Ch.1 Blind Date

The small downtown café was bustling with activity. Nearly every table was occupied by chattering couples or group of students. There was one pair of people who stood out among the crowd. The pair was unusual in their looks, the fact that one was refusing to sit, neither of them were talking to the other and they were simply glaring at each other. The one who was sitting had wavy, unkempt turquoise hair that stopped at their chin which looked as though it hadn't been brushed in days. Long bangs fell over their eyes obscuring their similarly colored eyes. They had a frown etched into their face as they continued to glare at the person standing across from them. The person in question had shoulder-length jet-black hair that was dyed a light purplish and was pulled into a loose bun. They had the back of their chair in a white knuckled gripped as they glared back at the person sitting.

“Death.” The person standing practically growled. “What are you doing here?”

Death smirked, “I’m here for a date, Life.” Death crossed their arms over their chest as they growled, “You?”  

Life flexed their fingers, “Same. Why are you sitting...” They trailed off as realization flash across their features as they looked down and muttered, “Of Course. It’s so obvious.”

Death quirked a curious eyebrow at Life and quipped, “What exactly is ‘so obvious’?”

Life locked eyes with Death as they pointed out, “We were set up.” Death watched as Life ran a hand over their face a felt a familiar twinge in the pit of their stomach as a smirk pulled at their lips.

They forced a confused expression onto their face before they insisted in a very confused tone, “Set up for what?”

Death watched as Life placed their fingers to their temples and began rubbing them in counterclockwise circles as they muttered, “For a-on a Da-” They were cut off by the sound snickering and Life opened their dark blue eyes to see Death smirking up at them as they leaned on their hand. Life sighed and muttered, “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

Death lifted their head and spoke in a flat voice, “You make it too easy.”

They watched as Life opened their mouth to say something only to be cut off by a much to cheerful voice saying, “Hello, my names Viv and I’ll be your server today.” The cheerfulness slowly dying as she took in the pair who continued to glower at one another. The waitress awkwardly cleared her throat and spoke with much less enthusiasm than before, “Are you, uh, two together?”

She got a very conflicting response as Death crossed their arms over their chest saying, “No.”

While Life pulled their seat out and sat down saying, “Yes.”

The two began their glaring contest anew and the waitress slowly backed up and muttered, “I’ll...come back later.”

Death scowled at Life as they leaned back in their chair and seethed, “Why’d you do that?”

Life let out a sigh,  “Why’d I say yes? Well, I figured that since we’re already together like this we could use it as a chance to catch up.” They pulled one of the menus from its holder as they added as an afterthought, “I mean, what’s it been, 400-500 years, since we last saw each other?”

Death agitatedly tapped their finger against the wooden table and said through gritted teeth, "563 years."

Life blinked confused, "Huh?"

Death frowned as they pointed out in frustration, "It's been 563 years, 9 months, 10 weeks, 3 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes and..." Death pushed their sleeve up and glanced at the childish duck themed watch on their wrist, "15 seconds."

Life opened and closed their mouth several times before saying, “You’ve kept track of how long we’ve been apart? All the way down to the second?”

Both statements were posed as questions but Death didn’t bother answering them and simply shook their head, “And you obviously don’t care enough to have done the same.”

They watched as Life pulled at the edge of their jacket sleeve and muttered, “It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that it seems a little...” Life shrugged as they added, “I dunno, obsessive?”

Death slammed their fist against the table causing it to shake as they clenched their jaw and their nostrils flared as they growled, “Obsessive?! What gives you the right to judge me? You haven’t been through what I’ve been through these past five centuries! You have no idea what I’ve gone through, what I’ve had to deal with and you think you have the right to judge me, to call me obsessive!?” By the end of their tirad Death had stood up and was yelling at the top of their lungs.

Life looked around and notice that people were staring as well as starting to whisper to one another. Life stood up and reached forward saying in as calming a voice as they could manage, “Dee, people are staring.”

Death’s eyes narrowed and they furrowed their brows saying, “No, you don’t have the right to call me that. Not anymore. Not after...” Death trailed off as tears pricked the edges of their eyes and they slowly spoke after taking a stuttering breath, “Not after you-” Their shoulders shoulders shook as their words dissolved into sobs.

Life walked around the table and pulled Death into a tight hug. They took Death’s hand in theirs as they said, “I’m here all right.” They began running their thumb over Deaths knuckles and, slowly but surely, the sobs died down. “Better?”

Death pulled their head away from Life and nodded, “Yeah. Thanks.”

They pulled away and took their seat, watching as Life took their seat as well. Life picked up their menu, saying, “So, how have you been these past few centuries?” Death pulled out one of the menu’s and began looking at the items on it.

They flipped toward the dessert section and trying to sound indifferent as they muttered, “Oh you know, I just had a mental breakdown so bad that God Itself told me to take some time off and then I’ve been struggling to cope with crushing depression all the while still trying to do my job. For the last two centuries I’ve been downgraded to part time because my mental instability has been interfering with my ability to do my job. You know the usual.”

By the end of their rant the anger they felt had leaked into their voice and Life was looking at them with pity in their eyes as they spoke, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Death slammed the menu down and raised their voice, “Of course you didn’t know. You ditched me and didn’t look back. Probably were happy to be rid of me.”

Life leaned forward and said in a hushed tone, “That’s not true and you know it. We both agreed we needed some time apart. To deal with the aftermath of what happened and five hundred years isn’t that long. Not for us anyways.”
Death glared at Life before letting the anger fade from their face and sighing, “I know. I just...” Death ran a hand through their hair and closed their eyes, “I’m just upset and frustrated and tired.”

Life looked at Death and couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. They wanted to say something, anything to make them feel better but before they could say something to break the tenuous silence someone else spoke up, “Are you ready to order now?” Life let out a silent sigh and looked up at the waitress finally taking in her appearance. She had dark brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail and had several stands that had escaped. She had green eyes that bounced from Life to Death as she waited for an answer. Her uniform consisted of white blouse and a pair of black work pants along with a black apron. She had a smile plastered on her face as she spoke, “Well?”

Life picked up their menu and said, “I’ll have a black tea and a blueberry muffin.”

The waitress scribbled Life’s order before turning to Death and saying, “And what about you?”

Death looked up at the waitress and said, “I’ll have two slices of the strawberry shortcake and a cup of hot cocoa both with as much whip cream as humanly possible.”

The waitress looked mildly confused before saying, “How about I bring out a fresh can of whip cream and you can add as you want. It will cost a little extra but-”

She was cut off by Death who closed their menu saying, “Do it.”

The waitress gave a brief nod and said, “I’ll be right back with your orders.” Life and Death watched as the waitress disappeared into the Cafe and the two then returned to looking at one another.

“When did you start eating?” Life said as they pulled off their jacket. They placed it on the back of the their chair and placed their menu back in the holder.

Death put their menu back in the holder and began unwrapping their silverware as they said, “When sugar became popularized for the general masses and then even more so when humans realized that everything tastes better when it’s deep fried.” Death picked up their fork and leaned forward, “Have you ever had fried Twinkie?”

Life slowly shook their head and mumbled, “No. I don’t believe I have.”

Life watched as Death positioned their silverware and spoke, “Well you gotta try it. They’re amazing.” The excited tone their voice took on as they talked made Life feel like maybe they hadn’t messed up as much as they had previously thought.

Life couldn’t help but smile as they watched Death rearrange their silverware into different patterns in what they knew to be a nervous habit. It was good to see that not everything had changed. That some things stayed the same even after centuries apart.

“Alright so we have a black tea and a blueberry muffin for the lady in leather.” Life gave a tight-lipped smile to the waitress as she placed the cup and plate in front of them who then turned to Death as she listed off their order, “And two slices of strawberry shortcake, hot cocoa and a can of whipped cream.” She placed each item on the table before looked at the pair, “Will that be all?”

Life nodded and said, “Yes. It will.” She nodded and walked away. Life focused on their tea and began dipping the bag in and out of the tea.

“Why didn’t you correct her?” Death spoke as they shook the can of whipped cream before uncapping it. Life looked up just as Death began putting copious amounts of whipped cream on both their hot cocoa and cake.

Life bit their lip and began to peel the wrapper off of their muffin as they said, “Correct her on what? She got our orders right.”

Death set the can of whipped cream down, “You know that’s not what I meant. So, why didn’t you correct her?”

Life picked at the muffin, “It was a honest mistake, alright. So just drop it.” Death shrugged and and picked up their fork as they proceeded to dig into the food in front of them.

The two sat in silence as they ate and halfway through their meal Death spoke up, “What are we going to do after this?” Life looked up to see Death absentmindedly stirring the spoon of their hot cocoa.

They pushed their plate away and said, “What do you mean?”

Death took a sip from the mug before speaking, “I mean, what are we gonna do after this date? Are we just gonna pretend like it never happened and go back to doing whatever we were doing before this set up?” Life watched as Death downed the rest of their hot cocoa and thought about what might happen if they left Death alone again.

Life bit their lip and asked, “Do you want to do that?”

Death looked up and shook their head, “No. Not really”

Life racked their brain for a solution as the waitress dropped of the check for them. Life looked at the check to see that their total was $36.25 and pulled out their wallet. They pulled out two twenties and placed them on the tray. They stood up, pulling on their jacket and picked up their bag. They turned to Death to see them still sitting slumped in their seat. A hand on the can of whipped cream and the the other tapped absentmindedly on the table. Life bit their lip as they looked at them. They didn’t want to leave them here but didn’t know what to do.

A thought suddenly occurred to them and they moved without really thinking, “You know I’ve been looking for a roommate.”

Death looked up but didn’t speak and Life took that as a go ahead to continue to speak, “I haven’t found the right one yet. Maybe you’d want to come by try out for the position?”

Death blinked and Life said, “Then we wouldn’t have to go our separate ways and I could help you with what you're dealing with and...”

Life tailed off shaking their head and said, “You know what, I’ll just leave my address and cell with you. Think about it okay?” Life pulled a notepad and pen from their bag and quickly scrawled their address and cell number on a page before ripping it out. They placed it on the table and put the utensils back in their bag.

“Good-Bye.” Life turned and began walking away, leaving Death sitting alone at the café. Death reached forward and picked up the paper. They stared at it for a long while before standing up and walking away the scrap in one hand and the can of whipped cream in the other.

 

Author's Note

Is the use of the same pronounes for both characters confusing.