Ragnarök (CANCELLED)

Date? Part 2

Aether

I fall into the cafe taking the other person with me. We hit the ground, me on top of her. Her light blue eyes widen at the sight of me above her but they are quickly filled with amusement.

"Is this usually the way you greet people?" she says.

"No, usually the roof caves in by now" I smile. God, what am I doing? Flirting with her?!

I roll off her and I get to my feet. She stands up shakily and brushes nonexistent dirt off her blue paisley dress.

"Would you like a drink?" She asks walking towards the bar.

"Actually...uh-I" She still walks away not hearing me. Or choosing not to hear me.

"Coffee, right" she asks gesturing to a steaming pot on the wooden surface.

"Uh, sure" I reply lowering myself into a nearby booth. I watch her pour the coffee into two very chipped mugs and walk over.

Stephanie wears a blue and white paisley dress with a blue wool cardigan and black, shiny flats. Her blonde hair is sloppily braided and thrown over her left shoulder stopping at her waist. Mascara coats her eyelashes and lip gloss is applied generously to her lips. Wow...

A slight blush creeps up her cheeks and she averts her eyes to look down into her coffee. "I'm Stephanie Evans by the way"

"Aether" I reply.

"What? No last name?"

"Never given one, never thought to give myself one" Only Raven, out of the six of us, gave herself a last name. And a stupid last name if you ask me. Who picks the name, Darklight?

"That's kind of sad, it's like you're missing half your identity" I never thought of it that way.

I nod and take a sip of the coffee. It burns the tip of my tongue.

An awkward silence befalls us, neither of us sure as how to continue. I take a deep breath and start. "Listen Stephanie" She looks up. "I never wanted..." Her eyes bore into mine. "...To...come" Anger distorts her face. "...tonight. My sister...made..." Her hands clench into fists, the knuckles white. "...me..." I finish.

Stephanie sits there for the longest time just staring at me. All of a sudden her hand moves and her mug whips across the room. I jump in my seat as it hits the adjacent wall and shatters. White fragments of porcelain rain down along with splatters of still hot coffee.

She stands up and points a finger accusingly at my chest. "No, you listen!" She yells, "I have met so many other guys like you! Guys that think they're so great, that they can just walk all over girls like me, well think again!" She seethes.

"You know, after my parents died I was tossed between foster families that didn't give a shit about me. Along with that I have had a long line of boyfriends. I had one who stole from me, several who cheated and my last boyfriend used to beat me. For the last year I haven't even looked twice at a guy and then you show up and I think my God! Why don't I take a chance? And you disappoint me like all the others" She sighs and drops her head into her hands. A drop falls onto the table, she's crying.

Ehh, I'm an idiot. I didn't mean to hurt her. So much for breaking it slowly.

"Stephanie?" I say softly, lightly touching her wrist.

"Yes"

"Do you wanna see a movie?" I regret as soon as I say it, she'll probably throw it back in my face.

Stephanie raises her head and brushes a couple tears away. "Sure" she says with a tight smile, "I've been dying to see Annabelle"

Me too.