That morning, he found Juliana gone. She often did this, she had a far earlier job than he, and if she left in a good mood, would leave sweet notes.
"With love, with care, and a little something more in the air. - Julie."
He smiled at her handwriting, and placed it in his top dresser drawer, among the hundreds of other notes. Gathering up his car keys and work bag, he headed off to the coffee shop.
Gemma was in a dark mood. When he arrived, he could tell something, if not everything, was off.
"The world is all about perfection. The world is all about something that can't be achieved, our struggles are for nothing. The world wishes us to be perfect, and we're punished when we're not," she spat distastfully.
He sat down, eyeing her cautiously. "What happened?"
"Nothing. Reality just hit me like a brick to the head yesterday." Her tone was angry, a storm brewing within her voice. Scariest of all, her bright eyes seemed dark.
"Uh huh," he murmured, unconvinced. "Gemma, do you remember the first rule?"
She grimaced. "Speak freely?"
"No. The first rule was that we'd come here to listen. In order for me to listen, you actually have to tell me what's going on."
"I just came face to face with the fact that some people in this world treat others like nothing. As if they don't have lives, feelings, thoughts, worries . . . "
He was silent. This was all wrong. He was supposed to be the pessimistic one, and she was the one supposed to be proving him wrong. Not the other way around. And he realized he wouldn't try and soften the truth she spoke of.
"Gemma, everyone thinks that at some point in their life. And yes, there are people like that in this world." He said, and she looked to the table. "But that doesn't mean that there aren't any good people out there."
She sighed. "It hurts."
"I know."
They sat in silence for a while longer, sipping their coffee. He was cautious of another outburst, yet she was calming down. The coffee helped, the ability to express her anger let off the steam that had been building up from the pervious evening and night.
"Maybe you're right," she spoke, breaking the silence, optimism seeping back into her tone, "maybe he had a bad day, maybe something was wrong, maybe he felt something."
"There's the Gemma I know."
YOU ARE READING
Sip by Sip
Romance(Lowercase intended on cover) "The simple things in life are never meaningful, and the meaningful things in life are never simple. So maybe I don't want meaningful. Maybe I just want someone who cares enough to listen." Gemma Summers and Noah Han...
