Hello! Please leave reviews when you read my story! This is my first time writing a story and I appreciate any advice :)

Chapter 1

Her hair was straight and black but he couldn't be sure if he should call it dark brown when he saw how bronze brown it looked when the sunlight shone through her hair. It was cut above her shoulders but he could tell that it would be sleek and straight if it were long. He tried to imagine it long but having them bluntly cut at the chin and yet working so well for her, it was hard to.

Edmund had seen her often having coffee by herself at a cafe near where he worked. She was usually dressed quite casually so he couldn't tell if she was still a student or not. She wasn't the type of girl you can't take your eyes off of because of her prettiness but he couldn't help but watch how she confidently seemed to be enjoying her own company. Edmund, for one, wouldn't dare walk into a cafe to kill time without something to do, a book, or at the least his iPhone. This girl would just drink her coffee, smile, then stare off into space. He couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking or what kind of person she was. It would have ended at wondering if it wasn't for today. For some reason the cafe was crowded than usual and the only open seat was at the counter beside the girl he had watched for a few weeks now.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Edmund asked the girl.

"Oh, no I don't mind, go ahead" she smiled and nodded towards the seat.

She went back to staring out the window in front of her, but Edmund got up the courage to talk to her.

"Why is it so crowded here today? It's never this crowded." he turned to the girl.

The girl looked at him surprised for a second that he had talked to her, but soon replied.

"Don't you know? They're shooting a movie near here and apparently some of the cast are taking a break here and all the fans followed them."

"Oh" he felt sort of embarrassed and discouraged that the conversation seemed to have ended.

The girl took out her phone and fumbled with it, then placed it in front of him. The phone showed a website of a movie expected to be in theaters in 2 years.

"Wow I didn't know they were filming this here." He said, thinking 2 years wasn't too far away.

"Yeah, but 2 years. I wonder where I'll be, if I'm alive." The girl said this so plainly with a smile, it startled Edmund for a moment.

"What do you mean if you're alive?"

"It's 2 years. Anything could happen." She said as a matter of fact-ly.

"Who knows where we'll be or what we'll go through."

Edmund thought about it, not sure about the being alive part, but the girl had already gone back to enjoying her cup of coffee.

He wanted to ask her what made her feel that way but he didn't want to come off as too nosy so he stayed quiet and stared out the window.

"Do you come to this cafe a lot? You said it's usually not this crowded."

"Um, yes, I have a job near here and I come here for coffee often."

"That's nice. I really like this cafe, it makes me feel" she paused "at home" she said looking out the window with an expression which was quite hard to read.

After a few minutes passed in silence between them, Edmund realized he had to get back to work. He thought about asking for her number but was too embarrassed so he decided to at least tell her his name.

"I'm Edmund, by the way. It was nice talking to you..."

"Anna, I'm Anna"

"Well it was nice talking to you, Anna. I hope to see you here again?"

It came out rather like a question for he wasn't sure she felt the same way.

"Sure, that'd be nice" Anna smiled and waved him good bye.

Edmund left the cafe with a small smile on his face and walked back to work, hoping it won't be long before seeing Anna again.

Edmund tried to visit the cafe as often as he could in hopes of seeing Anna again. He thought about what he would say to her when he finally did see her and he also thought about the last and only conversation they had. The words "if I'm alive" stuck in his mind and he really wanted to know what made her think this way. He could only hope waiting her around like this would not be considered stalking but he just had to see her again.

It was three weeks after that Edmund saw Anna again, which was quite a surprise for him since he usually saw her having coffee at the cafe more often. She also had out a lot of papers on the table which was different from those days he had watched her enjoying her own company.

"Hey, it's Edmund, we talked a few weeks ago?"

"Hi, of course, when they were filming that movie, right?"

Edmund nodded, glad she remembered.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, let me clear this out of the way" she said as she gathered all the papers and pushed them into her bag, before moving the bag for Edmund to sit down.

"So what's with all the paperwork?"

"Oh, just work."

"So you work around here?"

"On Fridays, yes" she said with a smile.

"I usually have free time before work so I stop by here to get a cup of coffee or a snack."

Edmund wondered why he hadn't seen her the last two Fridays but didn't ask for he didn't want to seem like a stalker.

"What did you get?" Anna asked pointing at the bag he had put down on the table.

"Oh, it's some Christmas cookies."

"Do you want one?"

"If it's okay with you."

He handed her the bag and couldn't help but watch her take one and look at it so happily. She seemed to have notice him watching and looked at him quizzically. He blushed and took a sip of his coffee.

"This is really good" she smiled.

He tried to smile back without looking too happy.

After a few more conversations mostly about some main facts about each other and they left the cafe together. It only seemed natural then to ask for her number so he did, and she gave it to him willingly. They said their goodbyes and each walked to their destinations.

What he learned about her in the conversations they had were that she was only a year younger than him, 23, and she was half Japanese, half American. She was a piano teacher and taught lessons at different classes everyday except on weekends. Edmund could tell that there was some story she wasn't telling but he could tell there was something different about her. She seemed to know where she stood in life and she also seemed very appreciative of normal things most people would take for granted. He wanted to know her story. He wanted to understand her, but at the same time was afraid that knowing too much about her would change his life around. He couldn't tell why he felt that way, but he just did, and he very well was right. He didn't see what was coming, or more precisely what was already there but he couldn't see.