Again, But Better(62)

I hesitantly smile and wave. “Hi, cup of coffee?” I repeat.

He glances around and scratches his neck. He looks almost the same—different haircut, maybe broader shoulders?

“Why are you here?” he repeats, calmer this time.

“I had an interview at NYU earlier, and I have one at Columbia later.” I pause. “I mean, that’s not why I’m here, here. I’m here, here because I need to talk to you and I’d like to get a cup of coffee,” I repeat, leaning a little against the thin gray divider entrance to his cubicle.

“For?”

“Their internal medicine program,” I say. His eyebrows pull together. He looks down, propping his elbows up against his knees.

“So, you just randomly decided to come to the building where I work and ask me to go get a coffee?” He meets my eyes.

“I mean, kind of, yeah,” I say with a strained expression.

He tilts his head. “Who does that?” Amusement creeps into the question.

“Crazies,” I answer sardonically.

“I’m not really supposed to leave right now,” he says quietly.

“Oh, um.” I glance around uncomfortably.

Pilot stands. He swings his head around, taking stock of the room until he finds who he’s looking for: a heavyset man in his late thirties walking along the opposite wall.

He locks eyes with him. “Hey, Tom, I’m going to have to step out for an hour. Family emergency.” I straighten abruptly and try to look solemn as Tom’s eyes dart from Pilot to me and back to Pilot again.

“Okay,” he responds slowly.

“Okay!” Pilot replies, hopping out of the cubicle. He puts a hand on my back and silently leads me from the room.

He drops it as we load back onto an elevator. We’re quiet until the doors slide closed.

“Okay, let’s do it. Coffee,” his says with small smile, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He studies me for a moment. “It’s weird to see you.”

“Weird to see to you too.”

“Sorry about”—he shakes his head—“that minor freak-out; don’t know what happened there.” He leans against the wall of the elevator.

“I know. That’s out of character for you.” I cross one foot in front of the other and bobble slightly in my heels.

Pilot huffs a laugh and purses his lips. We’re both quiet for a moment before he says, “So are you a doctor now?”

I nod. “Almost. Interviewing for residency programs, working toward becoming a gastroenterologist. What have you been up to? What do you do here?”

“Oh, you know, computer programming, writing code, solving IT issues, exciting stuff.” He crosses his arms, inspecting me like a riddle he’s trying to crack. I turn away to glance at the doors.

That’s when I realize—we’re not moving. The buttons are on Pilot’s side. I grin and mirror him, leaning against the opposite wall.

“Hey, Pies.”

He tilts his head. “Yeah?”

“You never pressed any buttons, so we’re just chilling in a metal box.”

Surprise dawns on his face. He releases a quick laugh before jabbing the lobby button.

“You know, I usually travel the building with an assistant. He does all the button pressing when I elevator,” he relays in a haughty voice.

A laugh busts out of me. The doors ding open, and we emerge into the lobby.

“You have a coffee place in mind?” he asks.

My heels clack onto the tile. “Um, I’m haven’t really—”

“You’re looking for a coffee place?” The guy at the front desk casually interrupts me. He grins at Pilot.

“Hey, Jack,” Pilot greets him. “You know a place?”

“Somebody dropped off flyers for some new place just ten minutes ago.” Lobby Jack waves us over and pulls a stack of lavender paper from behind the desk. “I was like: lady, this isn’t the grocery store, we don’t hand out flyers, but she left ’em anyway. After reading the thing, I mean, it actually sounds like a pretty cool coffee joint. Take a look.” He pushes the stack toward us.

“Interesting.” Pilot picks one up and holds it upright so we can both read it. Quirky hidden coffee place, complete with secret elevator?

I raise my eyebrows, catching Pilot’s eye as we head for the exit. This place on the flyer is at least a ten-minute walk.

“You up for this? We could just hit a Starbucks if you want,” I tell him.

He pushes the door open and gestures for me to go first. “Hey, I’m always game for an adventure.”

A smile pulls at my lips as I lead us out. “Okay. Let’s go for it.”

Pilot folds the flyer and sticks it in his back pocket as we fall into step on the sidewalk.

“So,” he starts, “how did you hunt me down?” A sideways grin kicks up his cheek.

I shrug. “You know, had to call in favors, get a background check.”

His eyes grow.

Another laugh bursts out of me. “Pilot. I looked at your Facebook. It says where you work. I Google-mapped it.”

“Ohhh! Dang.” He grins. “I’m impressed! You had me there for a second.”

We cross to the next block.

“So you wanted to talk about…?”