Coffee Shop

We sat in front of each other, not sure what to say. Alec had weaseled off somewhere once the atmosphere had gotten tense. So now we sat in a booth, across from each other, words not coming. What could we say? My eyes avoided his. I drew my legs tight to the wood of the booth seat to keep our knees from touching. I kept my hands clasped on the table, close to me. Why was I here? Why did I come in the first place? Why didn’t I leave? I debated leaving, and just before I’d made up my mind, he opened his mouth.

 

“She’d like to meet you, I think.” I looked up at him, looked him straight in the eyes. Nothing but honesty, as it’d always been. He answered my unasked question. “My girlfriend.” Silence. “Look, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you…”

 

“Don’t.” I cut in, looking down at my hands. “Please, just… don’t.”

 

Alec wasn’t back yet. Where was that boy? This conversation wouldn’t be happening if he were here. He seemed to be the neutralizer in situations like this. The silence became deafening. What could be said?

 

“Look, I am sorry. Truly,” he tried again. This time, I didn’t stop him. I didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge that he spoke. He kept going after a moment. “I didn’t tell you to… protect you, I guess. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

 

Rage boiled in my stomach. All the words I had kept inside for weeks spilled out of my mouth like a waterfall. “Sorry? Sorry? You’re sorry? I’m sorry that you couldn’t be man enough to tell me, and didn’t think I was strong enough to take it. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? I’m not as stupid and naïve as you’d like to think sometimes. After talking for months and everything that happened, I’d think you’d have a little more respect for me than to just let me stay in the dark.  Do you think I’m stupid?”

 

My voice had steadily grown louder, and I’d attracted a bit of attention. It didn’t matter to me. “And you and Alec act like nothing’s going on, and you both toy with me. But now that I’ve put two and two together, you’re sorry? If you ran over someone’s dog, would you bury it in their own back yard and say ‘sorry’ once they found out? Do you think a simple sorry would fix things? No! No, and you wouldn’t hide it from them, either, because they’d be more hurt when they figured it out. That’s what you did to me. You left me to find out on my own, and that’s what hurt the most, you jerk.

 

“I don’t want to meet her, and like hell if she wants to meet me. I don’t have anything against her -- if she’s happy with you, that’s her loss. But I’d rather not get to know her. I don’t want to be friends with her, if that’s what you were hoping. I don’t want to have to be there for her when you screw her over the way you did to me, because that will just make me want to do even more awful things to you than I do right now.”

 

I stood and looked at him one last time. “I’m going to go. It wasn’t a good idea for me to come in the first place.” I headed for the café door, not looking back at him. I was halfway down the street when my phone rang in my pocket. My eyes were too blurry to read who it was, so I let it roll to voicemail.

 

*             *             *

 

Alec put his phone down on the table and sighed.

 

“Well. You screwed that one up.”

 

“Shut up,” came the reply from inside his best friend’s clasped hands. He let his dark hair fall over his eyes, not meeting Alec's gaze. Alec leaned against the back of the booth, looking up at the ceiling.

 

“There’s only so much I can do for you at this point, man. I doubt she’ll even listen to me much anymore.”

 

“Shut up.” He put his head down on the table. Defeated. “Just shut up.”

Reviews

[Britty Bear]

I really like how you explain things in here. I also really enjoyed your thought. I was so pulled in that I was hoping that it never ended. Its a great story and you might want to consider extending it because that is one type of book i wouldn't mind reading! :)