The Battle Of The Swans
It was approximately 3:17 a.m when Andre finally heard a notification alert from his laptop on his nightstand. He had purposely stayed up late.  Despite having a morning lecture in a couple of hours, Andre sat up quickly against his pillows, and yanked for the Macbook. His fingers trembled on the touchpad and keyboard as he clicked through his inbox. There, sitting at the top of his unread emails, was one from his girlfriend, Harper. Taking a deep breath to release the nervousness that mounted in his stomach and chest all day, Andre clicked on the email and exhaled once he saw her response to his proposition.

To: Andre Landrum
From: Harper Fenton
Subject: ….

Okay, so i tried to ask little miss Satan  if i could take four to five
days off work to fly out to you… But she started screaming that I was a “second rate” and “inferior” employee????
So i guess that this means that the next opportunity to visit you will be till next holidays...
:’(


His heart clenched and he sunk back into the pillows with a sigh. Meeting her would be much harder than what he had originally thought.

All Andre wanted to do was to  meet his Harper, but it seemed that fate would consistently interfere. Andre, a struggling coffee shop barista who would describe himself as financial “boat” barely  afloat, knew that a plane ticket to London would likely send him into a debt so bad that he would probably have to sell both his kidneys. Harper, on the other hand, had enough money; but with a  job in which she practically lived in her office cubicle, and as the literal devil reincarnated as her boss, Harper had no free time.

Andre‘s heart hurt; all those conversations that they’ve had about what they would do the first time they saw each other, how they would spend the day together, where and what they would eat; it looked a though they had been wasted. He sunk lower into his pillows.
He had been so excited throughout the day when he had suggested for Harper to visit him in San Francisco in two weeks, but as he awaited her response with rising anxiety, he knew that she would say no.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

By 6:47 a.m, his suitcase was packed, his passports were stashed away safely, and emails to his professors explaining that he wouldn’t be in class for the next week sent out. Right before he left his apartment, he sent out a quick message to Harper

To: Harper Fenton
From: Andre Landrum
Subject:The first time we meet

I'm sorry, I honestly don’t know how you put up with your boss
On a day to day basis.
I wish that somehow, just somehow, we will be able to meet
in person; If I ever get a better job or open up my own coffee shop,
I can tell you that the first thing I would do with that money is meet you…
I can tell you that when I first see you, I’m sure that it will be one of the
happiest moments in my life…
-Andre

At 8:55 a.m, an airplane embarked on a ten hour and forty-six minute flight from San Francisco to London, carrying one man, who was certain that a bridge was about to be made between two, so very different and interlaced people. It didn’t matter if visiting a person that he loved was going to make him work extra hard at work; that, and probably compel him to start only eating two meals a day. In truth, nothing else mattered to Andre at that moment then letting life run its course. Sporadically, life may compel you to make decisions or choices that may seem questionable or strange, but if you live your life without making any risks or taking any chances, then how lead a life in that manner?

To:Harper  Fenton
From: Andre Landrum
Subject: Surprise!

I couldn’t stand to not see you again until the holidays or
whenever your psycho boss decided to give you a day off.
I’ve decided that I’m going to start living my life without an safely;
What I mean, I guess, is that is that I’m going to allow life to to just
decide what happens to me. I’m tired of living my life with security,
So that's why I’ve flown out to London, and am exploring the city while
I await your response.
-Andre



To: Andre Landrum
From:Harper Fenton
Subject: ….

i’m in San francisco right now…
I managed to get a couple days off from work and
i wanted to surprise u while u were at the coffee shop...
So that, perhaps, u would make me my cup of coffee and go off to deliver it to me,
and then realize that i am right there in front of u…
Like we should be right now… Not thousands of miles apart like we usually are…


Why does this happen to us?



Sometimes life runs its course. And sometimes fate interferes.