SHADES OF LOVE

CHAPTER 5

You pushed through the revolving doors of the Grand Lux Café where you agreed to meet Julia for lunch, during the two-hour window between work and Monday classes. You'd ended up getting home late from your Sicilian weekend--and a way too delayed flight--so you'd preferred having conversations about Pokémon with Alice and watching the episode of Raa Raa and the slippery banana skins for the millionth time before putting her to bed, and finishing the final touches of a school work assignment before going to sleep.

As your best friend, Julia always understood your schedule--even when at times you got off work an hour late for your lunch break, she was still willing to meet up with you.

With its Venetian-inspired décor and soaring ceilings, the downtown eatery offered a relaxing atmosphere along with a menu that required nothing short of a binder to hold all the options. 

But you knew your best friend well. The real draw for Julia wasn't the chill-out theme or the food selections that ranged from Thai to Western. It was the extensive variety of specialty drinks and the dessert case that ran the length of the lobby that kept the restaurant in Julia's 'Top Ten'. And it was always a good thing she knew people in the restaurant business, otherwise you'd never get a table at that place without reservations.

As you got in, you found yourself directly in front of the glass display of decadence. Your mouth watered at the sight of the molten lava cake and crème brûlée. 

No way,  you thought. The liquid calories you'd consumed during the weekend had been already bad enough. Your thighs certainly didn't need a few beignets tossed into the mix. With the extra hours you'd need to put in between school exams and assignments, you figured workout time would grow scarce that week. And while you were comfortable with your curves, your recent dependence on comfort foods had to stop.

"One for lunch?" the hostess asked.

One for lunch... Were there three more depressing words? Okay, perhaps 'One for dinner' would be even more depressing. And although lately that seemed to be the case most lunchtimes for you, at least on that day it wasn't.

"No, actually, I'm meeting someone." The words had no sooner left your mouth when you caught sight of Julia, her head thrown back midlaugh. "And looks like I just found her."

You made your way to the bar where Julia sat perched on a stool. Under her cropped jacket she was wearing what you could only refer to as 'business funk', a bold black-and-white striped skirt paired with red Dr.Martens lace-up boots. The result was the perfect combination of quirky sophistication. You would have never been able to pull off such daring choices, but on Julia they totally worked.

As you grew closer, you heard Julia chatting away in an animated voice. "And that is why you will never catch me anywhere near the circus. Ever." She gave an exaggerated shudder that made her sunkissed waves sway from side to side.

"Hey there," you said. "Sorry if you were waiting long."

"Not at all. And it gave me time to get to know Ed here," she said, lifting her glass to the bartender and smiling. "He makes a killer pear martini." A moment later the pager on the bar top began to vibrate and flash red. "Looks like our table is ready."

The hostess led you both through the restaurant--crowded not only with the usual lunchtime customers but with sales shoppers laden with bags from nearly every store imaginable--to a booth overlooking one of downtown's main avenues. 

The city thrummed around, cars and pedestrians clogged the tree-lined streets and sidewalks as the start of their week took them up and down the avenue. Modern glass entrance overhangs somehow meshed with the age of the city's buildings and its neighbors. You'd grown up in and near that city and, eventually, at some point you'd stopped noticing it. But now every time you came back from even the shortest of trips, you saw your hometown with fresh eyes, appreciating it on an entirely new level.