two years, three words║eleanor & park

2.

Park

Park grit his teeth, biting back a curse as hot coffee splashed over his fingers. He had thought that the pot was empty, when in fact it was half full of boiling liquid. Jesus.

"You alright?" Cat appeared beside him. She looked odd in her uniform, and her ears seemed empty without the rows of studs that she used to wear. The café had a no-piercing policy.

"Yeah, I just-" The ringing of the doorbell sounded, announcing a customer. Park was holding his blistered fingers to his mouth. "Could you-?"

"Sure." Cat straightened her apron and walked up to take the customer's order, while Park rushed to the sink and turned on the cold water.

"A double mocha latte, please," said a girl's voice.

Park stopped, just stopped moving, as if the icy water had somehow entered his veins and frozen him from the inside.

That voice...

He turned around, water dripping from his hands onto the floor. And that's when he saw her.

Eleanor.

Eleanor

Seeing him standing there was like seeing a fictional character. Like running into Batman in the supermarket. There was no way that Park Sheridan could be standing before her, like she had imagined so many times, except realer and in 3D.

"Here ya go," said the black-haired cashier, handing her the coffee.

Eleanor was still staring at Park, still not believing.

"Hey," said the cashier.

"Oh, oh sorry," Eleanor said, quickly accepting the cup. She stumbled over to a table in the corner.

A minute later, Park was sitting across from her.

Park

It had been two years. Two years of thinking of her, of trying not to think of her, of thinking of her anyway. Two years of imagining this moment in his head, carefully scripting what he would say if they ever met again, knowing exactly what he would do.

And now that the moment had come, he had nothing. His mind was completely and utterly blank.

Eleanor sipped her coffee, leaning forward so that her hair covered her face. She had grown it out, and it looked like she was putting some sort of product in it.

"So..." Park stated, fiddling with a napkin. God, couldn't she just say something? She was the one who showed up, after all. She burst into his life again.

Park meant to say "How are you?" or something suitably polite and pedestrian, but what came out was: "Why?"

Eleanor

"Why?"

She looked at him with a questioning expression. Like, "Why, what?" But that was a lie. She knew exactly what. She knew of several whats.

Why did she never write back? Why did she not respond to the dozens of envelopes, marked carefully with her name and address in black pen? Why did see ignore the boy she had claimed to love?

Because, on the day you left me with my uncle, I knew you could never love me more than in that moment. And I couldn't stand the thought of you loving me less. Because I didn't want us to break apart like first love always does. I just wanted us to stop.

That was the truth, but she could never tell him that.

"I don't know," she said, avoiding Park's eyes and instead focusing on his hand, which was holding a napkin.

His fingers tightened, creasing the cafe's logo. She'd made him angry now. Nice going, Eleanor.

The coffee tasted like bitter water in her mouth.

This was too much. Just too much. She couldn't do this.

"I have to go," Eleanor said, standing and lifting her coffee.

"What? No, you can't!" Park stood up, and his eyes were fixed on her, panicked. "There's so much I need to..."

So much he needed to what? To be furious at her for? To hate her for? She couldn't see that happen. But she knew he wouldn't let her walk out of his life again as quickly as she had walked into it. She wasn't sure if she would let herself walk out.

She couldn't leave him forever. Not now.

But for a day? She could handle that. She needed that.

"My uncle is in town for three days," Eleanor said. "I can come back tomorrow, but now, I... I have to go."

For a moment she was afraid Park would refuse, that he would try to kidnap her or something. Two years ago, she would have thought of being kidnapped by Park as heaven on Earth. Now... she didn't know.

"Promise?" Park said.

Eleanor still couldn't look at him. "Promise."

Park glanced at her hands, as if to make sure she wasn't crossing her fingers. "Okay."

Eleanor turned and left. She had to resist the urge to run, though whether she would have run away from or towards Park she didn't know.