CHAPTER 2
NOT A GOOD START
Caddie had come up with two options.
First, she could save herself from shame, step outside the café, and run as fast as she could until she reached their house. Well, this was only possible if she could do it like a well trained athlete participating in the Olympics.
Second, she may go to the guy’s table, put on the highest level of confidence and start a conversation. Maybe, just maybe, he will allow her to sit. That is if he would be sensitive and considerate enough to a drenched stranger.
On a deeper note, she may not even be involved in a conversation because of her unstable voice. The rainwater soaked her clothes too well, that her body shook from the cold.
Oh my, how shameful can this get?
After a minute of thinking in circles, also encouraged by the stares of the waitress, Caddie gathered her guts. She walked in a normal pace, still shivering, and eventually reached the guy’s table. She immediately pulled the empty chair and sat.
“He..yeehee. Ha..ha..how are yo..u..u doing? I di..dn..’t re..he..cognize you a wa..while ago. Is tha..hat a new hair…cut?” Caddie said, pointing at the guy’s hair. Her left arm took hold of her right arm for her pointing finger wasn’t doing a great job of keeping straight.
She was trying so hard to impress both the waitress and the stranger in front of her that it was difficult to raise the level of her acting to a higher level. If she was to impress the waitress more, Caddie needed a reply from the guy in front of her. But, to have a reply from a stranger seemed too impossible now. Her moment of conviction was immediately replaced with doubt. Her body was going the other way with all the shivering and unnecessary stuttering.
Am I really doing this now. This is the perfect time to back out.
No matter how Caddie wanted to turn around, and forget about her senseless plan, she couldn’t make herself move. Her body was torturing her with the constant shivering.
Escaping her wishing of melting unto the ground or disappearing in a cloud, she placed her clasped hands on the table, trying to make their shaking unobvious. All she could do now was to hope for the best.
Please work. Please. Just. Work.
Caddie displayed her most dramatic and pretentious smile.
While Caddie was acting her shivering body out, Gina stood in the corner, her eyes keenly glued to Caddie. The teenagers appeared really awkward now. Could it be that they aren’t really friends, or even acquaintances? She shrugged the thought off her mind as she continued to watch. The teenager, though drenched in rainwater, continued to talk to the guy in front of her.
Her smile wasn’t working. Caddie wanted to shout at the stranger, maybe even kick his foot for him to realize what she needed from him. Caddie saw the young man as a robot. Apathetic and infuriatingly quiet.
One more try Caddie. Be extremely patient.
“Plee..hease reply to my bla..ha..bbering. I know you are no..hot much o..of a people per..so..hon (sniffle) bu…but the wait..ress wants me to ge..het out (sniffle) of this ple..hace if I have no..ho business (sniffle) to attend to. I’m kinda wet (sniffle) if you haven’t no..ticed.”
The robot-lad looked at the waitress who in turn, avoided his glance.
Just like light after a long dark tunnel, the robot spoke.
“I thought you wouldn’t notice my haircut. Thirty minutes of waiting is too long, don’t you think?
Wait. What just happened? Did he just say something sarcastic?
