Page 24 of The Funnel to You

It continues like this throughout July until early August when we meet up at our regular space for our weekly check in. I’m going to be meeting with Ashley tomorrow, so we are meeting earlier so I can help her with some back to school shopping and prep. And a last girl’s day out too before the semester starts in a few weeks.

I walk into the coffee shop at four and smile when I see Matt waiting for me at our table, and no surprise, there’s a drink there waiting for me.

“What did you get for me this time?” I ask as I set my bag on the ground and start pulling out my notebook and pen. He passes the cup to me along with a small package.

“It’s a dirty chai but I asked them to add a little more cinnamon to it. Kept it simple for you today,” he smiles at me as he waits for me to take a sip. He does this every time too, waits to make sure I like what he picks. It feels important to him.

“This is perfect. Sometimes going with a classic like this is just what I need. What’s in the box?” I don’t want to assume it’s for me, but I’m pretty sure it is. He holds it out to me and waits for me to grab it. I look at his eyes again and he gives a subtle nod to encourage me to open it now. Awkward, okay.

I open the lid to find a beautiful pen set. They’re rose gold and metal. I look back up at him to see his smile on his face. How he could ever be worried about giving me a pen I have no idea.

“Take them out, test them and see how you like them,” he encourages me.

I do and they feel amazing. The weight is perfect in my hand and I immediately start writing with one to test the ink.

“It writes like my favorite ink pens!”

“I know.” And with a wink from him and a blush from me, we get back to work.

The time flies by and pretty soon, the shop is closing up, but I’m not ready to be done. We’ve spent the last thirty minutes chatting about our own college days as Ashley gets ready to go back.

“Do you want to grab dinner and head back to the apartment with me for a bit? I don’t have to meet Ashley until noon tomorrow and I’m hungry,” I ask as we head out to the cars with our bags.

“Yeah, that sounds great. I can go pick something up and meet you there if that works for you, what are you in the mood for tonight?”

“Surprise me.” I smile at him and then head off for the apartment. I need to double check that there’s no random dirty dishes around and see if everyone else is still at work. And maybe light a candle or something. And text Kylie to see if she has time for a five minute pep talk. She wasn’t able to answer my call, but she did send all of the best gifs and reminders to breathe and just enjoy a chill night.

It feels like I’m going to wear a line into the rug in front of the couch by the time I hear Matt’s footsteps approaching the front door. I wait a breath after he knocks before I walk to the door, not wanting to seem too eager, even though I am. I open the door to a smiling Matt. He holds up the takeout bag from one of the local places.

“I was in the mood for pad thai. I grabbed a few dishes so we can do family style if that works for you,” he makes his way into the kitchen and begins removing the containers from the bag as I pull out dishes and utensils.

“That’s perfect. Let me grab the Sriracha out of the fridge. I like to spice mine up just a bit.”

“I would not have pegged you as a Sriracha girl,” Matt muses behind me as I find the bottle on the door.

“Only with pad thai. I don’t like it on anything else,” I shrug a little as we begin plating what we want. “Do you want to sit at the table or on the couch and watch a movie?”

“Let’s do the couch. I picked dinner so you can pick the movie.”

We get settled into comfortable silence as the movie starts and we work through our plates. He surprises me a bit when he reaches over to snag a bite of my pad thai. I playfully tap his fork away, “What do you think you’re doing?” I ask in mock alarm as I hold my plate away from him.

“I was curious. I’ve never put hot sauce on my pad thai before. Please?”

I smile back at him and offer my plate, “It’s not hot sauce, it’s Sriracha, and of course. Definitely interested to see what you think, but I won’t be offended if you hate it. I’m the only one except for one of my coworkers that I know that does this. I saw one of my friends at work do it a year ago when we got food for the team and I’ve done it ever since.”

“That’s actually pretty good. What else did you do besides the hot sauce, I mean, Sriracha.”

“I add a little bit of lime juice too. Most of the time they have the limes cut up in the containers so I just squeeze one over the dish and then mix it in with the Sriracha. Lemon is not the same – don’t do that. Made that mistake once and it was ruined.”

He leans back a little on his end of the couch and laughs. “I love how passionate you are about things that you love. You’ve got it all figured out.”

I turn my body a bit so I’m facing him as I mess with the rest of the food on my plate, “I don’t know about that. I don’t have much figured out. Pad Thai and lipstick, yeah I got that, life, not so much.”

“You seem to be doing okay with what you have figured out though, Sasha. Don’t diminish what you are doing. I’m amazed at all that you have done so far over the last few weeks. I don’t know if you have others telling you that, but it’s true.” He holds my gaze for a moment before he finishes his last bite then stands. “Can I bring your plate to the kitchen?”

As he brings the dishes into the kitchen and sets the leftovers in the fridge, I take a beat to look back at this year. I have done a lot. And no, my life isn’t perfect. But this moment is. He finds his spot next to me again and we find an easy space between us. The movie continues and we chat through it a little – life, school, the approaching fall coffee drinks. Matt tells me a little bit about his friends that he went to school with and their hobbies. He shows me pictures of some woodworking projects one of them recently worked on and I start building a perfect coffee cabinet in my head.

Before long, it’s approaching ten and the tv has shut off because we didn’t pick another movie.

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