brown love out of the blue

He used to bring me a yellow rose every day; those are my favorite—That’s how he got me. We met at the Starbucks up the block from Rutgers Medical School; I’m a 4th-year medical student there. “Can I buy you a coffee?” he asked. “Jo, your order is ready.” the barista called out to me. “Thank you!” I turned to him and smiled “maybe next time; Ummm, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Harrison, but you can call me Harry.” “Maybe next time Harrison.” As I walked out, I could still feel his gaze on me, following me as I passed the window. That was a Tuesday two years ago.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, he met me there and paid for my tall black iced coffee with sweetener. On that Saturday morning, he brought me a red rose with my coffee “come to dinner with me,” he said, “thank you for the rose and the invite, but…” he stopped me mid-sentence “just let me know when you’re free, I love what I see and I want to get to know you.” At this point, I was smiling from ear to ear, and my skin was flushed red from blushing. “I know a place…how about brunch at the Urban Gridle tomorrow at 12?” “it’s a date, Jo?” he questioned. He remembered my name. “Joelle,” I whispered. “beautiful name, for a beautiful woman” he smiled, showing his white teeth as the words left his beautiful full brown lips.

I made our reservations for 12 at Urban Griddle. The only things we exchanged up to this point were names and pleasantries at the coffee shop. “What if she doesn’t come? I kept thinking to myself, “Nah, she’s gonna come, get out of your head.” It was a beautiful day. The sun was out blue sky with scattered clouds. The waitress seated me on the patio with the fans, creating a nice springtime breeze. Today I brought Jo a full bouquet of roses.

Somehow his charm got to me, and it stuck. So that Sunday, I met with him at Urban Griddle for brunch. I was running a few minutes behind, half of me contemplating if I should show up and the other half wanting to make the best impression outside of my scrubs. This was the first date I’ve been on in months, and from his persistence, at the coffee shop, I could tell he was interested, and I didn’t want to mess things up. “Hi, I’m meeting someone here,” I said to the waitress as I looked in Harrison’s direction with a massive grin. He was waving me down. “Nevermind, I think I found him.”

I started to make my way over to the patio when I realized I hadn’t paid attention to the details before. Harrison was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. He stood at an even 6 feet, his crown was loc’d, and he kept it in a man bun on most days. He had hazel eyes, a full beard, and he wore two small gold hoops, one in each ear. His voice was deep, like the guy on the smooth jazz radio station. He had a dimple in his chin, and on most days, he wore his glasses; that turned me on. His eyebrows were thick, just like I like them, and he had a smile to die for. He was everything that I wanted and needed but didn’t need at the same time. “How is that?” you might ask…a distraction. I didn’t need any distractions. I declined every other offer for anything that remotely resembled a date because I didn’t have time, and no one understood that. I needed to stay focused on school. I was finishing up my second year; all I did was school and go home, study, and go to school. But it was something about Harrison that changed everything. I was nervous, and I think he could tell. But all of that faded very quickly.

As she walked my way, I got butterflies. She was breathtaking in her yellow dress and her gold accented jewelry. The dress stopped right above her knees, showing her fantastic legs, and the neckline was plunged to show off her gold, rose charmed necklace. I’ve never seen her wear her curly ginger hair out, red lipstick, or any for that matter. She has freckles, and her eyes are astonishing, one brown and one green. She usually wears her hair pulled back into a bun, glasses, and scrubs. I was speechless.