Waiting

A meeting bound to fail.

Michael negligently tossed his coat into the corner of the coffee house booth. His clothes were impeccable, as always, but this was a rare occurrence of when he wasn't thinking of how he presented himself to the people around him.

Anyone that looked out of the corner of their eye would see a well dressed man sitting a corner booth of the Yesterday's Tomorrow Coffee House. Anyone that looked would have smiled, unable to stop it. He had an aura that caused everyone who came into contact with him to plaster a goofy grin on their face. They were mirrors of his own.

There was also an aspect of waiting about him, and he was giddy with excitement at what was coming. He slid his sunglasses on his head, quickly looking around in anticipation.

A waitress walked to the table, nervous at waiting on someone wearing clothes that cost more than her paychecks could afford over three months. She had also seen the sports car swerve into the parking lot. Everything about him screamed money, but he was more relaxed than your typically affluent person. He smiled personably when she approached.

“Hey, there. What can I get you,” the waitress flashed a nervous smile.

Michael was well aware of the smile, and what it could entail, but he couldn't give it any thought right then. “Lemme get a black coffee,” he wondered briefly at the surprise that flashed across the girl's face, but once again paid it no mind. “And keep 'em comin' until I get up, alright?”

The girl nodded, and walked away from his table, surely wondering how someone could walk into a coffee shop any longer and actually ask for a plain coffee. No one did it. Now it was all espressos and fancy drinks with crazy names that never meant what you would expect them to if you knew the language they were offered in.

Michael didn't give the flirtatious girl another thought. His mind was all on what could be coming for him in the next half hour. He hadn't known exactly when she would arrive, and after waiting so long, he was eager for his torture to end.

Six years.

Six interminable years since he had learned that the woman he loved had married another man. Normally it wouldn't have been an issue, and he would have easily convinced her not to go through with it before it came to pass. He never would have had to get her back if circumstances hadn't disagreed with him so badly. Unfortunately, the dice didn't always fall his way.

He sighed loudly to himself and leaned back. Normally when he waited, his phone was in his hand, searching for something to occupy the mind that moved at a thousand miles a minute. There was always another avenue of opportunity to explore. Until she walked in the door though, he didn't want to do anything but think of her, and how his long wait had finally come to an end.

Michael had been sent to prison when he was a teenager. She had promised she would wait for him. But ten years is a long time to wait for a teenager. Michael got the letter that told him she would no longer have anything to do with him five years through it. To say it hit him hard was like saying Mike Tyson hits as hard as a five year old.

Just a year later, the inevitable grape vine laughed once more at his misfortune and alerted him to her marriage.

It didn't break him the way people thought it would. It spurred him on. He began to make himself as capable as possible in every area of life that it was possible to improve in. He began working, reading, studying, and doing anything and everything he could think of to make himself better than anyone else she could choose. He wasn't giving up. Marriage wasn't 'The End' that it had once been. No one seemed able to stay married, so perhaps another chance would arrive. He set about being ready for it, and becoming a person she would be impressed with when 'For Better or Worse' became 'I'm taking the House'.

So, he found himself sitting in a little coffee house in Houston, Texas, wondering just who would walk through the door. It was twelve years since he had last seen her. She would certainly be different. He was curious to find how she had changed.

With that thought his mind began to drift over the memories the two of them had made together. Their years in high school, all of the crazy adventures the two of them had been on. Then the end, when Michael had finally begun to learn that he wasn't the best of students, but was an exceptional criminal.

Every night found him sneaking into her window after one type of caper or another. She hated his lifestyle, hated the destruction he was indulging in, but was helpless to do anything more than sit by and watch.

He smiled to himself in appreciation of all that he had done. He was no longer that person. He had made something of himself in spite of all he had been through. Two years out of prison, and he owned parts of six companies. He worked seven days a week, yeah, but he made more money on any one of those days than he could think of what to do with. He was happier, had more friends, and was more content with how his life was going than he had ever been.

The only thing left to do was find someone to share it with.

His mind traveled, remembered, and found memories it had thought were lost. His coffee came, was emptied, and refilled.

By the time his third coffee came, Michael felt the cold grip of fear run its nails down his back. He shivered, unable to believe she would leave him in the booth by himself. But the time that she was supposed to arrive had come and gone long before. He wouldn't be allowed to simply sit in the booth forever on the off chance that she may appear. The owners of the store may not appreciate it.

He had waited for six years to learn of the news that her marriage had fallen apart. Then another year had passed as he got himself to the point that he believed that he was ready to approach her, and have a chance of acceptance beyond what he ever could have before. He was successful. He was excited.

He was terrified.

The world was in his hand when he entered the coffee shop, but he could feel it rolling out of control with every passing second. He gulped nervously.

The waitress approached once again. Any thought of flirtation had left both their minds after the second coffee. Michael didn't know what she said to him, or what he responded. It didn't matter. He knew when things had gone from bad, to hopeless.

His chances with her were lost to time. His waiting had been in vain. His clothes were the same. His car was the same. Everything about his life was the same as it had been just two hours before. But no one who saw the man who entered the coffee shop would have connected him with the person leaving. He picked up his coat and looked around one last time with an unspeakable pain in his deep gray eyes. No one watched him shuffle out the front door, as everyone had watched him enter in a flurry of energy.

One set of eyes watched him in heart rending grief, though. Her soft brown eyes teared up when he turned and glanced over the coffee shop one last time. From behind a door that led to the back of the store, she waited for him to leave. Wished for him to leave. Michael had been correct in every assumption he made, she had wanted to see him, she had wanted to be with him again.

Until he entered the store.

How could she approach him as she was then? He had obviously done better for himself than anyone had suspected was possible. How could she expect him to feel anything for her any longer? Life had taken its toll on her, and she wasn't the person he had fallen in love with. She couldn't admit that she was ashamed to have written him off.

She was only a waitress. He hadn't even recognized her as she took his order.

Reviews

[Whatever]

I really like this story. Tragic and awesome.

[Pereo]

Your writing is so interesting. Please keep updating.

[Dante Carlisle]

Thank you for the comment, I know I need to be on here more often, it's terrible how little I've added lately.

[S Lavovi]

Once again looking toward the past and future of what could have been and what was. Your expression of longing and love that could have been. Life is full of these events and you capture it well.

[Xavier Lee]

Oh, that was power, pure and unfiltered. Forgive the colloquial language, but this story kicked me in the feels. It was intense and ended on a great surprise. Your poetry is great, but your prose is phenomenal.

[Dante Carlisle]

Right on. The prose is where I get my kicks, the poetry is just a coffee shop habit. I have a history of wandering in to coffee shops and writing for a few hours. Poor baristas can't figure it out. Maybe one of these days I'll get my novels edited and out here, too.

[Xavier Lee]

Speaking from experience; writing a novel is difficult, albeit fun, work. Don't give up and keep writing.

[Dante Carlisle]

Trust me, I know. I've already finished four full-length manuscripts. I enjoyed the entire process, but it's backbreaking sometimes. The problem is they were written on typewriters and longhand, so finding a decent Character Reader is near impossible. But, I'm in the midst of editing the fun problems the readers put in my first two novels.

[Marie]

This is a great story. It was tense and exciting. I hoped the build-up was going somewhere, and it did. Not all stories can end happily. Very good writing.

[Laura Lynn]

This is very sad for the girl. Of course she wanted that man and why couldn't she have him? Doesn't he realize that he is as much the product of himself as he is the product of others. Kudos to him for making something of himself though. I want to gain the trust of this man, too, why if love or passion does not motivate us to make us 'better' ourselves as we sometimes like to say, I don't know that anything will, there is much to do yet to get better, I will not give up in this immense task either, the girl surely has made something of herself I hope, since in my judgement I must judge myself simultaneously

[Dante Carlisle]

We'll never know if she could have had him or not, that's the most tragic element of the story. She would have gladly made herself known had he been down on his luck or unsuccessful, but his success intimidated her. The opposite reaction he had hoped or expected. He would have accepted her in any way he could have her. The only thing that stopped her from having him, was herself.
Self-improvement is always considered a positive, but if you do too well, do you also leave behind the person you once were, and simultaneously those you knew?
Thanks for the review!