Lover, | Winterhawk shorts stories

Storm clouds at a coffee shop

He was sitting at a coffee shop when it happened. James was typing the last few words of his Report, eyes glued to the screen. He reached for his coffee mug that was suspiciously light, prying his eyes away from his computer James glared at the empty coffee cup. If looks could kill the mug would have exploded. James placed the cup down, not as forcefully as he wanted to and sighed. He moved to turn his attention back to the screen, but when he had started to turn his head he caught a glimpse of someone a few tables away.

The man was starring dead-eyes at the hot drinks menu that was drilled into the wall behind the front counter, where employees were lazily shuffling along looking a little hollow themselves. The man was attractive, blonde hair, blue eyes, good mussel definition, but those eyes held a thousand unpleasant memories. His blue eyes were dull and foggy, appearing almost grey, he had enough bags that you could carry out an entire grocery store, and the well worn smile lines were nothing compared to the creases between the man's eyebrows. James froze, a feeling of understanding brushed through his body, he wanted to help this man. James stood up and went to the front counter and ordered two black coffees, one with two sugars.

Whilst he waited he tried to get the man's attention buy waving just enough to make him notice James from the corner of his vision. The man didn't see him, in a way, he couldn't see him, it was like the heavy thoughts that were plaguing his mind and built a sturdy brick wall that only let the man see what was right in font of him, and even then it was blurred.

James tore his attention away from the man to receive and pay for the two coffees. He walked towards the man and set both coffees down with a light thud, and sat down. The man was seemingly entranced with the board above James's head. 'Hey.' James spoke, the man did nothing. 'Hello, are you okay man?' James said, waving his hands and snapping a few times. The quick hand movements seemed to get the stranger's attention, the man flinched slightly and looked around at his surroundings before landing on James. James held out his hand and introduced himself, the man cocked his head and tapped the area in front of his ear twice, signalling that he couldn't hear him.

James sighed and looked around before signing "do you know A S L?" the man look surprised then relived and signed back, "yeah, not to be rude but why are you at my table" James nodded in understanding. "You were starring at the menu like it had killed your family, I wanted to see if you were okay." The man smiled slightly and waved off the comment "I just have a lot going on with work, I have a lot of things to do and no time to do them" James chuckled and nodded his head, then remembered that he had left his laptop at his old table, open and non-password protected. 'Um crap, give me a second, I jus-' he started then paused when he remembered the man couldn't understand him when the spoke. James looked at the man, "I have to get something but when I get back tell me your name." The man nodded, his eyes were slowly clearing up, to James it looked like the storm cloud of thoughts were passing.

James smiled, he got up from his table and approached his old one. He grabbed his computer and set it down at the new table, he hesitated sitting down and the man noticed "what's up?" He signed, eyebrows knitted in confusion. James shrugged before signing "I'm kinda hungry, I got here a few hours ago and I guess I didn't notice I was in dire need of a sandwich." The man laughed a loud enough laugh to make a few nearby customers turn their heads, James waved them off and apologised. "I'm glad, you remembered. It's not good to work on an empty stomach." The man said, gesturing to James's computer. James nodded then looked over his shoulder to the menu. "I'm getting some food, would you like anything?" the man gained a lopsided smile. "Buying me food and we've just met, you must be a hit with all the ladies" James shrugged and signed "not my type" he got half way through with "type" before remembering that not everyone is as open minded as he was, he shot the man a worried look before trying to explain himself. Stopping only when the man held his hand up and signed "nothing to worry about man, I'm not that into chicks either"