Sip by Sip

Chapter Three: Floating Away

    He was late. It was the first thing she noticed.

    She sat at his table, alone, like he always had. But she never liked sitting alone. That was why she always got her coffee to go.

    He was late, and she was growing worried. Had she scared him off? Had she been wrong?

    She already had ordered her coffee. She dumped sugar into it and blew against the steam as she waited.

    She loved watching the milk cloud inside the coffee. It was amazing, something previously unnoticed by her. Usually she was in such a hurry that she had no time to watch the milk before she stirred it.

    Maybe she arrived too early? No, that wasn't possible, he was here at the same time yesterday.

    The liquid was quickly turning caramel in her cup, and as she dipped her spoon for a taste she spotted him walking in through the door.

    "You came!" She exclaimed, relieved. He gave her an apologetic look.

    "Sorry, I had to clean up," he gave a guilty smile, thinking back to the Thai mess he had to deal with. She pretended to be offended, playfully, before offering him to sit.

    There were a few moments of silence before she spoke. "I know I have to explain, but I need to figure out how."

    "You can start with giving me your name," he suggested, before adding, "I know you said it's too personal, but I'm dying to know."

    "To know why it's too personal?"

    "No, I'm dying to know your name," He clarified with a laugh.

     "It's Gemma."

    "Gemma." He repeated in a whisper. It fit her, just like he had imagined. It was beautiful, it was bright and happy and soft to the tongue. "I'm Noah. Noah Hanson."

    "Pleasure to meet you." She greeted warmly. He smiled a comforting smile, which she returned uneasily.

    "Have you figured out what you need to explain?" He asked, and she slowly nodded.

    "I chose to sit here because I think you are like me."

    "How so?"

    "I think we both visit this coffee shop for a taste of simplicity in our life. In our complicated lives."

    Noah couldn't say she was wrong. The girl beamed as he nodded for her to continue.

    "I also think you are... how do I put this.... different enough to- well," she paused, frowning in determination, "let me start over. I think that maybe we can get a little more out of this coffee shop. Maybe we can use each other as an escape from the complications. We could create a relationship where we could speak our minds, without being judged."

    "I have a girlfriend."

    "That's not what I meant," She snapped, before softening, "We won't be friends or lovers or anything- We'd be acquaintances."

    He still wore a slightly confused look in his eyes, yet those same eyes held his curiosity of what she may be offering. "Go on."

    "We just met, and we don't know the first thing about each other. But maybe that's exactly what we need. We all need someone whom we can speak freely with. We need someone who won't judge, someone with no attachments, someone who only cares enough to listen. Life consists of so many complicated relationships- romantic or otherwise- Why not have at least one relationship formed with pure simplicity?"

    After her impressive speech, she was left with an out-of-breath expression on her face and an excited look to her eyes. Her gaze was questioning, questioning if he agreed.

    "If you don't want what I just offered, and if what I've explained is unfamiliar and unwanted than I can leave, right now. I don't mind." She added, though she did. She did mind, because she wanted him to feel the same.

    When he nodded, she breathed an involuntary sigh. She was grinning, and he had a broad smile set upon his lips.

    "Okay, so how are we going to keep things simple?"

    "With a few rules."

    "Isn't that too complicated for you?" He teased, and though she knew he was joking, uncertainty crept across her face. He reached across the table, placing a hand gently on her shoulder for assurance. "I'm kidding."

    Her gaze turned serious. "No touching. That's the first rule. Touching gets complicated, touching leads to things we don't want."

    "Okay," he laughed, withdrawing his hand. She cracked a smile herself.

    "I'm gonna let you know now, I'm making this up as I go."

    "Figured as much," he replied, taking a sip of her coffee. She opened her mouth to object, but he smiled in a taunting way and she couldn't find the words.

    She grabbed the coffee back, fighting the urge to make a new rule about sharing. "Next rule, we talk of life, and we speak freely. We don't get personal, we don't weigh in our opinions too much, we just rant, vent and listen."

    He nodded his approval, so she continued.

    "We can come here every morning, if-if you want, and we can talk, get a load off our shoulders before we have to go to work."

    Anxiety hit him like a ton of bricks. This was going to be a daily thing. His girlfriend . . . Oh what would she think?

    But at the same time, he needed this. He needed the simplicity.

    "Um . . . "

    She gave him a questioning look. He was about to decide it'd probably be better to keep quiet about the worries concerning Juliana.

    But she had stated 'we speak freely.' as a rule, hadn't she?

    "I don't want my girlfriend to think I'm cheating on her," he said finally, and she smiled. Her smile, god her smile. It made him feel warm in his chest, made him feel a rush of something he hadn't felt in a long time. She was happy he was already finding that he could speak freely with her.

    "I don't think you should tell her that we are meeting. I mean, any normal person would get the wrong idea, but you have to know I don't want anything like that, I promise. She shouldn't suspect anything unless you mention me. But if you really want to, I'm not opposed to the idea. Just make sure to be careful in the way you tell her. I don't think it concerns her though. This will not get in the way of anything else of our life. We'll meet only on weekdays before work, nothing on the weekend, so it won't disturb our schedules," and her lit up the room once again. Her bright eyes and her bright smile and her offer of simplicity . . .

    Just like that, his anxieties floated away.