whispered.

“I don’t care,” she protested, wiping her sweaty palms down her skirt.

“You can’t be serious,” Oakley hissed. “You can’t be romantically interested in an old man. What if he’s so old the beans and franks are now peas and Vienna sausages?”

She grimaced, “I’m not interested in his s****l anatomy. I want his brain. He’s highly intelligent. He and I once spent an entire two hours talking about economics and I learned so much. Another night we talked about world politics, and he blew my mind with his knowledge. The things we discuss while he teaches me the language is awe inspiring.”

“You can’t f**k his brain,” Bristol snorted.

“He’s not that old. He told me last night he was forty-one.”

“Men on the internet lie, Iris.” Oakley spat at her. “I can’t believe you’re going to meet him. He could be a serial killer or a rapist or worse,” she shuddered, “old Mr. Kurtz, our grade ten biology teacher. I swear he was rubbing one out after every class you were in.”

The three girls all visibly shivered with the memory of the creepy man who had taught them human anatomy while his tongue constantly licked his chapped lips and his eyes strayed to their chests. The fact Iris had bigger boobs than most of the girls in tenth grade had him staring more at her than anyone else.

They reached the subway and she snorted. “This is where you stay. I don’t want you crashing my date.”

“It’s not a date. It’s meeting for coffee.”

“Bristol, stop being a downer.” She glared at her friend. “Why aren’t you being more supportive?”

“Why aren’t you more nervous?”

“I’ve been talking to him for two years. What is the worst which could happen to me in a crowded café?”

She descended down the stairs to the subway and gave an irritated grunt as the girls followed her through the turn style. “You’re not coming with me.”

“Yes, we are. We’ll go to the park across the street but if he turns out to be a giant douchebag, you text us nine-one-one and we’ll get you out of there.” Bristol pushed her as they got onto the carriage.

She leaned against the pole and noticed the two men who had scooted in at the last moment before the doors closed. They were attractive but what she noticed most was how they moved. If a person could be described as gliding, these two did exactly this. She thought of internet videos where people did parkour and climbed buildings with their bare hands and considered these guys could probably do this.

She noticed her friends had also seen the men and were ogling them. She snickered as Oakley boldly winked and both men ignored her and when she blew one of them a kiss, they overtly sneered at her. They whispered to each other as if mocking her and Iris blinked at their rude behavior.

“Rude,” Oakley grumbled at the blunt shut down.

It didn’t take long for them to reach her stop and she grimaced as the girls were stuck to her like cling wrap. “Could you two please piss off?”

They each linked their arms through hers and dragged her up the stairs into the sunlight, ignoring her complaints. She noticed the men who had gotten on when she had, also got off with them and they were not far behind. However, when she looked to them, they entered a shop. She nudged Oakley, “you could go flirt with those two guys who went into the shop. They might change their mind.”

“Nah. I’m going to go soak up some sunshine. Come on Bristol,” she tugged the other woman’s arm as they reached the café. “If he’s weird or creepy, we’ll be right over there. Text us and we’ll come running to save you.”

She took a deep breath after waving goodbye to her friends and entered the coffee shop. She looked around curiously to see if he was there yet but considering she had no idea what he looked like, she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. For all she knew he was a white, rotund man with sweat stains on his shirt and bald. She cursed Oakley for putting the thought in her head.

She walked to the counter, ordered herself a cappuccino, and waited nervously for it to be ready. She took her phone out of her pocket and looked to the app she had added to her phone only the night before and looked to see if there was a message. She noted the time was only three-fifty, so she was early. When they called her name a few minutes later, she collected her coffee and made her way to a corner booth, away from the window and sat down so she could watch the front door.

Every individual who walked in had her looking up expectantly, but none were him. Then exactly as her phone’s time turned to four, a man walked into the coffee shop looking around the room with narrowed eyes. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she studied him, her breath short and hands clammy around the porcelain cup her coffee was in.

He was tall. He was easily six feet or more. His hair was thick, glossy, and dark. The horn-rimmed glasses which spoke to his sense of style as nerdy college professor appeared to have thick lenses. He was handsome but found herself wondering why he’d never considered Lasik as his oversized glasses hid half his face. He wore a white shirt with a dark navy-blue tie and an argyle sweater vest she should have guessed he’d wear. He was clean shaven with high cheekbones. He was rigid in his posture, straight and erect. His eyes met hers and he c****d his head to one side and then casually walked towards her, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He was definitely older than her and he seemed a bit stuffy in his attire. Yet, it only strengthened her resolve he was a safe person to be crushing on. Older, wiser, and not prone to games.

“Iris?”

She nodded and then cleared her throat as she stood up, “hi. I didn’t think you’d come.” She held he hand out, but he ignored it, so she let it fall to her side.

He looked to his watch. “I said four.”

“You did. I thought maybe you would change your mind again. You didn’t seem like you wanted to meet when I first asked. I was really surprised when you messaged me and said you would meet me.”

“I had a meeting scheduled at five. I pushed it out.” He motioned behind him, “let me grab a coffee and I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She nodded and watched him walk away. She noted he seemed uncomfortable, and he kept looking over his shoulder towards the door. He ordered his coffee, and she noted his credit card was not one she had ever seen before. Why she noticed it, she wasn’t sure, but it looked like a card which a rich movie star in Hollywood would use. Black with gold embossing. She realized he must be quite wealthy but wondered how a college professor at an online college made a lot of money. She’d have to ask him. She gave herself a reassuring nod. She was here to learn about him, so she was going to do exactly this.

Again, he was looking over his shoulder and eyeballing everyone in the room. He didn’t make any chit chat with the barista and his face had quite a stern countenance as he surveyed the room. She let her eyes travel over him from toe to top and she had to admit, even in his stuffy clothes and staring everyone down he was gorgeous, especially from behind. She bet he had one of those asses you could bounce a quarter on. Again, she cursed Oakley’s contribution to her vocabulary. His eyes landed back on her as he caught her watching him. She caught the corner of his lip twist up as if he knew she’d been ogling him. Was it her fault his ass looked really good in the trousers he had on?

He accepted his coffee and made his way back and sat across from her. He looked at her, “how was your day?”

“It was good. Are you nervous?” she blurted out.

“No. Should I be?”

“You keep looking to the door as if you’re expecting someone else to walk through it.” She paused as a thought occurred to her, “oh my god, you’re married.”

He chuckled, “not married and very much single. I don’t usually come to places like this. It’s very wide open.”

“Are you a nerd?”

“What?” he blinked at her as he sipped his coffee. “What do you mean?”

“You teach online courses. You don’t like being wide open public spaces. Do you reside in your mother’s basement and live your entire life through your computer?”

He gave a low laugh from deep in chest. “No. Tutoring is a part time job. I work in an office. Yes, I do use a computer, but it is a means to an end. I like getting my hands dirty with my job and I take on several projects which pull me away from my desk.”

“What do you do?”

“I run the family business. We assist in relocation of assets and product distribution.”

“Oh,” she couldn’t even pretend to understand what he meant so she looked away. “I work down the street from here as a receptionist.”

“I know. You’ve told me before.”

“Right.”

“You also told me this is your favorite coffee shop. It’s why I suggested it.” When her startled gaze met his, he smiled softly. “Did you forget you told me?”

She gave a nod, “more I didn’t think it was worth remembering.”

“Everything about you is worth remembering, Iris. Everything.”

And just like that, his deep voice and smooth timbre of it caused the nerves she had felt evaporating to spring back to life and make her hands tremble. Oh dear, what had she gotten into?