Imperial Coffee

Found: Part Sixteen

"Did you have something to ask me?" Winter asked. Her legs were curled under her, and Jacin still stood in the kitchen making coffee, pretending he couldn't hear the conversation. Petri continued to purr, and Winter latched onto the sound, letting it calm her.

"A lot. I think..." Selene breathed deeply. "I guess there's one big question I need to ask first."

"Mmhm?" Winter's breathing hitched. She had her own questions. Was Cinder a nickname? When had she moved to the west coast? Where was Iko? Peony? Pearl? Adri? How did she know Kai? What had she been doing for nine years? Why didn't she recognize her?

But she knew something was up with Selene, and it seemed fair that she ask the first question. To Winter it almost seemed...like Selene forgot, somehow. She didn't know how, when it was so burned in her mind, so raw—but perhaps that was why Selene forgot. Why Selene also maybe forgot her.

"Did we know each other?" Selene asked. "On the east coast, before I moved?"

Winter was right. She did forget. She would have a lot of explaining to do, a lot to catch up with...but that was the cost of trying to regain a piece of past and make it present.

"Yes," Winter said. "We knew each other well."

Selene paused for so long Winter almost hung up, until she heard Selene clear her voice.

"Can we meet somewhere?"

"Right now?"

"No, in an hour."

"Private or public?"

"Private, preferably."

"Then you can come to my hotel," Winter said.

"Okay, thank you."

Winter shared the address and room number, then said her goodbyes and hung up. She blew up with her mouth, causing some of her hair to flounce up until she stopped blowing.

Jacin walked in wordlessly with two mugs of coffee. Winter took hers with a smile and a nod.

"I'm sorry, I'll need to leave in half an hour," Winter said. "Thanks for the coffee and all, I'm sorry our plans didn't work out."

Jacin blew on his coffee. She couldn't tell if he was more handsome than usual, or if he always looked like that—sharp, but strong features, blond hair elegantly tied back, long fingers gripping the mug with precision. Perhaps it was a doctor thing. Or maybe it was a Jacin thing.

"It's alright," Jacin said. "I should've taken you somewhere better for our first date anyway." He turned his face towards her, making eye contact. "I just thought a coffee shop was classic."

"Oh it is! Don't worry, it was all my fault it ended so quickly. But we still have half an hour. Anything you want to do? Or go?"

Jacin shrugged, then smirked. "How do you feel about painting?"

Winter clapped her hands together. "Really well!"

"Then why don't we break into my mom's art studio in the backyard?"

"I would love that."

Knowing she would talk to Winter in an hour calmed Cinder's mind, keeping it focused on the task at hand. The moment her shift ended, she left, only saying a quick goodbye to her boss before catching a bus and getting off near Winter's hotel.

She sat silently on the bus, twisting a screw in her hand that she'd accidentally left in her jeans' pocket. Her hair was still tied up and messy beyond belief, and a grease stain clung to her shirt, but her head was pounding and she could not be bothered to look presentable. When did she ever?