Send Me In Orbit

Encounter

Four months, one week, and three days. That's how long Leah has been living in San Francisco again. She should be used to it by now, seeing him everywhere, the memories of him, of the two of them together, scattered all across the city, following her wherever she goes. Sometimes she even seeks the ghosts out, like her impromptu visit to the Palace of Fine Arts this morning. She usually avoided the place like the plague but today it was like she was being called there, some invisible force magnetizing her feet and taking her to the place where his presence was the strongest. Even now her path was taking her past Omni Hotel...

Leah was so lost in thought that she doesn't see the person in her path until she bumps shoulders with him. She looks up and there he is, like she had brought him back to San Francisco with the force of her thoughts. Clark.

For a split second she thinks that this might not be real. She'll wake up from a dream, she'll blink and he'll be some stranger on the street that she hallucinated as Clark. Both has happened before, more frequently than she would like to admit. Leah blinks and he's still there, still Clark.

"Clark!"

"Leah."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Bakit ka nandito sa San Francisco?"

"What are you doing here..."

They both speak at the same time and laugh awkwardly. Leah can't stop looking at him, drinking him in. He looks a little different but still so so good.

"Ikaw muna," she tells him. Her stomach is fluttering with a million butterflies. More than being shocked, she's just so happy to see him.

"No, you go first."

"Dito ako inassign ng Art Mart."

He nods. "Nice. Ako? Business trip."

She nods and she bets she looks like one of those little dogs on the dashboard of her Tatang's jeep but she can't help it.

"Long time no see."

Seriously Leah? Resorting to cliches now? She mentally kicked herself.

"Yeah, really long time," Clark agreed.

They stand there looking at each other. The silence stretches and Leah knows she can't stand there on the street staring at him all day (no matter how much she wants to) so she awkwardly makes her goodbyes.

"Sige. I'll go ahead. It was nice seeing you again."

It was nice seeing you? Leah needed to get out of here so she could find a large sewage hole to jump into.

"Yeah, it was nice seeing you too."

They both move in for a beso and its awkward and their faces come too close together, and Leah can smell that he's still wearing her favorite cologne, the one she had gotten him as a birthday present when they had just gotten married and didn't know each other very well yet. But beneath that was the distinct Clark smell that she loved. She remembers nights spent in his arms, her nose buried in his neck, breathing in that scent. He still smells the same, he still smells like home. The home that she's been missing for two years.

"Bye," she said.

"Bye."

She has to walk away before she can break down and cry in front of him because she has missed him so much. So very much. Its been like the other half of herself has been gone for two years and now she finally found him again and she's walking away like the stupid coward that she is. The coward she has always been when it comes to matters of the heart.

"Leah!"

Her heart skips a beat as she turns around to see Clark walking briskly towards her.

"I was thinking maybe, you wanna grab some coffee or something?"

Leah's smile is one of utter happiness and deep relief. Because yes yes yes, there was nothing she wanted more in this moment than to spend more time in Clark's presence.

"Sure!" She squeaks then clears her throat. "Sige. Coffee sounds good."

Clark smiles and leads the way. Leah walks alongside him, and she vaguely remembers that Simon was grabbing some coffee and they were supposed to head into the office together but she decides to just text him to go without her.

Clark holds open the door of the Cafe beside Omni Hotel open for her. As they walk to a table Leah looks over her shoulder and out of the windows she sees the spot where she had first bumped into Clark so many years ago. It was only a few feet away from where she had bumped into him just now.

"I love you, San Francisco," she whispers to herself.