Liar, Liar

Chapter 21 - Confessions

Song to listen to while reading this chapter: The Night We Met - Lord Huron

Not even twenty-four hours later, I am waiting for Adam at the café where he and I first hung out almost two months ago. It's a small coffee house, with dark walls and small tables. I'm sitting by one of the wall to floor windows, glaring out at the people passing the shop. For obvious reasons it smells like coffee in here but also like wet clothes. The rain is pouring outside, drenching anyone who dare walk outside – including me. My jeans cling to my thighs like glue and strings of hair keeps sticking to my cheeks. I only had to walk outside for a half minute, but I didn't bring an umbrella so here I am.

My eyes fleet over to the door every time the bell on the door rings, but it is always someone else. A woman with a stroller; a teenager on her phone, almost walking into a table; a businessman with a briefcase and a black umbrella. Fifteen minutes go by and the tall, short-haired receptionist doesn't come. I check my phone to see if I'm here at the right time, but I am.

I study the inside of my empty coffee cup. The last droplets have gathered in the depth of the circled bottom. A distorted reflection of myself stares up at me in the white porcelain. She frowns.

"Would you like me to take that?" A barista pulls me out of my thoughts and I snap my eyes up towards her. She smiles, gesturing to the cup.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

She takes the cup and scurries off, leaving me with really no reason to stay.

I bury my head in my hands. If I hadn't been in public, I probably would have yelled out something inappropriate.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

I didn't even hear the bell or Adam sitting down, but all of a sudden he is sitting across from he, his hair and jacket glistening from the water and his eyes shining like usual.

"Have you ordered yet?" he asks when I only offer him a tense smile.

Not feeling like admitting that I have been sitting here alone like a dork the last twenty minutes, I answer, "No, I actually just came myself."

"Oh, good. So you haven't waited long?" He shrugs off his jacket and pulls out his wallet. I grab mine too and stand up simultaneously as him.

"No, just a couple of minutes."

We walk over to the counter and look up at the menu. Dozens of sugary drinks stare back at me but I only order a black coffee, already having had a chai latte earlier. Adam raises his brows at my order.

"I didn't know you preferred black coffee," he remarks, throwing his change in the tip jar.

I chuckle, "There are lots of things you don't know about me." I also felt like saying that I'm feeling bitter, but it would be a little too obvious for my taste.

Our coffees are brought out to the counter and we bring the back to the table with us. We take careful sips in silence for a minute, none of us having anything to start the conversation with. I catch glimpses of the pretty man in front of me over the rim of my cup. He meets my eye and for a split second it feels like we are drinking our morning coffee in his apartment. My heart aches.

"Do you remember the first time we came here?" I ask, setting my cup down on the table. Adam nods at once.

"I was just thinking of that, actually."

"Really?"

He nods and smiles nostalgically. "Time moves fast."

It's weird how we're talking as if everything is okay. Before I came here I was angry and hurt but now I just feel like talking to him for hours about anything but the matter at hand.