Have You Ever Flirted with a Cute Guy While Getting Coffee?
I did it — and met my gay best friend
I’d always joked about meeting my person while standing in line getting coffee. It would be easy, I thought. I’d smile and say something funny. He’d laugh. We’d strike up an interesting conversation so natural that we’d feel like we were the only two people in the room. It’s going to happen, I told myself, often.
One chilly November day I walked into my local Starbucks — which I’d previously only visited via the drive-through window — and ordered my coffee. I found a comfortable seat in the corner near a sunny window. The fact that a Stanley Tucci look-alike wearing faded Levis and a Pendleton plaid shirt (my type) had nothing to do with it, I swear. But in truth, even then I liked the calm, confident way “Dave” had about him.
We locked eyes, absorbed each other’s energy, and immediately struck up a conversation. It turns out, we had so much in common — we were both born in Pennsylvania, we’d both lived in New York, we’d both had long marriages, and we’d both ended up living in our dream location of northern New Mexico. And, after early retirement from careers that involved caregiving for him, and nursing for me, we’d both thrown ourselves into second careers in the arts. Dave is an accomplished ceramics artist, I’m a writer.
