Unbidden Awakening

The one where my hope blooms

You know that game never have I ever?

Well. If I ever play the game again and someone asks, never have i ever been stared at with unwavering attention by someone you might possibly have a crush on would have to drink.

If you've never been stared at by someone, you might possibly have a crush on. I tell you it's unnerving. Like palm sweating, heart pounding, teeth rattling, hand shaking. Unnerving. Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but it was nerve-wracking. He just sat there beside me and used his phone occasionally . If I'm being honest, it was nice. At some point, he reaches over and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. It was the same piece of hair that I'd been blowing out of my face.

Class finishes, and as I pack up my things, Max leans in close to me.

"Goodbye, sweetheart." The proximity makes me gasp. My mind goes blank for a second, and when I turn around, he's gone. The hollow feeling in my chest returns, and I push it down. I close my eyes for a bit and take deep breaths.

"Hi."

"Jesus Christ!!" I scream, opening my eyes, I turn around, and there's a really pretty girl with long black hair and blue eyes that are really familiar. At my expression, she bursts out laughing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Tarla. " I'm a little confused. I look back to make sure she isn't talking to someone behind me.

"Me?, you're talking to me."

"Um, yes,"

"I'm sorry, It's just, um, I, um,I don't know. I guess I'm Callie."

"You guess or you are," she remarks with a smile.

"I am," I say, answering her smile with a little one of mine.

"Well, Callie," She says with a big smile on her face. "Once again, I am Tarla." She stretches out her hand, and I shake it.

☆★★☆☆★★☆☆★★☆☆★★☆

"Would you like to go somewhere like maybe a cafe or something?"

Tarla asks me we are walking from school. She waves at someone agaim. I asked her about it, and she said she said she loves greeting people she knows.Well, she knows a lot of people. Thankfully, no one has come up to us. That would have been too much for me. I'm not ready to speak to a lot of people yet. The thought alone freaks me out.

"Oh no, I actually have to get to work now. My shift starts at 5."

"Oh, uh, you work night shifts"?

"Yeah, sometimes. It changes."

"Okay, where do you work, I can drop you off."

"It's fine I can walk, it's the cafe near the school library."

"Oh yeah, the popular one, I heard the coffee there is really good."

I grimace. "That's not the one. Um, where I work is um..... What's the word?"

"It's unpopular?"

"Yeah, it is, but the coffee is actually really good." We laugh, and as I walk away from her, I just feel like there is no reason not to have coffee with Tarla on another day, so I turn around and call out.
"Hey Tarla, we can get coffee later if you want."

"Sure. I'd like that."

☆★★☆☆★★☆☆★★☆☆★★☆

"I totally called it," Neela says, standing beside me two hours later. I've just told her rge bulk of what happened between me and Max.

"That day when he came in here, there was this tension between you two it was sizzling hot, and you could cut it with a butter knife." She makes cutting motions with her hands.

"Like I said before, Neela, I don't know him."

"But you want to know him, though." I don't say anything.

"I mean, I do not not want to know him."

"Exactly, my point," She says, smiling at me. We work in companionable silence for some time with me taking orders, Neela serving, and Stacy making the coffee.

"There is something about him that screams power. He gives off 'this approach me and die' vibe. " Neela and I stop what we are doing to stare at Stacy. Stacy has never once spoken to me casually. Normally, it's just me and Neela. Stacy raises her head to look at me and like she knows what we are thinking. She shrugs.

"I didn't talk to you because I thought you would quit. Many people do when they realise we aren't the popular cafe."

"Okay," Neela says. " I also see it, the aura you speak of. Personally, I wouldn't ride that boat for anything, but I think Callie should do it."

She turns to look to me and joins her hand like she's praying, "I wish to live vicariously through you, Calista Richards."

I can't help myself. I laugh. As I'm laughing. I realise that the first time I laughed was earlier today with Max. That sobers me pretty quickly. "

Wow, I've never actually heard you laugh. "

Neela says, stunned.

"You should do it more often," Stacy says. "You look really pretty." Me cheek feels warm all of a sudden, and I clear my throat. " So you recommend that I should ride the boat."

"Yes, I totally do."

"Even if you and Stacy think he goes off a dangerous vibe."

"Dangerous, but Sexy." Stacy adds, and Neela just nods

"So you're selling me out?"

"Not selling, just recommending."

"Right, so definitely selling me out." Neela gives me a funny smile. "Agree to disagree."

"Hmmm," Stacy hums. There is dead silence for a few seconds, and then I burst out laughing, followed by Stacy, then Neela.

After a few minutes. We are back to work. I think about Tarla and our coffee date. A date which I'm just realising we never scheduled. I make a mental note to get Tarla's number later. I look around, at Stacy with her long black braid making coffee and gently swaying with the soothing music playing from the ceiling speakers and Neela serving coffee and talking amiably with an elderly couple who by the looks of it are married. I think about where I was emotionally last month and how disconnected I felt from myself and everything. I made a couple of baby steps, and now I have a friend, a possible friend, a coffee date, and possibly a - I put that thought aside. I'm not remotely ready to untangle my complicated feelings toward Max.

One thing I do know for certain is that, for the first time in a long while, my future doesn't look as gloomy, and I'm very happy with that.