Chapter 1
Minnie had a stupid name.
Luckily, to make up for it, she had a nice face with high cheekbones, pretty blue eyes and a curt smile.
Having a smokin' body didn't hurt either.
You wouldn't notice these things right away though, for Minnie was kind of a geek.
She was on the computer a lot.
She played video games.
She watched "Adult Swim" on Cartoon Network.
She got all her news from the "Daily Show."
She loved Nerds....the candy. Well, I suppose you could say she loved the other kind of nerds too.
Minnie was such a geek.
Minnie also had a plethora of personality quirks.
She loved mint chocolate chip ice cream but spit out the chocolate chips.
Oh if only they made it without those pesky little things that stuck to her teeth and annoyed the crap out of her.
She went out and did her "fun shopping" at occult shops to look for the perfect blend of essential oils since there was no perfume in existence that suited her. As a matter of fact, her skin always had some chemical reaction with the alcohol in them that mutated the scent into toxic fumes that gave her a headache and burned her nasal passages.
She also liked hazelnut lattes from Starbucks, with two pumps hazelnut, not three and no foam.
Totally high maintenance geek.
She kept to herself most of the time when she was in public unless she was asking for the time. She was late to everything, even if she was running early. Everyday she went to work - sometimes rushing out the door at 8:35am, sometimes leaving at 8:10am and leisurely stopping by Starbucks across the street from work.
Minnie had a thing for a man. It was a man that she saw at the coffee shop every morning at 8:45am.
He was a skinny man but he carried himself in a very dignified way, always looking as if he had very important things to do that day yet had all the time in the world to do them. He wore a long, black trench coat - business class - and his matching black hair had a generic upper-middle-class style: short, clean cut, moderately gelled back. His eyes looked black too, but more than likely they were probably dark brown. His jawline was square, but his face seemed narrow, bony and permanently serious. He was not an exceptionally handsome man, but he was somewhat mysterious, obviously confident, and definitely not one who wished to be in the spotlight for any reason.
Minnie caught herself staring into space at her table that morning. She wondered what his voice sounded like. Come to think of it, she never even heard him order his coffee, and she had seen him in there everyday for months. It was if he walked in unnoticed by everyone, except her of course, took off his black leather gloves, removed his wallet from his pocket and by the time he'd gotten the money out the coffee was in front of him and he paid for it. Then he briskly walked out.
Today she did not order a hazelnut latte.
She wanted something different.
She wanted something exotic.
She wanted something more exciting.
She ordered a chai tea latte with cream.
It was thick and spicy.
Her pale-face man with dark clothes and features walked in.
He was late.
He tapped his black shoe at the counter as he waited for someone to take his order.
When the barista walked over to him, he spoke, "I would like a large coffee, black, and a slice of banana-nut bread....for here."
She was intrigued.
The man sat down with his goodies two tables over.
Minnie replayed his voice over and over in her head. It was a much softer voice than she had imagined. It was masculine, but it was soft and comforting, which made him all the more fascinating. Somehow his gentle voice did not fit his mysterious nature....but then perhaps it did. He was not brutishly strong looking, his demeanor was not impatient, erratic or overly-dominating. He was cool, calm, collected....he was awake and aware of his surroundings but not terribly rushed by them. Minnie imagined he must be incredibly sharp-witted, if not cold and calculating.
She walked over to him with her intoxicating, spicy beverage, "Do you know what time it is?"
"8:53," he said.
"May I sit down?"
He looked at her for a moment. I mean really looked at her, past the silk curtains of golden-brown hair in her face, past the brown eye shadow and mascara, and straight into the ocean of her eyes and he arched his eyebrow, "Sure."
"What's your name? If I may ask."
"Mark Denton. And who might you be?"
"Eh, my name is Minnie....Minnie Watts."
"Nice to meet you. I see you in here quite a bit."
Minnie blinks, "Oh, you noticed?" She was entranced by his cooing voice.
"How could I not?" he smirked.
She knowingly fell for his clever smooth-talking and blushed, "Oh, heh, I guess I wasn't...I mean...well, I wasn't expecting that, you see, because I figured if anybody was noticing anybody it would have been me noticing you...that is..."
"You're cute."
Minnie giggled and sipped her exotic new brew....
