~August~
If I don't say this now I will surely break
As I'm leaving the one I want to take
Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait
My heart has started to separate
It’s been three weeks and six days since she’s been gone.
Clock ticking and heart hammering, time slips through my fingers like fine sugar; except, there was nothing sweet about this sugar of time.
It was suffocating, depressing and parasitic, ticking by so slowly that all I wanted was for morning to come and night to end, but when it was morning, all I wanted was for someone to walk through those diner doors.
For the longest time, I expected her to come waltzing through the dinner doors, laughing at my pathetic stupidity and shove some lemon pie down my throat, but it was only a fantasy of late night coffee drinking.
I hesitate a step before pushing open the diner doors, the bells chiming hard against the glass and eyes look up to mine.
The diner owner sizes me up, her eyes sweeping past me. “Where you been boy?” she asks in her raspy, smoker’s voice.
Shrugging, I walk slowly to my booth and throw my backpack in before slipping into the seat after it.
“Fresh Coffee’s brewing, just hold your horses,” the lady drawls, swiping at the counter with her rag.
I nod in affirmation, fiddling with a sugar packet and looking around.
The dinner hasn’t changed one bit in all these months.
The last time I stepped in here was last December when-
With a fine slap against the table, My waitress slams my cup of coffee over to me, the liquid slipping back and forth within the cup from the force.
Throwing her a small salute, I gingerly pick up two packets of cream and pour them in, stirring exactly five stirs clockwise.
The white liquid swirls against the black coffee and I breathe in deep, the bitter sweet prickling my senses.
Images flash in my mind behind my closed lids and as I clutch the hot cup in my hands, I can see flashes of inky haired that looked like they were finely drawn out on paper against ivory skin and bright eyes that took my breath away.
Red ribbons, notes pinned against a blanket, cold winter air and the faces of those I had left as I shuffled from foster home from foster home penetrate my mind, seeping in painfully into one collage.
All the images collapse in one second, as I smell something other than the bitter pungent smell of coffee. It was the dulce sweet smell of cream and the tart of lemon clashing.
My eyes snap open, there was only one face, one touch and one feeling that I associated lemon meringue pie with.
A thick slice of gooey lemon filling with thick whip cream and a flaky crust sits in front of me but as anticipation builds up in my chest and I stare at the empty booth before me, I feel a heavy feeling crash down upon me.
“Thought you might like some,” the cashier lady calls out.
I meet her smile with emotionless eyes and a grim line before taking a strong sip out of my coffee.
*Flashbacks-
“Do you like any Disney movies?” Mina asks me, her face lit up with moving colors from the TV screen in the dark room. I shuffle closer to her, resting my arm on her shoulder as I absent mindingly play with a strand of her long hair.
I snort. “No, I stopped watching Disney when I was five.”
Mina throws me a disapproving look. “That’s a shame, I learned so much from Disney princess movies.”
I stare at her, disbelieving. “Like what? That life is a fairy tale where everyone has a fairy godmother and a handsome prince?”
Mina turns her head, her eyes determined and passionate. “Disney taught me what love was.”
At the time, the only thing I could think about was how much BS that was. Adults who had been in love before didn’t even know what love was.
“ Don’t blame me for not thinking to highly of Disney teaching little kids what love is. It is unrealistic. What has Disney taught you about love?” I ask, expecting an answer like kisses in the rain, dances in the forest and kissing frogs but before she speaks, Mina shifts and moves to sit in front of me, her face directly next to mine.
Grabbing a notebook behind her and a pen, Mina pulls the cap off with her teeth and begins to write something. When I try to look over and see what she is writing, she shots me a glare and I shrink back.
Scribbling furiously, Mina holds up the notebook in front of my face:
“101 Dalmatians: Love is helping one another in a time of need.
Ariel: Love is waiting.
Pocahontas: Love is sacrifice.
Hercules: Love is giving up fear and finding courage.
Beauty and the Beast- Love is looking past the flaws.
Lion King: Love is forgiving and telling the truth.
Tarzan: Love is giving up your old ways of living.
Aladdin: Love is looks beyond class and status.
Princess and the Frog: Love is believing in each other’s dreams.
Tangled: Love changes you for the better.
Pocahontas: Love is letting go.”
As I read the list, I feel my heart sink. What could I argue?
“That,” Mina says, lowering the notebook and bringing her face close to mine. “Is what Love is.”
*End of flashback
I lower my empty cup of coffee onto the greasy tabletop, stretching out my legs in the small booth space. Her voice still rings in my head and I briefly wonder if love is pain. If love makes us human….
Picking up the fork again, I hesitate before slowly sinking it into the pie, raising it to my mouth.
Was love trying new things?
I take a bite, savoring the taste in my mouth before standing up and throwing a couple bills onto the table and leaving the diner.
YOU ARE READING
Look After You {Completed}
Short Story"Tʜᴇʀᴇ ɴᴏᴡ, sᴛᴇᴀᴅʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, sᴏ ғᴇᴡ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ɢᴏ" I sit quietly at the book drinking my coffee and watching the world whirl about me at a dizzying speed. It isn't until she walks in a flur of roasted coffee, powdered sugar and the tang of lemon...
