Shopaholic and Coffee

Fate has a weird way for connecting two people. For Becky and Luke, it was the act of good will. Little did Becky know that that one act of good will would take her on a whirlwind of drama, from her quiet life in New York to the glamourous and heavily scrutinised world of the stars.

Chapter 1: Meeting Luke and the Chinese Restaurant

It’s been raining the whole entire week! I have never been this gloomy, you know, I hate rainy days so much. It makes me have no energy to work properly in my office, all I want to do is to sleep the during the day, ugh! It’s a Sunday and the weather is still bad, it’s raining cats and dogs. I don’t get when people say ‘rainy season can be good’? It’s stupid! I personally like sunny days, I can go out with Suz, my best friend, sunbathe under the sun, have a little walk in the park…and yes! Shopping! I will go nuts without shopping in my life, well…I haven’t paid my debts yet, it sucks. Maybe I have to find a job with a higher salary, cuz’ I really need the money!

Okay, I need to do something, I won’t be stuck in my house the whole entire day for god’s sake! It’s Sunday! I don’t even care even if it’s raining anymore. I walked to my closet, picked a casual red T-shirt, skinny blue jeans, put on my black rain boots and my bird cage umbrella, and stomped out of my apartment. Raining New York afternoon huh? Walking along the street filled with tall buildings and shops, I remember there is a coffee shop just around the corner. What a great idea! Spending my day in that coffee shop, reading my favorite book, chatting with people… Thank god I am a freaking genius, I got my Kindle with me, or else think I might go into Dymocks and buy a two-pound book, and, that might add to my debts list.

A few minutes later, I am here inside Italian Milano. Wow! I can’t believe it! It’s crowded even it’s raining!

“Hello!”

One of the waitresses greeted me. I smile back and go to the counter to order an iced cafe latte. Somehow I manage to get a good spot right beside the window. I take out my Kindle, start reading Anne Frank Diary. An hour later, someone goes inside with the whole entire body dripping with water. The kid’s next table start chuckling when I look up and see what’s going on. Oh my goodness! This man is holding a newspaper, I guess it is not a newspaper anymore! It literally is broken! His sweater is soaked, his leather shoes and socks are all wet. Poor man! It’s like watching Mr. Bean when I was younger. I can’t bear this amusement and started to laugh with the kids too! I watch him run down his fingers through his hair and smiles embarrassingly at the waiters. He is quite good looking by the way. I swear every girl in this coffee shop can’t quit looking at him. Including me. Haha! Somehow I get up and went up to him and offered him a tissue. I hold up a tissue to him.

“Just in case you need one.”

He gazed down at me and mumbled “Thanks, mam. I think I need it now, emergency I guess…” He lets out a little laugh.

“No worries.” I went back down to my seat and started reading again.

The whole coffee shop is now filled with people and there is one free seat left, which is funny, it’s right in front of me. He looks around holding his fresh hot coffee and finds out the only free seat.

“Well, this is weird.” He scratched his head.

“Weirder than being the only person soaked up in the whole entire coffee shop?”

“Who knows? I have not checked the weather forecast, so this is my consequence, I guess.”

He takes a sip of coffee. After some conversations, I learn his name, Luke. He is a funny guy, and he is single. During the whole afternoon, I swear all the girls are looking at me jealous like I stole their prey. Luke and I exchanged numbers before he left since he has something to do soon.

I can’t stop beaming in front of my parents and friends after meeting Luke. But I didn’t tell them why, since they have such big mouths. It’s been a week after that ‘date’, and Suz and I are having a girls night out after work( I’m working as a personal shopper at Prada’s Magazine). Suz and I decided to try Chinese food for dinner, minding our risks. I couldn’t concentrate while I was working. I just can’t wait meeting her! While the clock strikes six p.m, I turn off my MacBook Pro and put it in my bag, pack up my printed documents into a clear folder, wait for the lift, and run off to the Chinese restaurant where we supposed to meet up. Suz is earlier than I am. She has her hair tied up, wearing a dark blue dress with white stripes and Nine West long boots, and damn! She looks like a celebrity! She puts down her iPhone, looks up at me, and starts waving.

“Hey there Becky Bloomwood! How are you? It has been a long time!” She likes calling me by my full name.

“How long? It has only been a week silly. How long have you been here?” I say while fixing my hair.

“Just about five minutes, not long, but you are late Miss Bloomwood.”

“No, I wasn’t! I-,” I break off and look down at my Cluse La Roche watch, find out I’m ten minutes late.

“Oh my! Sorry about that! I ran though!” Still, can’t believe the reality.

Suppose we will be here at six thirty, and I Becky Bloomwood is late. Shaking my head, a young waiter comes to us.

“Good evening, ready to order?” I look at Suz at her blank expression, she is totally day dreaming.

So I waved in front of her eyes, trying to get her back to focus.

“Ladies?” The waiter says impatiently.

So I picked up the menu and scanned all the weird dishes written there. Warning, the menu is written in English but I have no idea what that means. But I have to pretend you know, just to get off the ‘oh you don’t know anything about Chinese food’ situation. So I casually pick three dishes by pointing them out, the waiter takes my order and walks away to the kitchen. Suz pats me on the shoulder.

“What did you order Becky Bloomwood?” I blink and burst out laughing, “I have no idea! Maybe we are going to have the most ‘memorable’ dinner in our whole entire lives!”

“What the heck?” I calm her down and waited for the ‘happy meal’. Approximately twenty minutes later, the waiter came back with….with…what the hell is that? “ When the dishes are set down on the dining table, Suz and I look at the dishes in the bamboo basket in shock.

“What did you just order?” Suz asked again.

“I think, it won’t taste as bad as it looks.” One of the dishes looks like feet covered with soya sauce and minced chili. Well, I’m curious and picked them up with chopsticks. I smelled it, the thing is, it actually smells pretty good! And I try to put one in my mouth.