Kara sipped her coffee, sitting at the table in her kitchen, reading the fashion section of the newspaper.
"Hey mom, have you seen my French book?"
Kara looked up and smiled a bit. "It isn't in the giant, already stuffed back pack of yours?"
"No. Mom. Have you seen it?"
Kara laughed a little, shaking her head. "Did you check the coffee table?"
"Yes."
"Under your bed?"
The seventeen year old girl stood still for a moment, thinking. She ducked back into her small room and looked around. "Nope, not there."
Kara laughed again and shrugged. "Then I dunno."
Lea frowned and opened her back pack quickly. "Found it!"
Kara smiled at her for a moment. "I can't believe you didn't know it was in there."
"Shush mom."
Kara finished her coffee. "You ready? I'll drop you off at school."
"Um... yeah. Ready."

Kara dropped her daughter off at school and drove down the street, parking in a small lot near a brick building. There was a bus stop just on the other side of the parking lot entrance from the coffee shop. Kara easily hopped out of her Jeep, wearing nice black pants and a silky, frilly purple blouse under a cutting leather jacket. Her dark brown hair fell down around her shoulders in soft waves. She wore a couple necklaces around her neck in a tasteful cluttered look and a good sized shiny ring on her middle finger.
She walked to the coffee shop with the clicking of her heels, smiling easily. She moved inside and ordered a coffee, then sat down at a table in the window, pulling a magazine out of her bag and flipping through it.

"WAIT! NO!" Mark shouted, running after a bus that was taking off from the bus stop just outside the coffee shop. The man was wearing a beige trench coat, a casual work shirt and tie. He was carrying a brief case. "Wait!"
But it was no use.
He suddenly tripped on a crack, his brief case and his glasses flying from his hand and face. His brief case opened, spilling paper everywhere and his glasses crushed under someone's shoe. Mark landed face first on the pavement and groaned roughly. He was too old for this shit to happen anymore. He lifted himself up with his hands and grimaced, pushing back his dark brown hair.

Kara jumped a little, gasping inside the coffee shop. She quickly got up, grabbing her bag, and ran out to the sidewalk. "Oh my god are you okay?" she asked quickly. She looked up at him with bright blue eyes, a couple of her wavy strands of hair falling in her face.

Mark rolled to sit up and looked to her. He was squinting a bit. "I've been better." He managed gruffly. He was surprised someone rushed to help him. He looked around for his glasses and found them next to him, crushed. "Ah shit." He murmured. He tried to collect some papers. His palms with scraped and bloody though. "Thanks."

Kara frowned and quickly helped him with collecting the papers. She frowned though, kneeling in front of him, not bothering to care if her nice pants got dirty on the sidewalk. "Jeez," she murmured, seeing the scrapes. "Come on... we should get you cleaned up..." She gently helped him up from the ground.

Mark winced a bit. "I'm okay, I'm fine." He tried to say. Although it helped that things were blurry. He looked to her though and frowned. "Thanks, really. Is it bad?"

Kara laughed a little, smiling at him. "No," she said. "But you scraped up your hands a bit. So come on. Let me help you out. I'm holding your papers hostage til you agree." Her tone was obviously teasing, but she did hold onto the papers.

Mark snorted a bit and smiled. He was quite a handsome guy, on the higher end of his thirties. He was tall, around six feet, and his hair was groomed and slicked back with a touch of grey at the sides. "Alright, I agree." He said easily.

Kara smiled at him and brought him into the coffee shop. "Hey John," she called to the young man behind the counter. "You got a first aide kit I could borrow?"
The man smirked a bit, looking at Mark and nodded, handing it to her from under the counter.
"Thanks."
Kara led Mark into the bathroom and gently started cleaning up his hands over the sink. "So bad morning?"

"Apparently." Mark murmured. He sighed. "I'll be late for work. Hell, probably shouldn't show up. They'll fire me..." He glanced over. "But hey," He smirked. "I guess that's just my luck. Shitty job anyway."

Kara frowned a little, gently dabbing at his scrapes with a damp paper towel. "What do you do?" she asked softly.

"Just some data entry." He said slowly, watching her wash his hand. There was a pebble lodged in his palm somewhere, and he winced when she had to pick it out. "I have this impossibly bad habit of missing the bus." He smirked to her.

Kara smiled a bit and nodded, murmuring a 'sorry' when she hurt him with the pebble. "Well I could give you a ride, if you want," she offered. "Unless you really wanna get fired." She smiled at him easily.

Mark glanced to her. "You can do that? Cause I ...maybe a car would be worth a try. I don't...mean to...pull you away from your own though."

Kara waved his concern away. "I've got plenty of time," she said easily. "How badly do you need your glasses though?"