Copa De Belize

...She would move to Arizona two months later.

        Alberto looked tired. Once he walked in the dark café I was in, he walked straight towards me as if he was previously briefed on my coordinates. He caught me, I was smoking out of anxiety. I thought for a moment about putting out my cigarette but figured it wouldn't change anything.
        "I knew you didn't truly quit smoking. Is this your hide out?" Alberto said laughing as he pulled out a chair. I closed my book and felt my heart nudge me.
        "Yes, you caught me. What are you doing here? I told you I would meet you at the plant store in half an hour." I tried to sound nice.
        "Yes, but if it is like any other occasion, you would be thirty minutes late. So I thought I would surprise you when I saw your car outside. You are the only person I know around here with a Virgin Mary air freshener." His Spanish accent came out slightly as he ordered his coffee and then graciously snatched one of my small, dry cookies. He spoke to me about this book he was reading about boats although he would tell you that it is truly about so much more than that. And Alberto was right, I would have been late. I continued puffing my cigarette without realizing he changed the conversation.
         "Hello, where are you?" He asked pleasantly. I stopped looking at my coffee cup, I studied his face and looked directly into his black eyes.
         "You took my cookie," I said.
         "That was two minutes ago, I thought you didn't care. You have five and they are untouched." His espresso arrived at that moment accompanied with six of the same small, dry cookies.
         "Oh, look at this." He picked one up and tossed it at me, it landed on the table and slid off onto my lap. I stared at the cookie than at him again.
         "You're right, I didn't care about the cookie. I love you, I have always loved you. I was going to tell you in the plant store but I can't think of any better moment." I felt my lungs implode at that moment, my stomach flatten, my ribs crinkle, etc. I was still staring  at him, I could see the minute, undetectable alterations in his countenance. I grabbed the cookie out of my lap and tossed it back at him, it bounced off his chest and fell in his lap.
         "Just kidding buddy!" I laughed. Everyone in the that small, dark room looked at me. I recognized the woman in the corner from the dentist's office. My laugh stopped.
         "I love you as a friend I meant, you know, because of Jonas and Lidia. And we are friends… I don't love you like that, silly." My cigarette was ready to die. "One more cigarette before we go to the plant store okay?" I put the dead cigarette out and then lit another one.
         "Yea, I still need to drink my coffee," he said quietly with sad eyes and a crooked, confused smile.