The warm air blowing from the diner vents felt warm against my cold skin. It was raining relentlessly outside right now. There were people running around the wet city streets holding umbrellas, newspapers, or anything else to keep them dry. I was sitting at the back booth drinking coffee just watching everyone rush by. To my left were the same red bar stools and kitchen from my dream except this time they were filled with people. To my right was the window showing the dark stormy streets of New York City. Although it was currently storming outside I enjoyed it a lot, it gave me time to think. My thoughts were always on Todd, the boy from my dreams. I wonder where he was right now, who he was with, what he was doing. Was he at some boring nine to five job? Or was he with some friends hanging out at one of their apartments? I wonder if it would be weird if I found some way to contact him at all? Wait no that would be weird, what are you thinking Riley? I slowly sipped my warm cup of coffee and read my novel, just watching the rain and lightning get worse. The bell above the door suddenly dinged and I looked up to see a guy with his back to me talking to a waitress, his tall frame and brown hair looked familiar. "Right this way sir" the waitress said as she began to lead him this way to a small table near me. Maybe now I can get a closer look of him, hopefully that won't be too creepy? I pretended to read my novel that I had already lost interest in a while ago as he passed by and took a seat at the table beside mine. "Can I get you anything?" The waitress asked him. "A black coffee will be fine thanks" he said "No problem sir it'll be out in a moment" she replied before walking over to the counter to make his order. I looked at him out the corner of my eye, he had short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. His expression looked tired, much like mine, he must be a college student then. He ran his hands over his face and sighed, should I talk to him? No that would be too weird but I also feel this strong sudden urge to talk to him. I drank the rest of my coffee and then sat the cup on the table. I heard chair legs scrape the ground and looked up to see brown eyes sitting down in front of me. "Hey there sorry to bug you but you look really familiar and I just thought I would come over and talk to you I hope that's not too weird?" he said smiling. I blushed and said, "Umm no it's not weird at all you actually looked pretty familiar to me too." He chuckled and said, "Oh so you were watching me?" My face heated up as he said that, "Maybe my name is Riley by the way what's yours?" "My name is Todd nice to meet you Riley" he replied. "Wait did you say Todd?" I asked. That's when it suddenly hit me that the reason why those dark brown eyes were so familiar was because I had seen them every single night in my dream. "Yeah why?" He asked. "Oh umm I had a best friend as a kid named Todd and you look a lot like him." I said fiddling with my fingers. "Really? Would this be the kid you're talking about?" He said as he pulled out his wallet. He took out a small old photo and handed it to me. The photo was of two little kids around the age of nine. The boy had his arm around the little girls shoulder and was smiling a big grin with some teeth missing. The little girl had messy curly red hair and big green eyes, that little girl was me. "You know your hair looks a lot less messier now than it did when we were younger." He said laughing. "Yeah hairspray works wonders." I said laughing. After that we sat in that booth for hours and just talked. Even after the storm had passed and the moon had come out. As I sat there with a cup of coffee clutched in my hand, I knew that today was that someday I was supposed to see Todd again. We only left when we were kicked out of the diner because they were closing, but we made plans to meet up again.
YOU ARE READING
Them // Book 3 #Wattys2016
Short Story"After that we sat in that booth for hours and just talked. Even after the storm had passed and the moon had come out."
