Rachel

Meeting Vanessa

As if by a stroke of luck, the minute I jumped off the last step of the bus, my stomach made the most enormous rumble. As good a time for breakfast as any, I thought to myself as I walked around the eco-mall behind the bus stop in search of a deli that was open this early to have breakfast in. I was sure that there would be at least one since I have passed by this way a few times in the morning and have caught sight of that familiar brown paper bag that delis usually used for take-aways. The busy tap-tap-tapping of the office workers' heels clicked and clacked away on the cobblestone. I thought to look around but I changed my mind. Office workers always had this glum look set in stone upon their faces, as if they carried the weight of the entire world on their shoulders. But come on, mornings are beautiful, and some of office types were really pretty and well dressed. I was sure that they probably had stories to tell. But that look on their faces? Just no.

I walked into the mall, snippets from my conversations with this girl from my online group came up. She seemed set on meeting up for some strange reason. I haven't really known her for long and so I declined her offer for supper as politely as I could manage, citing work as my reason. However, I did enjoy the little pieces of her that she's somehow thrown into our online conversations. She seemed witty, smart and caring enough. I mean, for someone who worked a full time day job and studied for an online degree at the same time to be become a lawyer obviously showed that she had great time management skills, was self-disciplined and also ambitious. People have told me that studying to be a lawyer was much more difficult than studying to be anything else. Oh well. Having just gotten out of a relationship of sorts, all I wanted was to have some time to get myself back on track. So, more often than never, these "advances" on my web page were usually either ignored or pushed to a later date when I would possibly know more about them as we would mostly chat every night. Online chats were a tricky thing to many as words can be interpreted in a few different ways. It was largely due to this that I have had to limit my time with the newcomers; spending quality time with the regulars or with the people whom I had grown familiar with. There were the trolls of course. These, I tended to avoid just occasionally checking with the members of my group if they had been causing trouble.

I ordered for a double iced chocolate and a BLT with loads of pepper in it. Moving aside to wait for my order, I overheard one of their customers' conversations. It seemed to come from real close by. Well, either that or that girl was really mad at whoever she was speaking to. As I listened on through the music in my earphones, it became more and more apparent that this girl was in the middle of a mess with her live-in bf.

I turned towards her voice.

Pleasantly surprised by the sight reflected in the glass windows, I could place nothing of her gruff tone to someone who looked like she did. Daintily dressed in mint green overalls and a tiny cut off tee that almost showed hints of side boob, she was a pretty young thing. Make-up was immaculate, to say the least. You could tell that she had spent a long time getting her make up looking as natural as possible. But she was so beautiful. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and she was gesticulating wildly with her hands in exasperation. Her hair was asymmetrically cut, shoulder length on one side and a gorgeous tint of bluejay peeped out from around her collar from the other side. There was a glow that came off her skin that showed she was rather well-maintained for her age, which I placed to be roughly somewhere between eighteen to twenty four.

A cab drove by and I watched as it stopped and picked up four drunk men from the taxi-stand just behind the girl's reflection in the window pane. I remembered wondering about the cab driver and if he would have vomit bags stashed somewhere. Looking at the state of those four guys, I really hoped he did.

I must have been looking behind her for a little too long because when I shifted my focus back on her reflection again, she was all up close to me, poking a manicured finger into my shoulder with a slight shove asking, "And you, what exactly do you think you're looking at?"