Share a Coke With...

As soon as I saw the Coca Cola bottle I automatically got an idea. The name Alex sparkled with the reflection of the light. The refrigerator was full of Cokes with names. It was like a book of names for a pregnant mother. I looked for my name but couldn't actually find it. I opened the refrigerator and smiled. Apparently the guy who had this shift was OCD or simply well trained in the arts of organizing. The name Alex was the first one there. I automatically pictured in my mind how suave I would look if I went to school tomorrow and handed Alex the Coca Cola bottle.

I walked to the cash register, picked some chewing gum and handed the items to the cashier. Her name was Aryan. She said as she scanned the Coca Cola bottle: "I don't even know why they couldn't put Latino names on those God forsaken bottles. If you want to do a great service you have to think of the entire world. I mean why not." She said with her probably Puerto Rican accent. I had met other Latinos like for example Alejandro, the guy next door to my house was Colombian. I was shocked when I learned that not every women in the world sounded like Sofia Vergara or the truthful hip goddess, Shakira. I laughed and told Aryan that to me she was unique. You don't need a Coca Cola bottle to tell you that dear. She looked at me straight to my eyes and mumbled in Spanish something hard to understand. "Este muchachito si que sabe. Dios lo bendiga!!" Aryan was probably 40 something and looked 30. Curse those Latina genes. Those women are beautiful. Before I left she asked me who was Alex. I knew I had to tell her the entire story. I took a gum, placed it into my mouth, offered her one and she took it.

"I've had this crush on this girl name Alex since forever. She drives the bus with me to school and also lives pretty close by to me. I've studied her for a while. I know she likes the color purple, short skirts and Pretty Little Liars. I bet she even thinks she is part of the cast. She always looks beautiful. She laughs a lot at dumb things. Like for example this one time a friend of her tripped with her backpack and fell to the floor. When she leaned to help her get up. Her friend fell to the floor again unintentionally and she laughed so hard."

"That seems pretty much like you can write her biography, papi. You're sure not stalking her, verdad?" She told me with a pretty concerned voice. I realized I had sounded like a complete idiot and probably scared her. "No, I promise you is harmless. I mean, I do that with everybody. I just pick up details on people pretty fast. Like you, Aryan, for example. I know you must be like 35-40 years. You hate telenovelas because you weren't reading those petty magazines in Spanish. Also you are not Mexican nor Cuban because you sound different. Am I right?"

"Si que sabes. I knew you weren't that crazy. Actually I am 42 and Puerto Rican. I have a son your age. He probably goes to your same High School. I wish you a fantastic day tomorrow and my best wishes with that little detail. I'll be here tomorrow. You must tell me what happens. Estamos?" I replied with a cheerful yes and head out the door.

On my way to my house I felt pretty confident already. I looked at my reflection on the stores windows. My hair had that Skrillex cut. My father calls it the mullet of the century. I was wearing my blue Vans T-shirt I had bought a year ago. I took my skateboard from the backpack and skated home.

When I got home, I put the Coke in the refrigerator. I head upstairs to carefully do my homework and slowly yet patiently not let my head drift away on flaking out tomorrow. I finished my homework. Heard my parents arrived from work. Went downstairs to have dinner and heard my dad complained of his day at work.

I finished eating and head upstairs to get an early sleep.

My alarm clock jammed to a mad Journey's Don't Stop Believing instrumental version and I woke up. I showered, looked at myself in the mirror and flex. I liked acting silly and dumb in the confinement of the bathroom. No one sees you is just you and your nakedness. I brushed my teeth. Sprinkled some perfume on and later decide how to kill today's life changing decision of sharing a Coke with Alex Summers.

I saw a shirt I recently had bought that I hadn't used. It was a short sleeve black, red and blue plaid shirt. It looked pretty decent so I put it on. I wore shorts and kind of did my hair. Put my eyeglasses on which made no justice to my hazel eyes I had inherit from my father.

As I dashed to the front door with Coca Cola bottle in hand I skated my way to the bus stop. If I was to do this I couldn't look sweaty or out of breath. Alex is not really a popular girl or a thread to anybody but she really is well known in school just for being awesome. Seriously, if you ask around I don't think there's a human being who hates or dislikes her. For me to accomplish this little detail I have to be pretty confident. I saw Alex walking towards the bus stop with Ashley, Ana and Tiffany. Ana was probably the tiniest of the group. Tiffany was pretty popular because her father came up with this App that tells you how much weight you have lost just by the touch of your fingerprint. I really don't know how it works but it is something close. Anyhow, I got close to them and right when I was about to start talking to Alex. Anthony and Bree these cute couple from school that everybody admires and I just think they are pretty okay. Anthony and Bree hugged and kissed Alex on the cheek and started talking to her. I had to now look for another appropriate moment to interact with Alex without looking like a complete dork.

In school, Alex and I take three classes together. Mathematics with Mr. Gonzalez. AP English with Miss Alicia. She is young and perky. She's like Miss Day from New Girl. We also take the last class together. Which incidentally is Sociology. I have until today at 2:30pm to interact with her. And in those hours, I only have five hours and five opportunities more than the one at the bus that didn't really happen.

Below I will explain in details my failures and my moment of triumph. If you were a teenager once you will completely understand that to ask the girl you like is probably a pivotal moment for your manhood. And I don't mean this in a complete raunchy way. I mean it as a great moment for your ego and self esteem. Don't get me wrong we all need a great self esteem to achieve this utter moment of foolishness I am about to explain to you.

Math Class with Mr. Gonzalez

Mr. Gonzalez always began the class with asking a student to solve this really ridiculous math problem. Like those you read in social medias with really funny answers. Today he asked the class. "If Juan comes to school every day with a bag of apples. Knowing that there are 15 apples in his bag to either share or eat. How many apples will Juan have by the end of the school year if he continues to bring 15 apples everyday." As he finished with his apple problem. Matthew, one of the funniest guy you will ever meet responded out loud. "I don't know teach. It takes Juan to know Juan." Now you will think he would get in trouble but he didn't. Mr. Gonzalez interrupted him and said: "exactly. That's all it takes. Class dismiss. Except you Matthew. You are joining the Math Club as of today. You will do everybody's homework for the week. Because you know what Matthew. I am Juan. And it surely takes Juan to know Juan. This is you getting to know Juan as well. Good morning everyone!!"

I decided that was the moment to share the Coke with her but she went off with Ana. I followed her like a lost baby chick but she went to the girls room. Off limits. Second opportunity failed. On to the next one.

AP English with Miss Alicia

"Good Morning Kids. Yesterday we discussed the short story The Spectacles by none other than Edgar Allan Poe. If everybody did their homework they will know that this is a pretty unusual love story about a man falling in love with who..?" She asked the entire classroom and knowing my classmates they didn't really do their homework. I stood up. Those were the rules in the classroom. If you know the answer stand up and say it. I thought in my mind this was the perfect moment but all that came out was the answer to the question. "His great-great aunt. Miss Alicia." She applauded and said yes, yes. Now kids why would he ever fall in love with her. Everyone looked around to see if anyone came up with a very creative answer but all that came out was a complete silence. Alex stood up and said in her very charming delicate way of talking. "Miss Alicia, he didn't wear his glasses. Which in my case, I find them really attractive." She really said that. I am not lying to you. I was the only guy in the class with eyeglasses. I know I must have blushed because Miss Alicia was going to say something about me but she stopped halfway. "That's right class. Now if someone answers this question. You guys don't have to read for today. If no one answers correctly, that is. Will you fall in love with someone just by looks or will you ever consider getting to know the person inside?" Magdalene, a girl that only speaks up when she has something cliche to say stood up. "Miss Alicia, I have been in love before with someone that by looks deceived me. He was handsome, careless, reckless, experienced and totally wrong for me. I loved him and gave him my all. In fact, I thought we were going to be together forever. Until I got pregnant and he abandoned me. That's right class I am pregnant. I am not fat nor I sleep around. But this happened. I just thought you guys should know the true story and not that shit you guys are spreading. Now Miss Alicia do we have to read for today?" The class was completely shocked. No one speak up. Not even Miss Alicia could say anything. Alex looked at me and smiled. I must have died of a hear attack cause all that came out of my mouth was silence. I stand up again and broke the silence. "Miss Alicia, I think her answer was better than Alex's and I." Alex laughed and nodded in agreement. I was killing it. I thought in my head. I must let her see me before I strike with the sharing of Coke thing. "Very good Logan. Class dismiss."

I was heading out of the classroom when Alex caught up with me and said that I was a noble kid. I didn't know if to take that as a compliment but I replied with a smile and a thank you that actually came out in gibberish. She told Ana to wait up and left.

The rest of the day I thought of ways to pursue my endeavor. I had already made full human contact with her and it had worked perfectly. My friend Jacob joined me for lunch. I decided that the only person who would know of this mission impossible would be Aryan. She indeed sold me the item that would change Logan's history. With Jacob everything was beautiful. Yes, total beauty. At least that was his answer to everything. Once Jacob and I were skating and I came up with this really sick trick. Everyone was shocked but his exact words were: "Logan, that was beautiful." During lunch we talked about video games and tricks to record and upload to our not so famous channel in YouTube. We were talking for a while but later he took out his iPhone. "Bro you have to check out this beauty. You know Magdalene from your AP is knocked up. Check out this picture of her on Instagram. I swear to you she is a legend. She has like almost a thousand likes on her baby's sonogram. Every girl is talking about how you made her feel pretty awesome in class. At least I read that in one of the comments. That's a beautiful, noble thing to do man. I am proud of you." I liked the picture after taking Jacob's phone from his hand. The bell rang and we continue the day on our own.

It seems that a great way to describe me up until now was noble. Logan the Noble.

It was good to have some distraction from actually seeing Alex the rest of the afternoon. After lunch I took one class and then I had free period. Which was a total waste of my time but all I did was talk to this guy named Donovan. He is a Senior. I am actually a Sophomore. But he is the coolest senior out there. He never judges anybody and he totally loves and I even think he is actually obsess with Pokemon. The guy has like different evolutions on his board which he calls the MasterBoard. I think he is like the geekiest teenager you will ever meet that actually has a nice looking girlfriend and isn't a total weirdo. Anyways we talked a lot during that free time about school and graduating and becoming a grown up. Donovan was actually a person you could actually looked forward to. He was a handsome, well behaved young man. I heard the bell rang and walked my way to Sociology. This class I took it with like freshmen, juniors, other sophomores and seniors. It was a requisite to take it. It just didn't matter when.

Sociology Class with Dr. Roberts

Doctor Roberts supposedly was married with kids. But all the students know of his affair with one of the teachers. No one talks about it directly though. We are teenagers at the end. Life is like a locker. Full of books, words and utter despair. Secrets are one of our favorite drugs. Dr. Roberts loves every single one of his students. I don't think there's a student he despises with a passion. In fact he once said that he only teaches because his youthful spirit would go to waste somewhere else. That day Dr. Roberts started the class with a quote he found on the internet about anger and self hate. Nobody really knew what to talk about. Except Alex. Of course. She raised her hand and wave at the professor. He acknowledged her so he called out ALEX SUMMERS. Alex stand up and fixed her hair. She was wearing a different clothing from this morning. This one actually make her look incredibly beautiful. "I think self hate can lead to anger if we are often prohibited to actually be ourselves or express our inner desires. That's why I always speak myself and feel free." She finished talking and sat down. The class applauded her and Dr. Roberts said he was proud of her. He also mentioned how society is completely harassed and harmed by the angers of others. He was always philosophical in his lessons. Nothing ever stopped him from preaching.

Class was over and I had one thing on my mind. I had to act on my instinct.

"Alex, wait up. I need to talk to you." I shouted from half of the hallway on my way out. She looked at me and smiled. "Sure, Logan. What's up?" This moment of complete bravery was all of a sudden eclipsed by the shyness of my voice. "I've been meaning to talk to you. I was thinking if you would like to go out on Friday and like go to the movies or something. I mean." And at this point she is staring at my soul and my voice began to stutter. "If you want and have nothing else to do." She nodded, took her time to answer and said: "Sure, why not. It'd be cool to get to know you more Logan." I was in complete awed. I reached out into my backpack and handed her the Coca Cola bottle. She smiled and said: "What's this for? How did you know of my complete Coke addiction." This she said without even thinking of the words that came out of her mouth. She looked at it and saw her name. "Wow, Logan. Thanks. This is pretty cool of you. I am never drinking it. I will see you tomorrow." She hugged me and handed me her phone. "Type your digits." I couldn't actually communicate and put to words what I wanted to say. I typed my number and handed her the phone.

"Thanks for sharing this Coke with me." She shouted from the door and winked at me.

"Finally. After hours of giving it thought. Doubting the reaction and the situation. I've got to share a Coke with Alex and it was all worth it. Thank You. Aryan."

Aryan nodded and knew she had done her part.

I left the store and totally looked forward to that amazing date with the amazing Alex.

The End.