...And the return of the (romantic?) story...

Caffeine Hi...

He saw her first in the Starbucks five blocks from where he worked. He still doesn't know what made him walk into that Starbucks that day, seeing that there was one only two blocks from his office. (After all, this was Seattle.) Maybe he wanted to avoid the pesky woman at the counter there he felt obliged to talk to.
When he saw her, she was reading a Nick Hornby novel, and the only person he knew that read Nick Hornby was himself. As if that wasn't enough to pique his interest, there was that quick smile and flash of familiar friendliness in her eyes as she looked up from his book to catch him staring at her. He tried to look away quickly but didn't succeed, and so ended up giving his shoes a shy embarassed smile. A woman who looked like that and read Nick Hornby and smiled at him? Was he still asleep? He ordered a peppermint hot chocolate for a change, and decided that, since he was feeling adventurous, he'd try talking to this woman. For a change. "Good book, huh?" or "The book's better than the movie, huh?" or "Have you read 'A long way down' by Nick Hornby?" or just "Hi!". Yes, he decided to start off with the hello and if he got any reaction, to follow up with some pseud comment about the book.
He picked up his cup from the barista and turned around preparing his shaking hands and nervous mind to say "Hi". She was standing right there, and he almost spilt the hot chocolate, peppermint and all, on her.
"Shit, sorry...I mean...God, sorry! I mean.." His voice tapered off as he realized that his first words to her turned out to be less intellectual banter and more clumsy mumbling.
As he recovered and decided to leave before he seriously embarassed himself, he heard a soft voice, "Hey, no problem...Didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to say hi."
"Hi!"

Sugar Rush...

All she knew about him was that he worked around here somewhere because she'd seen him get off at the same stop everyday at around the same time and walk by here. And that he was cute in a grungy Seattle way. And that he was kind enough to make polite conversation with the pesky woman that everyone avoided at the other Starbucks she'd seen him go to often.
She knew that he didn't know that she even existed. I mean, how was he supposed to just know that she sat here almost everyday hoping he'd stop by here instead and pick up a coffee, and let's face it, her. She also knew that she was chicken enough to not wait for him at the other Starbucks but hopeful enough (or crazy enough?) to wait for him here.
The other day she'd spotted him in the Borders where she worked and discreetly followed him around and picked up the book he had been thumbing through. It turned out to be quite good, and had made her little crush on him grow.
She was reading it now, trying to not to look at the door every second. When he did walk in, she quickly shifted her gaze but couldn't quite stop herself from looking up again. She was so surprised that he was looking at her that she smiled in wonder, almost to herself. She cursed herself at once for seeming so like a stalker, as he gave her a half smile which he quickly turned to the floor.
"Get a grip, woman!" she told herself.."He's probably gay or married or as intelligent as a door-mat. Just find out which one it is, before you torture yourself to death or bankruptcy by Starbucks!"
So she picked up her book, her mint chocolate and her nerves and went up to him to say hello. She made him jump, and he stammered out a shocked apology for almost spilling his drink. She smelled the mint...At least they had the same taste in sweet hot expensive beverages, she thought, and it gave her such a teenage rush to hear the eagerness in his deep warm voice as he said hello.
"Hi!"

I'm always amazed that two people (often a man and a woman) can live the same experience but yet experience different things. A lot of what happens to us, happens in our minds. What seems like a friendly smile to one, seems like a stalker's give-away to another. An experiment in choice of drinks for one is a signal to the other that they were meant to be together. An obligation to one seems like kindness to the other.
This could be the start of a relationship built mostly on (wrong) assumptions in the protagonists' minds...
Then again, this could be just another encounter and a sweet way of starting something special.
Or it could be just one of those countless missed connections which end with a look or a "Hi" or a moment shared and treasured for a few days or weeks, and then relegated to the bottomless pit of lives we never allowed ourselves to live.