Tell Me a Story

Chapter 4

I stood on the corner, hands shoved into the pockets of my pea coat, looking from left to right.

The misty, frigid air pressured me to make a choice.

A few blocks to the left would take me to Red's loft. A few blocks to the right would take me to the market, where expensive, fresh ingredients for a new dish I'd been dying to try awaited me.

Ingredients I could afford, so long as I still lived virtually rent free with Meera; a luxury I'd have to forgo if I moved in with Red.

Of course, if I lived with Red, I would be living downtown, rather than driving into it whenever I wanted something special. The money saved in parking alone could go towards the occasional smelly cheese or fresh seafood.

I turned to the left, stepping into the crosswalk.

Then again, that money would probably go towards gas, now that I'd be commuting in and out of downtown every day. Sitting in traffic was going to eat up fuel in my ancient gas guzzler.

With a quick spin, I headed back to the sidewalk, nearly taking out an oncoming pedestrian. The jarring hit left me stumbling, only saving myself by landing elbow first against a parked car. My already tattered messenger bag was not so fortunate, finding itself on the damp, dirty ground.

I was relieved to hear a few choice words fade behind me, as the victim of my inattention kept moving.

I held my elbow for a moment before leaning down to scoop up my bag, only to find it already on its way up.

"Are you alright?" Eli stood there, my bag in hand.

"Yeah." I grabbed the bag and stepped up on to the sidewalk. "Sorry, you just saw how much of that?"

"'That' being the sudden turn, crash, and stumble into the parked car?"

"Yup."

"Just a bit of it."

"Awesome. I'm usually not so..." I closed my eyes and scrunched up my nose, desperately searching for a word. I sighed and motioned to the lack of vocabulary coming out of my mouth. "I'm not whatever you want to call this."

Eli smiled. "It happens to the best of us, Kate."

I looked at Eli standing there in his gray wool coat, dark hair perfectly out of place, collar turned up slightly revealing a cobalt scarf, no doubt carefully selected to highlight his eyes.

"Somehow, I doubt that," I mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"Not important. Your bruise seems to have healed nicely."

He lifted a hand to his face where just the slightest remnant of his encounter with a hockey stick remained.

"Thanks. The secret is applying heat. Clears away the pooled blood that makes for a nasty bruise."

"Good to know. I may need that advice." I held up my arm, rubbing my elbow and continued, "Thanks again for the help, but I don't want to hold you up."

"Actually, I was just headed across the street for a coffee. I'd love company if you aren't expected somewhere."

I started to say no, feeling the need to flee and end my embarrassment as soon as possible. But the combination of sitting down to something warm and caffeinated while listening to Eli talk was too tempting.

"Sure. Coffee sounds like a great idea."

We quickly made our way across the street and into the café. It was one of those independent joints, the kind with overstuffed couches, local art on the walls, and only the hippest music playing in the background.