The tiny coffee shop he’d spent most afternoons in, rapidly came into view. He slowed his pace down and decided to stop there for a quick breather. The room was stifling. There were bodies jammed into every corner and voices full of laughter rang out around the shop. Derek smiled happily to himself, he loved crowds and this was just the environment he needed to forget his troubles.

“Well, hello there pretty lady,” he said causally to a little brunette, sitting at his favorite table. “I see you’ve picked the best spot in the whole shop.”

“Indeed I have,” she said quietly, “would you like to sit down, you look a bit tired.”

“I’d love to sit, but why don’t I get us some fresh drinks first. It looks like your drinking a vanilla cappuccino, I’ll get you another one.”

“No, wait,” she said, rising from the table, “you don’t have to do that. I can get myself another one if I wish to have more. I don’t need you to buy it for me.”

“I’m sure you can, but you need to stay sitting there or we will lose our table. Just relax and I’ll get the drinks, you can pay me back later, if you want.” He took her hand in his and kissed it softly, then walked toward the coffee bar to place their order.

He came back a few minutes later, carrying two steaming cups of coffee. “Here you go, hon. I hope they made it the way you like it.”

“I’m sure it is fine,” she said coolly, “and my name is Sophie, not hon.”

“Well Sophie, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Derek.”

“If your trying to pick me up, Derek, don’t think buying me a cup of coffee is going to do it. I’m not interested in dating anyone at the present time, especially a playboy.”

Derek’s smile widened as he stared at Sophie, “I was that transparent, huh. I guess I’m not myself tonight.”

“Don’t take the rejection personally,” Sophie said, biting off a laugh, “your the third guy tonight that has tried to pick me up and I have just gotten tired of it. I thought I’d stop you before you made a fool of yourself.”

“Well, thanks for the consideration. I guess tonight just isn’t my night.” Derek lowered his eyes and stared into his coffee, “maybe my brother is right, maybe I am just a screw-up.”

“Oh boy, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings…well, not that bad at least.”

Derek let out a small laugh and smiled at Sophie, “it isn’t your fault, I’ve just had a rough night. My older brother verbally attacked me a bit and I guess it had a larger affect then I had originally thought.”

“Do you want to talk about,” Sophie said, laying her hand tenderly on Derek’s, “I’m a good listener.”
———————————————————————————————————

“Oh Derek, that was a wonderful little cafe,” Tuulia sang out, “I’m so glad you took me there.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Derek said grinning, “now come over here and give me some sugar.”

“Well, you better be on your way, Tuulia, I don’t want you to be late to your next class.”

“Are you going to call me tomorrow,” Tuulia said, with big puppy dog eyes. “I was hoping we could hit a club downtown.”

“Oh baby, I really need to start concentrating a bit on my classes; otherwise, I am going to be placed on probation. We need to take a little break, just for a few weeks.”

“But Derek,” Tuulia said with tears in her eyes, “I thought everything was going so good between us. I’ve had a terrific time with you. I thought you cared about me.”

“Don’t cry, I’m not saying we’ll never see each other again, I just need a short break. The ‘rents will kill me if I get kicked out of school, okay.”

“Okay,” she sniffled, “but you’ll call me the minute you want to go out again.”

“Of course,” Derek said, patting Tuulia’s arm, “now drive home safe and make sure to get yourself to class. I don’t want to be responsible for you getting kicked out either.”
—————————————————————————————————–

“Where in the world have you been,” Tony said, as Derek walked in the front door, “your next class started over an hour ago. Your going to fail everything if you keep this up.”

“Dude, chill out,” Derek said pushing past Tony and plopping himself down on the couch, “I will get at least a B in the class. I found myself a pretty little blonde tutor that’s agreed to help me catch up on all my work. Now could you move, you’re blocking the TV.”

Tony grabbed the remote out of Derek’s hand and threw it to the ground, “This isn’t a joke, little brother. You need to start taking school more seriously or you’re going to end up out on your butt.”

“I think you should go, Tony’s your brother and he’d love for you to be there.”

Anna sighed and plopped herself down on the bed, “Mom will be there, though and she won’t be happy to see me, especially in my condition.”

“You honestly think she’ll be upset about the baby,” Ramin said, sitting down next to her, “she must want grandchildren.”

“Of course she does, but she’s still angry at me for dropping out of college. I think showing up and being pregnant, will just confirm her worst fears.”

“Well, she should have known that you would become pregnant sooner or later. We are married after all and you’ve always wanted a family of your very own.”

“I know,” Anna said taking a deep breathe, “but I never told her that. I was different in high school, because I didn’t have many friends, so I pushed myself into studying. Mom loved that, she was proud of my work ethic, so I just never felt compelled to share with her how much I wanted to get married and have kids; now its too late.”

“Anna, its never too late. I think you should go to the party and talk to her, make her see the new you.”

“Ramin, I love you, but you just don’t understand,” Anna said, reaching for him. “Let me handle the situation in my own way, I know things will work out over time.”

“I don’t see how,” said Ramin, wrapping his arms around his wife, “since both of you are so stubborn, but I’ll let you handle it.”

“Thank you,” Anna smiled, “now stop talking and come here.”

“But Mrs. O’Cleary, the lunch rush will be starting soon,” Tony said in protest, “I don’t want to leave you short handed. Plus today’s class is nothing but a review, I won’t be missing anything important.”

“Listen here young man, I’ve been running this cafeteria longer then you’ve been walking the earth; I can handle any sort of rush that comes my way,” Mrs. O’Cleary said, stirring a big pot of macaroni and cheese. “And an extra review can’t hurt you come time for the final exam. Now get your butt in gear before I personally kick it out the door.”

Tony smiled and laughed to himself, he appreciated having someone outside his family take such an interest in his well being. “All right fine, but don’t complain to me if you get bogged down with hungry students.”

“You won’t hear me complain, Mr. Malory, unless you are late for your class; get a move on.”

“There’s no point in arguing with you,” Tony said with a smile on his lips, “I’ll be back in a couple hours to help you clean up.”

“That’ll be fine. Study hard, so you can get that scholarship money and rent that little house you keep going on about.”

“I will try my best,” Tony said, as he took off apron and headed out the door.
————————————————————————————————-

Tony stood in the middle of his new living room and surveyed the surroundings; the furniture was worn and faded, the TV had rabbit ears sticking up from the back, but he was happy. Everything in the room was his, he’d scrimped and saved for years to be standing where was he was and he felt proud of what he’d accomplished.

“Are you going to stand there all day and stare into space,” Derek said, as he lugged a box into the room, “because I could really use some help here.”

“Jeez little bro, how much stuff did you bring? You do know that mom will be sending a care package every week for you, so you didn’t have to box up your entire bedroom.”

“I only brought the essentials, Tony. Everything in these boxes is stuff that I need.”

“You really need four blue sweatshirts,” Tony said looking through an open box. “I understand wanting to have enough clothes so you never have to wash, but do they all have to be exactly the same?”

“Oh you just don’t understand fashion, big bro. Hey, is that the doorbell?”

“Yeah, probably mom dropping by for a quick visit to make sure her baby boy is all settled in,” said Tony, as he reached for the door. “Hello,” Tony said, staring at the pretty, dark haired girl standing on the other side. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” he said wearily, “long, but rewarding. Things are finally starting to come together, though. I hope to have our grand opening soon.”

“Well good,” Roslynn sighed slightly, “I’m glad that everything is working out.” She stared down at her cooling tea and took a long, deep breathe, “Tony called this morning, he had some wonderful news.”

“What’s that,” said Thomas, clanking through the cupboards, looking for another cup.

“He asked Dagmar to marry him last night and she accepted,” Roslynn said, turning her eyes onto Thomas. “Another one of our children is getting married, but at least he will finish his education first.”

“Oh dear,” Thomas said shaking his head, “you have to get over your anger. Anna is your daughter and you love her.”

“I just can’t right now,” Roslynn said, rising from the kitchen table. “She’s given up everything and she hasn’t even let us meet this Ramin fellow.”

Thomas put his cup on the kitchen table and grasped his wife’s trembling shoulders, “Ros, I know you don’t approve, but she has made her decision and you need to accept it; that’s the only way she will ever bring Ramin here to meet us.”

“I just want my baby back,” Roslynn said through tears.

“I know,” said Thomas, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I want that, too.”
————————————————————————————————

“Derek, is everything okay,” Amy, Derek’s new girlfriend asked. “I can hear your mom crying.”

“Yeah, everything is fine,” Derek said, placing his arm around her shoulders. “She’s just upset about my sister Anna.”

“Maybe I should go home,” Amy said, releasing herself from Derek’s embrace. “I don’t want to cause anymore trouble for you, plus I need to get some rest before the concert tonight.” Amy stood up and turned back to look at Derek, “I’m sorry your parents said you can’t come with me, this concert is going to be one of best I’ve ever been to.”

Derek slowly pulled himself up to stand next to Amy, he glanced casually in at the kitchen and then leaned in close to her ear, “I’m going with you tonight, I’m not missing my favorite band, ‘Gerbils of Fear’. Just park outside at 11pm and I will take care of the rest.”

“Oh Derek,” Amy protested, “I don’t want to get you punished for sneaking out.”

“Don’t worry, m’dear,” Derek said with a smile. “They’ll never know I’ve left the house, I promise.” He winked and leaned in closer to Amy’s face. “How about we seal our plans with a kiss?”

“But your parents are in the other room,” Amy said, backing away, “they’ll be upset if they see us kissing.”

“You worry to much,” Derek said, lightly grabbing her arms, “just go with the moment.” He leaned in closer and softly kissed Amy for the first time.

“I told you nothing bad would happen,” he said breathlessly. “I’ll see you tonight.”