It was a normal October day.

I was doing all of my college courses online due to the

pandemic, so I spent most of my days at the local coffee shop. Just like every other morning, I

woke up, showered, got ready, ate breakfast, and then was on my way. As I drove over there

with the windows down, I felt the cool fall breeze coming into my car and mixing with the heat

in my car. The leaves were finally starting to turn those beautiful reds and oranges, not just the

sad yellows and pale greens. The sun was shining and it was a picture perfect fall day. I walked

into the coffee shop, set my stuff down at my usual table, and ordered my classic large vanilla

sweet cream cold brew. Once it was ready, I sat back down, unpacked my things, and let the

grind begin.

I was there for no more than twenty minutes when the most handsome man I had ever

seen walked in, someone I have never noticed despite all the time I spent here. I couldn’t help

but stare as he walked up to the counter and ordered. He was tall, probably 6’1 or 6’2, with dark

curly hair. He had toned muscular arms, and the sharpest facial features I had ever seen. His eyes

were so brown they blended right in with the black of his pupils. He had a beautiful white smile

and teeth that only braces could perfect. It wasn’t until I came to the end of this description that I

realized I had not taken my eyes off of him. Now he was doing the same to me. “Shit” I thought

to myself. Before I could even play it off like I was spacing out, he was walking over to my

table, coffee in hand.

“Couldn’t help but notice you staring. Mind if I sit?” He asked as he pulled out the chair

across from me.

“I don’t seem to have much of a choice.” I smiled.

“I’m Trevor, nice to meet you lady.”

“Lucy”
 “Ah Lucy” he sat back in his chair, sipping his coffee, “I like that name.”

“I’m so glad.” I laughed, not knowing what to say in response to that.

“So. What are you working on here? How important is it? Anything I can do to help?”

I chuckled, “I just met you and you want to help me with my schoolwork? What kind of

weirdo did this town bring in.”

“Hey what can I say, I like helping pretty girls.”

My cheeks instantly turned bright red, I felt the heat all over my face. “Well don’t get too

excited. It’s an essay about the history of the Middle East.”

He let out a loud, obnoxious groan and fell back in his chair. I couldn’t help but laugh as

I looked around the cafe to see an array of confused faces. We continued to talk for probably

fifteen minutes.

“I just moved here from Atlanta. I’m going to school at Northwestern to study

international business.”

“That’s got to be disappointing, going from a big city down south to a small town in the

midwest?”

“I mean it’s not ideal, but we’re making it work.”

“So what do you want to do in the future? With your international business degree?”

“Oh let me tell you. I’ve always wanted a job that would allow me to travel, not just be

stuck in an office cubicle all the time. I knew I wanted to do something with business, and then

international business just caught my attention and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Once again I caught myself admiring him and not paying attention to his words, until my

thoughts were interrupted by the jingling of the bell as a new customer walked in. I glanced over

to see another man, probably around our age, but quickly got back to Trevor and his stories.
 “So I went to Dubai on an internship with a company. Let me tell you, it was incredible! I

mean you think Chicago and some of these other big cities are cool, but they’re nothing

compared to the skyscrapers and lightshow Dubai was.”

Trevor continues on about the trip, when all of a sudden the man who just came in was

walking our way. Before I could say anything to Trevor, he was here. He wrapped his arms

around Trevor’s chest and began to talk to him.

“Hey Trev I am so sorry I’m late. You would not believe the day I had at work.” He

kissed Trevor on the cheek.

“It’s all good babe. I made a new friend, this is Lucy. Lucy this is my boyfriend Jack.”

Trevor smiled at Jack and then back at me.

“Boyfriend!” I said, in utter shock, “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“Sorry you got stuck dealing with him, I had a crazy day” Jack said.

I laughed, “Not a problem, I really enjoyed talking to him.”

“Well if you don’t mind we are running late so I’m going to steal him back from you. It

was really nice meeting you though!” Jack said, pulling Trevor up out of his seat.

“I’ll see you around Lucy, I’ll definitely be stopping by this cafe more.” Trevor smiled,

wrapping his arms around Jack as they headed towards the door.

“See you later.” I mumbled, still in shock. I spent the last thirty minutes falling in love

with a boy just for him to have a boyfriend. Although, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched

them leave. They laughed and smiled, constantly touching each other. Despite the surprise, my

heart was full and I was happy for my new friends. Immediately I reached for my phone and

called my best friend. “Hello?” she answered after the first ring.
 “Dude.” I said, “You will not believe what just happened to me.” I then dove into the

story of my unexpected afternoon.

 Reflection

Looking back at my diagnostic story, I think one thing I have done a much better job of is

creating a plot. In my diagnostic story there was the climax of me getting my teeth knocked out,

but there was not really any build up or conclusion. I just got my teeth knocked out and that was

it. In my midterm story, the whole time I am building up to the plot twist at the end, to make it

even more surprising than it already is. Another thing I feel I improved on is being even more

vivid and descriptive. I was a little bit in my diagnostic story, talking about the waiting room and

the day itself. But here, I am constantly incorporating those little vivid details to give the reader

an image of what it’s like.

My writing process was this. I sat down monday night and literally just wrote the whole

thing, shitty first draft style. I got everything down on paper in the form of a story, just so I had it

done. Then the next morning I went through and edited. I got rid of a lot of grammatical errors,

wordy sentences, and just some of the extra garbage I didn’t need. Then, I worked from the

bottom up reading it just to look at it a different way, especially in terms of grammar and flow

errors. In this phase I took a few paragraphs out completely and then replaced them with more in

depth dialogue. After that it was final touches and writing this reflection.

The thing I am proudest of from this story is definitely the way I built it up for the plot

twist ending. I feel like I did a really good job making it seem average and normal and giving

readers the wrong idea. Until the end and BAM! Plot twist!

One thing I would do if I had more time is focus on the aftermath of the “climax”. I

would want to focus more on how Trevor and Lucy’s friendship develops. They hit it off so great

at the cafe and had such great conversations, it seems odd the story just ends and we don’t get

anymore of a glance into their friendship after this day.

 I honestly do not think I have any questions besides knowing your thoughts on my story!

I think you’re doing a great job teaching this course and creating a great support system for new

writers.