"Lilly, what part of stay the fuck away from me did you not understand?" Tara stood up and stressed at her ex-girlfriend. "I told you, it's over!"
"Come on babe, we can work it out! It was just a little misunderstanding!" Lilly pleaded, completely ignoring the fact that I was sitting right there. I could see that Tara was getting frustrated and about read to smack this woman over. I didn't have a clue what had gone on between these two women, but I was willing to bet my bottom dollar that there was nothing little about it. I stood up next to Tara and folded my arms. "What the fuck are you looking at? Ready for round two, are you?" Lilly stressed, taking a step closer to me, as if she were trying to staunch me out.
"Look, I don't know what your problem is and frankly I don't give a damn. You might have caught me off guard with that little stunt you pulled back at the bar, but I promise you it will not happen again. It's plain to see that Tara doesn't want anything to do with you, so why don't you stop causing a scene and walk out of here now?" It was the first time that Lilly had heard me speak and from the expression on her face I could tell that she hadn't been expecting me to stand up to her.
Lilly looked me in the eyes for a few moments, then she looked at Tara, who I could see out of the corner of my eye had folded her arms as well. Her stance clearly said that she was backing me up. It must have been pretty effective as well, because Lilly turned around and walked out of the café without another word uttered.
Just then Mrs Kingi brought our food out to us.
"Is everything alright?" She asked as she placed the food on the table in front of us. "I heard raised voices," she raised an eyebrow at Tara.
"It's fine now, Lilly just turned up and caused a bit of a ruckus, but Simone sorted her out for me," Tara smiled and gave me a wink. Mrs Kingi smiled, nodded knowingly and left us to eat our breakfast in peace. On the plate was: scrambled eggs, real ones, not that powered stuff, breakfast sausages, bacon, hash browns and toast. It looked delicious and there was enough food on there to feed a small African nation for a month!
"Wow, this is good, this is really good!" I exclaimed, my mouth fill of food, moments later.
"I knew you would like it," Tara had the good manors to swallow her food before speaking. "So, where abouts are you from?"
"Taranaki, New Zealand," I informed her.
"What are you doing so far from home?"
"I've got family over here," I replied. "How about you? Did you grow up around here?"
"No, I grew up in Bendigo, just moved into the city for uni, but I loved it so much that I decided to stay," Tara informed me.
"Choice," I said with my hand over my mouth, trying to stifle a yawn.
"Yeah, it's getting a bit like that isn't it," Tara smiled, I just nodded. By then we had pretty much finished our breakfast, and I was regretting eating so fast, because it seemed like Tara was getting ready to head off. "Look, I'll understand if you don't want to see me ever again 'cause of all trouble I've caused you, with the stitches and my crazy ex. But I'd be keen to hang out with you some time, if you want," Tara looked at me hopefully, over the mostly eaten meal that we'd shared.
"Nonsense, it was an adventure, and I would love to hang out with you again sometime," I smiled. "Pass me your phone and I'll put my number in," I put my hand out to receive Tara's phone. "Give me a text when you've got some spare time up your sleeve," I passed her phone back.
"Cool, I'll do that, but listen, I've got work tonight and I should really think about getting some sleep," Tara informed me.
"Sweet as, I should probably think about going home as well," I said, even though I would have rather spent more time with Tara.
"Cool," Tara stood up. "Oh, and don't worry about breaky, I've got it," Tara started to pull her wallet out of her purse.
"Na, come on, you've already shouted me to the hospital, and I'm guessing that you paid for the taxi, it's the least I can do," I pulled my own wallet out of my back pocket.
"I couldn't do that, not when it was my fault that you had to go to the hospital in the first place," Tara complained.
"Stop your winning woman and let me pay for breakfast," I walked up to Mrs Kingi, who had appeared at the counter again.
"At least let me pay for half," Tara walked up to the counter beside me.
"Na, this is my shout," I told her.
"It doesn't look like she's going to back down Tara, maybe you should listen to her," Mrs Kingi put her two cents worth in.
"Fine," Tara said, but she didn't sound happy about it.
"Thank you, Mrs Kingi," I said, handing the money over.
"You're very welcome, Simone," Mrs Kingi beamed at me.
"Why do I get the impression that you're not used to letting people do things for you?" I asked Tara as we walked out onto the street.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tara said looking down the street.
"Alright," I said feeling way too tired to prob an answer out of her. "Well, it was good meeting you and I look forward to hearing from you," I turned to face Tara.
"Yeah, and thanks for helping me deal with Lilly," Tara commented. I just smiled and started backing away. "Can I get a kiss before you go?" Tara recalled me. I took several quick steps back to her, placed my hands on her hips, lent down and pressed my lips softly against hers. The sensation of kissing Tara was so intoxicating, so exhilarating. I felt like I could have stayed there kissing her hours and hours. "Mmm, I should really get going," Tara pulled away, her eyes still closed.
"Okay," I let my hands fall to my sides. Tara gave me one last peek on the lips and then walked away, leaving me in a daze, walking on cloud nine.
I caught the tram to the train station and then caught the train back home, to the flat that I shared with several other people. I unlocked the door, hoping that I wouldn't wake anyone up as I walked to my room.
"What happened to your head?" I spun around to find Alex sitting at the dinning table, drinking a cup of coffee.
