[ s k i n n y l o v e ]

o n e

                                                                                       o n e 

 

                   Some days you wake up and have tea, and other days coffee scalds your tongue. You can wear a different outfit for work and another for a party. People change their phone covers, their friends, their occupations, even. But that’s okay. Because change is a constant.

                   Just not for her.

                    Two days earlier she had sworn that a day was a day, no more. But as she entered the cafe she didn’t realize that two days later she would say to him that she knew there was something different that day from the moment she put her toothbrush in her mouth. So when the warmth of coffee and cinnamon and all things wonderful hit her cold cheeks, she was still wearing her same charcoal pencil skirt and fluffy white overcoat. She held a book in her right hand, index finger nervously running over the spine. As always.

              The leather of the bench was cool under her woollen tights as Serenity settled in comfortably into her usual spot. He was there as well. With the newspaper opened wide, all she could see were his furrowed eyebrows. And that was the way it would stay until the waiter came. As always.

                   Cracking open her novel, Serenity leaned forward, elbows on either side of her poem book. Peeking up at him from under her lashes, she watched as he flipped over to the next page, and for a moment the paper dipped low enough so she could see his chocolate eyes. He had beautiful eyes. The kind you could get lost in. And I guess I did.

                   When the confession first flitted across her mind, she found herself standing at the edge of a cliff, terrified. Suddenly her hands became clammy and unsure as the room tilted slightly. By the time it straightened, Serenity had forgotten where she was.

                   Well, that was more or less her explanation for what happened next.

                   “May I take your order ma’am?” came the question from the curly-haired boy. As always.

She smiled up at him. “Yes, I’d like… I’d like…” She didn't know why she hesitated. And then she turned to look back, when she had never done that before. Turned back to see Alex staring right at her. Not as always.

                   Her breath stuttered. “One skinny latte please.” Not as always.

                   The swooping of her stomach as she pushed herself off the cliff was all she felt as the boy left, leaving her with one confused heart and one very, very handsome man.

                   A man who had never spoken to her before in the two months they had been acquainted. A man who was mute. As always?

                   “What was that all about?”

                   Oh. Apparently not.