by Levia Ortega
I nodded; a tiny spark of hope was glimmering again.
This hope was dashed quickly when my stranger didn’t make an appearance at Sappho the following weekend.
Now it had to be the café. I had to promise Val to keep going there every day, even though I was ready to throw in the towel and leave town. I just couldn’t take this emotional rollercoaster anymore. At first, she’d been there for a few moments, then I didn’t see her again for several weeks, until I almost convinced myself to not care anymore, and then suddenly she was standing there, a few steps away from me – and it started all over again.
But then luck was against me once more. She didn’t come to the café on Monday. She also didn’t come on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Finally it was Friday. So far, I had never arrived exactly at three, always a few minutes late; I wasn’t that courageous after all. I entered the café again a few minutes past three – and there she was.
As I joined the line in front of the counter, she was walking over to the small table with the sugar and milk. I was completely focused on her, but she didn’t look up. While she took a few of the small sugar packets, a shy smile played on her lips. I knew the smile was for me. I have no idea why, but I was sure about it.
She left the café, but before she disappeared from my view, we briefly glanced at each other through the window, and I detected a flirtatious sparkle in her eyes.
I went back to the agency, grinning like a Cheshire cat, and Val knew right away what had happened. I reported every minute detail. Well, there wasn’t that much to report, but Val kept asking for more specifics.
“She’s waiting for you to talk to her,” Val concluded.
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes, of course! Or she wouldn’t have leered at you while she was leaving.”
I fell silent, caught up in my ruminations. How do I go about it? Do I finally get to know her? What am I supposed to say?
“Friday! Friday’s your day,” Val broke into my thoughts.
“Huh?”
“She must have noticed you the other Friday. She probably only came today because of you.” Val’s eyes were shining brightly.
“You’re nuts.” I seriously couldn’t imagine that was true. “If that’s the case, why didn’t she come back to Sappho?”
“Who knows. But even if she’s not coming to the café for your sake, now you know which day you can go there and run into her. I wonder, though, when you’ll find enough courage to actually talk to her,” Val said, with a slightly teasing tone in her voice.
Of course, Val knows me too well. I didn’t manage to talk to my mystery woman on any of the following Fridays. But I was very proud of myself when, on one day, I dared to give her a longing look. Whenever she saw me, she smiled at me – and I was always sweating blood and tears. One time, I even managed to study her eyes long enough to determine their exact color. It wasn’t just a simple fawn brown, more hazel, with tiny, golden spots that made them sparkle even more.
I was gaga about her. Every single time, I firmly resolved to say something as soon as I would see her again. Just a simple, shy “Hello.” And the rest would follow, somehow. But every time I felt paralyzed, unable to take a step toward her. To make matters worse, my throat was always as dry as if I had just finished a trek through the Sahara, and I would never have been able to utter anything more than a pitiful croak.
At one point, my masochistic tendencies ran out of steam, and I decided to either finally talk to her or just forget about it. Oddly enough, once I had come to that decision, I felt confident I would be able to go through with it.
July 10, Part Two
Today!
Today, today, today! I repeated to myself all day long.
Not much longer, my inner voice told me.
“Christine, it’s ten to thrrrree!” Val said.
“I’m going to get our afternoon coffee,” I replied.
Go, go, go, Christine. Today’s your day, I cheered myself on.
I entered the café, and there she was. But I stopped in my tracks – she wasn’t alone.
As I was walking to the counter, I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Who is this woman next to my stranger? Suddenly I realized that my mystery woman had been smiling at this other woman the whole time. Not just a friendly smile. No. They were definitely flirting. Both of them! My hope was falling fast.
Then, suddenly, she noticed me and her smile froze as if she felt caught in the act. I quickly turned around and studied the neck of the man standing in line in front of me.
All the while I could clearly feel her stare drilling holes into my back. But I didn’t dare turning around. I had no idea what to make of it all. I was utterly confused. Once my order was filled, I took the two cups and walked straight out the door, without even so much as a glance in her direction. I was too bewildered for anything else.
Once outside, when I had almost passed the length of the shop window, I couldn’t help myself after all and turned my head to peer back inside the café. She returned my gaze, with questions and not a little sadness showing in her eyes. Then the moment was over; I had walked past the window.
When I returned to the agency, Val was visibly excited and mountains of paper wads were piled high on my desk. But when she saw my expression, she only uttered a disappointed “Oh.”
At first she assumed the stranger had turned me down. But when I told her what I had witnessed, she swallowed hard. This time, even Val was at a loss. She tried to convince me that it surely must have been a misunderstanding, but I stood firm. I knew what I had seen.
At closing time, Val asked me out for a drink, but I wasn’t in the mood. I had to analyze the whole event for myself before I could discuss it further with Val.
I went home and entered the stairway in as depressed a mood as three months ago. Again, I didn’t turn on the lights. My thoughts kept going in circles, trying to work out what it all meant.
Had she felt the same as I? Apparently not!
Had it been only a habitual, quick, flirting gaze to stroke her ego? Maybe.
I must have misinterpreted everything that had happened before. But what if not?
But, I couldn’t reinterpret the sadness in her eyes when she last looked at me. Who knows, though, maybe she was only sad because I had caught her flirting with another woman, and now she knew she couldn’t fool me anymore.
Suddenly, everything switched to fast forward. There was a horrible scream and then something hit my legs. I struggled, tried to keep my balance but was unable to hold on to the rail. While I was tumbling down the stairs, Val’s remark echoed through my head: “Killer gene!!!” How right she had been!
“See, I predicted something like this,” Val said as she lowered me onto the sofa. “It could’ve been much worse, though.”
I put the crutches to the side and lifted my right leg onto the cushions. Sprained ligaments aren’t funny. Val had taken me to the hospital. Initially, I was afraid I had broken my ankle, because my foot had started bruising and swelling immediately, and it had hurt too much to put weight on it.
Thirty minutes after I had arrived at the ER, I was sent for an X-ray. Thirty minutes after that, I finally got to see a doctor who diagnosed sprained outer ligaments on my right ankle. He was confident that there would be no lasting damage. Val and I both breathed a sigh of relief. I got a splint and a pair of crutches.
I coped somehow over the weekend, elevating my foot as much as possible. Val called on Sunday and asked if I needed anything. She had told Viv and Becca about my accident, and they both had made her promise to relay their good wishes for my speedy recovery. Of course, she couldn’t hang up before rubbing in again, with ill-concealed glee, that she had warned me about the cat.
It became clear to me that I better put an end to the “affair.” It just wasn’t meant to be. My injury came in handy; I couldn’t carry a cup at the same time I was holding crutches, no matter how much I wanted to.
M
aybe this is the upside to my injury, that I’m forced to sit still, I thought with a smile.
Three Weeks Later
For two long weeks I hobbled to work on my crutches, until I finally went back to the doctor. He rid me of the crutches, but since I still had pain when I put weight on my foot, he told me to keep the splint on for another week. After that, I was supposed to come back to him one last time.
So on Tuesday, I limped, crutch-free, into the agency, a big smile on my face. Val clapped her hands, but when I tried to curtsy, I almost fell over, losing my balance and teetering precariously.
Every week I progressed physically, but my heart was hurting. At times it felt as if my heart was in the grip of an ice cold hand that squeezed it hard.
Val never mentioned the topic once, and I didn’t feel like saying anything either.
I hoped every morning that this new day would finally be the day I would feel everything was getting better. But every evening, I had to conclude that it didn't.
Then it was Friday again, shortly before three. I caught myself checking the time every few minutes. When I noticed Val’s questioning look, I just shook my head and kept on working.
I was about to thank heaven that the afternoon was almost over and I could go home, when I heard the doorbell ring and a customer entering our agency.
Val and I hated it when somebody wanted to squeeze in something quickly before the end of the day. Because “quickly” always turned out to be anything but. However, we were a small company and couldn’t afford to turn anybody away. I had stayed longer the last time a customer had needed help in the evening, so this time it was Val’s turn. I didn’t even raise my head and instead concentrated on my paperwork.
That’s why I couldn’t believe when I heard Val say: “I’m really sorry, but I’m already off. Why don’t you go over to my partner?”
Had she forgotten that it was her turn? I was just about to give Val the evil eye when I saw her. I couldn’t breathe. What does she want here? What am I supposed to do?
“Hello, I’m Christine Lange. How may I help you?” Keep it professional, that’s always good. But I’m not getting up to offer my hand in greeting. Enough is enough. Who knows what may happen? I’ll probably get dizzy and faint, fall down and bang my head. No! She can go and find someone else to stroke her ego. All thoughts jumbled in my head. Who am I to her? But, wow, does she look great in her business suit.
“Hello?”
Oh my god, this voice. “Sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
“I said, I’m Emilia. I’m...”
Emilia. Saying her name in my mind felt like honey in my mouth. Her voice caused a funny feeling in my stomach. And her eyes – I could drown in them.
“Productivity bonus...”
Goosebumps covered my whole body. My eyes focused on her beautiful, sensually curved lips. How may they taste?
“Fully paid by my employer. Do you suppose you could find something suitable for me?”
Huh? What does she want? Think, Christine, think! Collect all the bits from your memory and get going. “But of course. Have you decided about the destination yet?” I praised myself for not having let my mind resign, back when it had wanted to.
“I’m leaving. Have a successful evening,” Val called over to me. As she was walking from her desk to the door, she was grinning broadly and giving me signs indicating I had to call her later, no matter what. “You’ll lock up, right, Christine?” she requested, and off she was.
I tried to hold my hands steady by letting them rest on the keyboard whenever possible. I was the consummate professional.
We settled quickly on the budget, the location, the length of the trip and what she wanted to do there. I made suggestions for nearly an hour, but nothing was completely right. Emilia kept shaking her head, all the while observing me intently.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I came around and sat next to you, so we could both see the screen? We’d save a lot of time that way.”
Oh god! Anything but that. How will I be able to survive? Against my better judgment, my head nodded in the affirmative. I couldn’t say a word.
Emilia got up, wheeled Val’s chair around and sat on it so close to me that our arms touched. The warmth of her skin drove me mad. I didn’t say anything, my eyes fixed to the screen. Emilia didn’t say anything either, until I felt her facing me.
“I don’t even drink coffee,” she said without preamble.
“Excuse me?” Now I faced her too. We were so close, I could feel her breath on my skin. Was her breathing as quick as mine? She looked deep into my eyes, and I did the same, I was unable now to avert my gaze.
“I had to be at one of our branches for two months; it was an important business deal. When I came back, I searched for you at Sappho, but I didn’t find you.”
Oh no. She had gone to Sappho after I had given up waiting for her and stopped going there altogether.
“I had no idea if I would ever see you again. How was I supposed to find you? I was about to give up. Then one day, I went to this café to get a treat for my friend who had just broken up with her boyfriend. I was so excited when I saw you there. I was so glad I had found you again.”
I always thought Val was the fastest speaking person on earth, but Emilia won by a mile. She took a deep breath and continued speaking, before I even had the chance to think about saying anything myself.
“But what should I have said to you? I lost my nerve. I had to come back the next Friday to check if you would be there again, and there you were. When you smiled at me, I knew that you were also interested in me. I was waiting for you to say something.”
Shall I interrupt her? But listening to her felt so good that I just couldn’t do it. I was completely entranced by her.
“The last time I saw you, I had just been paired with a new partner. When I took a break from work to go to the café, she just tagged along. I saw the expression on your face when you left and got scared. And then you never came back to the café, and then ... and ... then ... “ Her voice was sad now and kept breaking until she fell silent. She lowered her gaze and studied her hands.
I gather all my courage and stuttered: “I ... I...”
She raised her head and looked at me anxiously.
“I … I would so much like to kiss you now.”
Her brown eyes sparkled and the little golden specks were aglow. She put a hand on each side of my face and leaned close.
I shut my eyes, and when our lips met, I saw dancing spots again. This time, though, I remembered to breathe. My whole body tingled and screamed for more. All sounds vanished, except for the blood rushing through my ears. I had never experienced anything remotely like it. The moment was absolutely perfect.
Emilia’s kiss was tender and hesitant. When she wanted to withdraw, I just couldn’t let her go. This moment had to last forever, I could not lose her, ever again.
I grabbed her and pulled her closer. My tongue demanded entry and she willingly obliged. The moment our tongues touched, I felt like I was flying. I couldn’t even imagine stopping, I needed more. I wanted her completely.
The tender kiss became more intense and passionate. Without breaking our contact, Emilia got off her chair, turned mine around and straddled my lap. Apparently, she didn’t want this kiss to end either. I leaned back with her until I felt the backrest pushing against me. When we both finally had to take a breath, Emilia peered deep into my eyes.
“Wow!” she said. She feasted her eyes on me, and I saw my own passion reflected in them.
“Now I know why your travel agency is called Dreams take flight. I really felt like I was flying just now.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I’ve never felt like that before.”
I wanted to kiss her for that and leaned forward. But I had totally forgotten about my foot, and when it suddenly had to bear our combined weight, a lightning bolt of pain shot through it. “Ow!” I yelled. “My foot!”
Emilia jumped up. “What happened?”
She nodded and helped me up.
One thing was still bugging me, though. “How did you know where I work?”
Now it was Emilia’s turn to grin, and she simply said: “Tom.”
“Tom, the barista?”
Emilia nodded and I had to laugh when I realized to what lengths I had gone to find her. Why go the easy route, if you can take a few detours, right?
I put an arm around her waist and we walked – or rather, in my case, limped – off to my apartment.
I had barely locked the door behind us, when Emilia pressed herself against me and kissed me deeply and passionately.
I did remember to call Val. But not before the next morning, when I was sitting in bed, naked, Emilia’s arms around me and her mouth nibbling on my ear lobe. I simply had to call in sick.
What can I say? Val just hung up, while her joyous laughter was still ringing in my ears.
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Cover Designer: © Levia Ortega
Cover Photo: © Masson – Fotolia.com. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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