Cupid's Arrow and Aaron's Marigold

August

It had been an ordinary Tuesday for Aaron Egan. He was a barista, and so he spent his weekdays at Crème — a quaint coffee shop nestled in the entrance of the shopping mall. The morning had begun at a slow rhythm; cappuccinos for the retired couple, lattes and babyccinos for the young mothers and their obnoxiously loud toddlers, a soy latte with an extra shot for the man in the business suit, a London Fog “with oat milk” for the angry looking teenager, (who should have been in school, surely!)

The pace picked up during lunchtime — latte! flat white! latte! cappuccino! — and slowed back down again for mid-afternoon. It had been an ordinary Tuesday. That was until he saw her.

Her. The sandy-haired goddess in the bookshop opposite the cafe. She was bending down to a stack of books while she talked to another staff member, and then she laughed. It was the sound of her laugh that made him look up: golden, bright, and buoyant, with the lilt of morning birdsong. He had never seen her there before.

Over the next hour he stole a glance wherever he could, hoping to God his distraction couldn’t be tasted in the customer's coffees. At four o’clock she laughed with her coworker again, (it was more than birdsong, it was a bloody symphony!) and then she sang out a goodbye and waltzed out of the store with a smile still glowing on her face. His eyes followed her toward the mall entrance and it was what happened next that lodged Cupid’s arrow firmly in his heart. An afternoon storm had rolled in and was releasing its fury by way of a vicious downpour. These storms were not unusual during the summer months and often left as quickly as they came. It wasn’t uncommon for shoppers to congregate near the mall doors with their trolleys and shopping bags, waiting for the rain to slow before they hurried and splashed toward their cars. But she, the goddess, didn’t join the group of others waiting. Instead, she strode leisurely, unencumbered by hesitation, into the pouring rain like it were any other sunny afternoon. Who does that? Aaron thought to himself at the same time as: God have mercy on me! He was brought back to reality when the milk he was heating sizzled and hissed and spat as it overflowed the jug. Bugger! He’d burnt it.

October

Goldie stepped off the bus and into the fresh air. She thought about the attractive barista who worked in the cafe opposite the book shop she worked at. She was new to the job and had only worked a couple of shifts before she noticed him staring at her from behind his coffee machine. He’d quickly looked away as soon as she saw him. Ever since then, she’d tried to get his attention multiple times, trying to catch a glance so she could smile at him, but he would never fully bring his eyes to her. Once she’d even wandered over there to order coffee hoping she could finally strike up a conversation, but when she’d got there he had vanished and someone else had taken her order and made her drink. She was beginning to wonder if he was deliberately avoiding her. But why? She knew that he was constantly looking over at her, why did he always look away when she caught him! Even her coworker Sarah had commented a few times, “Mr. Attractive Barista is sneaking a peak again.” she’d muffled under her breath to Goldie the other day. Well, she’d just have to wait until he was distracted enough and then sneak over there so he couldn’t run away. She thought about his dirty blonde hair, she’d seen him run his hand through it plenty of times, but it always fell back over his forehead. Mmm. He certainly was attractive. She’d give it one more shot while she was at work tomorrow and if she couldn’t catch him she’d put the whole thing to bed. Besides, there was no good reason why he couldn’t come over to the bookshop and say hello to her, she didn’t bite.

Finally approaching home Goldie jogged up the rusty metal stairs that lead to the second floor flat she shared with her sister. She fumbled through her bag for her keys, growing impatient when she couldn’t find them and knocking on the door while she called out her sisters name. Her sister, Ellie, let her in. She was still wearing the gown and slippers she’d been wearing when Goldie left this morning.

"How many bloody times have I told you to put your keys in the zipped compartment of your bag!"

"Well, hello to you too! Nice to see you got yourself dressed today.” Goldie said sarcastically as she dumped her things on the kitchen bench.

"Just because I’m still in my pyjamas doesn’t mean I haven’t been extremely productive.” She smiled teasingly at Goldie. They both knew that “extremely productive” meant Ellie had spent the entire day with her nose in a book. Goldie couldn’t help but smile. She flipped the switch on the kettle and fiddled with the plastic wrapping on her exciting new box of green tea. It had caught her eye in the supermarket — the packaging was exquisite. She’d never really liked green tea but maybe she needed to give it another chance. Somehow the colours and design of the box promised her that this green tea would be different. She imagined becoming an avid drinker, sipping through cup after cup all day like all the health enthusiasts she knew.

"Want tea?” she called over to Ellie who was slouching back in a kitchen chair.

"What kind?"

"Green."

"Nope."

Goldie poured the hot water over the teabag, reminding herself not to let it brew for too long. She took her mug over to the kitchen table and sat down opposite Ellie, taking a sip. It was the same as it had always been. Hot bitter nothing. She scoffed at herself in disappointment. She always fell victim to pretty packaging and good marketing! Why did she never learn her lesson?

"How was it?” Ellie asked without looking up from her phone.

"Awful, as always.” Goldie said as she got up from the table and dumped the tea down the sink. She took the box and tossed it onto the pantry shelf with all the other gorgeously packaged but hardly touched tea boxes. Ellie laughed at her as she took the ever-faithful pack of Dilmah out of the cupboard.

"Well if you’re going to be making one of those then I’ll have one too, please. Two sugars today."

Goldie took their tea over to the table and Ellie’s face lit up as she remembered something. She ducked into the hall and when she came back she slid an envelope across the table to Goldie.

"Another letter arrived for you today.” She said with a cheeky gleam in her eye. “I think it might be from your secret admirer."

Goldie instantly recognised a marigold flower pinned to the corner of the envelope. Oh jeez, she thought, this was definitely another letter from her admirer, the other two letters had come with marigold flowers too. There was no stamp on the envelope, which meant it hadn’t come by post. She hadn’t noticed that the last time and a mild panic grew in her stomach.

"Open it! Open it!” Ellie bounced excitedly in her seat.

"Ellie, there’s no stamp! He must know where we live!” Goldie started chewing nervously on one of her nails. Was it concerning? Or was she overreacting? She couldn’t decide.

"Chill Goldie! It might be someone we already know.” Ellie snatched the envelope and ripped it open.

"What if he followed me here?” Goldie whispered nervously under her breath as she continued chewing her nail.

Ellie started reading, “Goldie, you are impossibly beautiful,” she gasped girlishly, giggled, and then continued, “I only wish I had the courage to tell you face to face. Maybe one day, but for now I hope this will be enough. Yours truly. X"

Ellie let out a dramatic sigh and slumped over the table. Goldie had melted slightly as she listened. Impossibly beautiful? No! Surely not! Maybe she had been overreacting, it probably was someone she knew. Maybe it was their neighbour Ted? He’d become rather flirty in a shy sort of way over the summer. And it would be just like him to do this sort of thing! Yes, it must be Ted. Goldie pushed aside her nerves and consoled herself with the idea of being impossibly beautiful (impossibly beautiful! Who would have thought).

The next day at work Goldie carefully watched and waited for the right moment to walk over to the coffee shop when Mr. Attractive Barista wouldn’t notice. What did he have to be so shy about?

At two-thirty that afternoon he looked distracted enough with his back turned to the bookshop as he restocked some supplies.

"Alright, I’m going over.” Goldie told Sarah.

"Good luck!” Sarah replied.

As she drew closer she could make out how toned the muscles in his arms were. Damn. He really is attractive, she thought to herself. His back was still turned when she quietly approached the counter. That was when she noticed it — tucked into the back pocket of his black jeans was a white envelope, and next to it: a marigold flower. It was him! Realisation hit her like a knock to the head. He was her secret admirer! She felt shocked, and flattered, and shy, and then mildly panicked again. How had it had never occurred to her that it might be Mr. Attractive Barista? It was then that he turned around to face her saying “How can I — ” and stopped short, a stunned expression on his face when he saw that it was her. He stared at her a second longer, still stunned before he said “Hello.” A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Hello.” Goldie smiled back at him.