Chapter Two
OzzieAshfordwalkedinto the youth center he’d started six years ago with a chip on his shoulder. Those kids of his were going to get an earful the second he saw them, and there was nothing they could do about it. As he made his way through the front doors, the sounds and smells of teens engulfed him. The noise volume was something that took getting used to, but he didn’t mind it any more. He’d learned to love the laughter more than the shouting, and it worked well for everyone involved. One of the girls’ groups was meeting in the front room and all welcomed him with a chorus of, “Hi Mr. Ashford,” which made him smile and took some of the edge off. They weren’t the troublemakers though. He knew exactly who had caused all the chaos in his personal life, so he headed straight back to the indoor basketball court. As he rounded the corner, he found a game of four on four. There was some cheering from a few of the other kids in the bleachers, and it looked like everyone was having a blast. Something evil inside him smiled at the thought of ruining their game the same way they’d ruined his morning.
He walked up to the control center and flipped off the scoreboard. Both teams stopped in their tracks and threw their arms up in anger.
“Come on, man! We were just about to score!” Malaki, a sixteen-year-old he’d known since he was ten, came running up to take on the fight. Right behind him were Angelo, Rocky and Darius, his terrible four front and center. Just what he was hoping for.
“Alright, who did it?” he said, placing his hands on his hips, ready to argue his way to the truth. All four looked at the ground like it was the most spectacular thing they had seen all day as the others in the gym nearly ran for their lives to get out of the firing zone.
“No one wants to step up and tell me the truth?”
“Who did what, Mr. A?” Darius said without making eye contact.
“Oh, you know what. First, I want to know who, then I want to know why. Although from the look on each of your faces, I feel like this must have been a joint effort. Am I right?”
There was some mumbling and a couple of head nods.
“Okay, so why?”
Angelo stepped forward a bit. “We just thought... well, we figured if you had a female in your life, then maybe you’d be, um... you’d be happier.”
“I’m happy. What makes you think I’m not happy?”
“You just look sad sometimes and the girls were talking about how when you meet ‘the one’ that you’re like happy all the time,” Malaki chimed in.
“Ya, when my dad has a new piece, he walks around whistling and dancing,” Rocky added.
“Let’s start with lesson number one. Never call a woman a ‘new piece’. Number two, you are not allowed to interfere with other people’s personal lives. Do you have any idea how shocked I was to get a call from an online dating company first thing this morning? I was so confused she had to have thought I was crazy. It wasn’t until she sent me a copy of my profile that I even believed her.”
“Yeah, but like, how sick were those pics, though? I picked them myself,” Angelo said with a huge smile on his face.
“They were pretty sick.” Ozzie couldn’t help but laugh. It was clear these kids weren’t up to any harm, but they all needed to have a serious conversation about identity theft. He didn’t even want to think about how they got his credit card number to set the whole thing up. One thing about working with teens he would never get used to was how many adults underestimated them. Unfortunately, the kids at his youth center had learned some bad habits growing up and although they had street smarts, they needed to learn a bit about right and wrong choices.
“So, are we in trouble?”
“Yes. But I haven’t figured out the consequences yet. I’ll get back to you after I meet this lady for coffee.”
“Wait, so it worked? You got a date?”
“It’s not a date. It’s an obligation. Because four smart ass teens signed me up, I am now obligated to this poor woman who has no idea why I wouldn’t have shown up. I’m not going to be rude. I need to go.”
“Hell yeah! It worked.”
All four of them started cheering each other on like this whole thing was a game. Ozzie just rolled his eyes. There was no getting through to them when they were like this. He shook his head and made his way past them and to his office. He had a bunch of work that needed to be done today, and going out for coffee with a stranger wasn’t in his original plans. Ozzie wasn’t lying when he told the boys he felt obligated to go. Sofia had no idea that he wasn’t the one who signed himself up, and he’d feel bad if he was her only match and he ditched her. What he learned from Vicky that morning was that each person had one match to start. If things didn’t work out, then they would move on to the next best candidate. Since he was Sofia’s match, and apparently she was his, she couldn’t move on to meet someone else until they met for coffee. After he read her profile and saw her picture, he felt weirdly drawn to her and didn’t want to let her down. Sure, he could have turned down the initial match, but something deep inside him told him not to; it was the same feeling he was trying to avoid all morning as his mind told him he had to go. She deserved a chance with him to move on to the next person.
A couple of hours later, he was standing outside the coffee shop where he was supposed to meet Sofia. His curiosity got the better of him when he saw her sitting in the corner near the front window and he watched her going in. Ozzie always felt you could learn more by seeing than listening. People’s mannerisms let others in on more than their words, and he had lucked out that he got there after her. She had a coffee in front of her already, but it was in a to-go cup. Maybe so she could easily leave if she wanted to. Her appearance was flawless and her beauty struck him as more than skin deep. He knew from her pictures she was beautiful, but seeing her live just a few feet away brought him a whole new sense of who she was. She had a book in front of her rather than a phone, which he found interesting. Most people sitting around in a coffee shop were ignoring the world around them and focusing on the virtual world they created. Sofia did neither. She was engrossed in her book, but when the toddler next to her started crying, she closed it and bent down to pick something up. He watched as she handing the bottle back to the child’s mother and they spoke while the woman cleaned it off and handed it back to the baby. Sofia’s smile was genuine and her laugh was real. Not one of those phony things people do to appease others. She was remarkable.
He reached for the door and walked in. Both women looked up at the intrusion. The coffee shop wasn’t large. There were five tables sporadically placed around the place and a counter where customers were supposed to place their orders. Sofia gave him a soft smile and a little wave as he approached her.
“You must be Ozzie,” she said before he could get a greeting out, “I’m Sofia.”
She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek as a friendly hello and her scent made him want to pull her closer. Even with the potent smell of coffee, the soft scents of lavender and vanilla which seemed to fit her perfectly surrounded him. When she pulled back, the tingling feeling throughout his body subsided, and he finally got his wits about him.
“Yes, I am. Thank you for meeting me today.”
“Do you want to get something to drink? I’m hoping you drink coffee. I mean the app is called Just Coffee, but they have other things too, like tea and smoothies. You seem like a smoothie guy. I was never really a fan. I’d rather eat my fruit. I got coffee, it’s pretty good, actually. I probably should have waited until you got here, but I was nervous, so I came early. Being nervous is also why I can’t seem to shut up right now. Sorry.”
She finished her apology by covering her mouth as if she was physically incapable of not talking. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen, and he couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.