Racing Through the Hallway to a Coffee Shop with Alex

Racing Through the Hallway to a Coffee Shop with Alex

I woke up late for work and sprinted down the hallway of my apartment building, but every door was the same office lobby. I finally burst through one and found myself in a tiny coffee shop I used to go to in college, the one where Alex used to sit by the window. He was there, but he looked like my current boyfriend, same smile but wearing his old hoodie. He waved, and I tried to hand him a paper cup of latte I’d just ordered, but the cup kept slipping from my fingers. When I finally got it to him, the coffee turned into a stack of old love letters we’d written to each other in high school. I opened one, and the words were exactly what I wanted to say to him now, but I couldn’t read them; they kept fading as I tried. Suddenly the shop’s lights flickered, the exit sign read “Home” and the street outside was my old neighborhood, empty except for a bus I had missed last week. I stood there, heart racing, wondering if I’d ever catch up to the person I’m supposed to meet.