Mindy

Editorial Note:For July and August, I will be posting non-fictional short stories.These are based on real-life experiences centered around a unifying theme. I stole the concept from a writing class at university.

Click on Valencia & Sam to read the other stories in this series.

Theme: Encounters & Romance (not the kind you are thinking of)

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“DUDE, watch where you’re going!” yelled out a grumpy stranger in the line at Timmies. I couldn’t fault his grumpiness. 5 am mornings are tough. Everything seems hazy until that first sip of medium double double. And my first coffee had to be from the Timmies @ Derry & Airport Road E. This particular location was a bit (20 minutes if you are counting) out of my way to work. But I had to stop here for coffee.

Why? What’s so special about this Timmies?

One name: Mindy.

She was the morning cashier. I could tell she had started her shift as the stench of the bathrooms was usurped by Mindy’s perfume. She was wearing Lady Gaga’s Fame. I know because I had asked her once.


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Our paths had crossed the first time a month ago. I was at this Timmies with a couple of friends. I had noticed her smile right away. Yes, she had curves in all the right places too. But, that smile just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.

Hold the cheese, will ya?

I let the lady behind me go ahead for Mindy to take my order. I had asked for my go-to medium double double.

“So, you like Relient K eh?”, she asked, noticing my band shirt.

“Favourite band ever!”, I replied.

“Cool. Mmhmm is my favourite album”, she responded.

“Mine too. Be My Escape is my most played song on Spotify.”

Say something witty and charming

“So…… you been working here long then?”

Slow clap ….

“Started few months ago on the morning shift. I am new to the area. Moved here to go to school at Humber. You are from the area?”

“Yea… yea yea”. That was a lie.

“Sweet. See you around then”, she answered with a smile that I was starting to love.

“Oh for sure. I come to this Timmies on my way to work everyday”, I lied again. I had to lie. I had to see her again. This could be my first love at first sight.


This morning, as per usual, the line wasn’t moving too fast . The lineup went as far as outside the door. I could have done drive-thru. But drive-thru doesn’t guarantee Mindy. I was doing customer math in my mind. There were 5 people ahead of me, and 3 cashiers taking orders. I had tried out various strategies in the past week. They weren’t fool proof. Often, in the heat of the moment, I would just cave in and go to the first available cashier, which wasn’t always Mindy. I was 2 out of 7 this week.

Mindy was my age and gorgeous. She was certainly the prettiest girl working the morning shift: minimal make up, heart-winning smile and her piercing game was on fleek (did I use that right?..) Today, she was wearing light blue eye shadow and hair in a pony tail. The scent wasn’t the usual Fame. I am going to guess something by J-Lo or Beyonce. Those were her other favourite artists who had released perfumes. That’s what I had learnt from our 2 interactions so far.

“Good morning! What can I get for you?” That was Mindy’s greeting. The greeting came with a personalized smile. To some customers, the smile was an encouraging ‘have a great day’. To the complaining jerks, it was a neutralizing ‘stop whining and enjoy the coffee’. Don’t even get me started on what I imagined the smile was supposed to mean to me.

I was 4 customers deep. That should get me to Mindy. But, worse comes to worse, I will let somebody behind me pass to get to her. Today had to be 3 out 8. Today, I was going to get her number and take it to the next level. I had no idea how this was going to happen. But, it just had to.

“Hey Joe.. the usual?”, the girl who loves the same band as I do asked. The math had worked, and I was her customer.

“You know it!”.

Get her number! Get her number! Get her number! Get her number!

“You know that Relient K is going on tour and they have a Toronto show. We should go”!

That’s a good start. Wait for it.. wait for it..

“Yeah! My boyfriend told me last night. He is buying the tickets for us today. We should all go”.

Alright then.

On the bright side, my commute just got 20 minutes shorter. Let’s file Mindy under the ‘try again later… when she is single’.

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Nilabjo (nee-laab-jo)

Written by

Unashamed love for 90s boybands. I am also trying to make ‘cool beans’ and ‘awesomesauce’ cool again. Writing is my catharsis.

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