FORGOTTEN

Chapter 10

Faye stays true to her words when she cancels her Monday plan with Errol. He does not ask her why, but instead he asks to see her on Tuesday. This she cancels as well.

The whole week becomes an exchange of scheduling and rescheduling. Faye expects Errol to give up after cancelling on him so many time in one week. She does not even mind if one day he stops sending her a message. It may disappoint her at first, but she knows that he also has a limit. She wishes she was near that limit.

It is Friday night once again, and she is tired of working. She steps out of her building and finds Errol standing at the same spot he did the week before. For a second, she thinks of running back upstairs and wait until he decides to leave. However, she decides she does not want the cowardly way out of this. Hence, she meets his gaze straight on.

"Do you want to have coffee with me?"

"You're kind of creepy, you know?"

"I've been wondering about you and all the times you've refused my invitation." He says, smiling sheepishly at her.

"I've been busy this week." She reasons out, wishing she sounds believable.

"Are you still busy?" He inquires as he walks towards her.

Unconsciously, Faye takes a step back until her back meets the door of the building. Errol makes it in front her but he keeps a respectful distance between them.

"I-I'm not. Today at least," She stutters.

"Perfect! Let's have a coffee."

They walk down side by side down the street in complete silence. She secretly watches him from her peripheral vision, thinking of how she can get away early without offending him.

"If you have anything to say, just say it."

"What?" Faye is taken aback.

"I feel your eyes on me. Who's creepy now?" Errol replies in a jesting manner.

"I'm not looking at you!" She takes offense, though he is absolutely right about his deduction.

"Do you find me attractive?"

Faye gasps playfully in response and says, "Your self-esteem is unreachable!"

"But do you?" He gives her a side glance, his eyes with an unmistakable naughty glint.

She glances at him, maintaining a serious look so as to give him a taste of his own medicine, "If I do?"

Errol stops abruptly, his face with a look of undeniable shock. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, appearing to be unsure of how to react to her reply. It gives Faye immense satisfaction as she is always the receiving end of his teasing. It is quite gratifying to have a change of roles this time.

"I'm just screwing with you." She hits his back to halt the racing of his mind.

There is still doubt in his face, but he seems relieve that she has cut the banter short. At  this moment, she does not know whether to be offended that he appears to be disconcerted by her answer or to find relief in the lack of acknowledgement from him. Either way she feels uncertain about how she truly feels.

"I made some Spanish friends today. They taught me some Spanish while we were having lunch." He begins.

"Good for you. I don't speak Spanish, but I don't really care much about it."

"You don't?"

"I mean... I like the language, but my life revolves around English so I don't really have any use for Spanish. At the moment, at least." Faye explains.

"You know, my target is to be at least conversational in Spanish."

"Simple. You should be spending more time with Spanish people than with me." Faye utters matter-of-factly.

"I still prefer your company to learning Spanish." He nods at that as if he has found an answer to a mind-boggling questions.

Faye does not know how many times she has to tell him to stop saying things like that. There are times thta she wants to believe him yet a bigger part of her mind tells her to be cautious of him, or men in general. She has this idea that men will say even the most outrageous things just to get what they want. Right now, she is still ignorant of his real intentions.

"I'm bone-tired, I just want to go to bed." Faye says, choosing to ignore Errol's previous statement.

Errol seems as if he has just choked at something before he clears his throat. There is a light blush on his cheeks, though Faye is not sure if this is because of the cold temperature or for a totally different reason.

"What's wrong?" She asks anyway.

"Nothing...nothing..." 

They reach a cozy-looking cafe at the end of the street. It is partially hidden, thus making the place almost empty. They seat themselves in a corner which is too dark for Faye's preference. However, it seems to be the best place in case the shop gets filled up.

"How did you know about this place?" Faye inquires as she studies the decor of the shop.

"One of the Spanish friends I was telling you about suggested this place. It's nice, isn't it??"

"I love it," she replies dreamily.

They are served their coffee and two slices of blueberry cheesecake. Faye takes a bite and she believes it is the best cake she has eaten by far. She is definitely coming back and alone. She also think it is a cozy place for an afternoon break from her academy classes.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Errol asks before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, I do have some online classes and I have to prepare for my lessons next week."

"Don't you ever do anything else aside from work?"

"Well," she pauses for a second. "I sleep a lot, too."

Errol rolls his eyes at her as he takes a bite of his cheesecake to which he mutters, "Goddam that's heavenly."

"Until what time do you have online classes?"

"Until seven...I think? Why?" She already knows why but she asks him anyway.

"You want to go out?"

"You almost sound like you are asking me out." She says confidently just to put him off a little.

"I am asking you out," he replies too seriously that it is she who goes off balance.

"Okay," Faye accepts before she even gets to talk herself out of it.

She tries to convince herself time and time again that she is not alive to work herself to death. At some point in the past she wanted to explore life apart from what she could see with her bare eyes. Due to some circumstances, however, she was left to follow a monotonous path in life. Now that chance has presented itself before her she decides this is no longer the time to be evasive. At the same time, she tells herself repeatedly that she will not let herself get hurt in the process.