Fray – IV. Aromas

-“Where am I?”
The question came to you as you stepped past the bathroom’s heavy door. Following it, you laughed at yourself. A silly question it was. It wasn’t a matter of displacement, but of clarity. As you had entered everything had been nothing more than a blur. Now, after staring at yourself and blinking your way to focus, retinal focus, you could see the small coffee shop clearly. Admittedly, it did not seem familiar, being a place you seldom visited, but had enough familiarity for you to recognize it. You glanced around once more, taking in the facade, the small space of the place. You breathed in and the scent that came to you was familiar enough, the smell of over roasted coffee beans being brewed and poured into paper cups.
Your eyes fell from their absorbing glances and they began scanning. Your posture straighter than it had been all day and your hair mussed and looking like a bird’s nest. There was an outburst of laughter and your eyes darted. You found the open mouths from whence the eruption had come. It had been a group of business students sitting in a cluster; their dark blue business suits dampened and wrinkled by the splattering of water and the day’s cold press.
Behind them, as if hiding intentionally, you saw her. The girl with the umbrella. She was smiling and looking intently at someone sitting across from her but behind the cluster of suited students and you couldn’t see who it was. You felt the barrage of thoughts enter and they felt like the downpour outside. You forced a smile and dismissed them, making your way over to the small table at which she sat. You walked around the business students, still laughing loudly, and found she was smiling now. She was smiling at the guy sitting across from her. You didn’t know whether you should interrupt, whether you should stay or start making your way home. As you reached your hand out to touch her shoulder, her now dry raincoat, his eyes jumped up and away from her, to you. She noticed and turned her head to you, her smile still lingering.
Her hand reached out and up to you, and her finger made contact with your skin.
“You missed a drop,” she said and traced a trail down your cheek, then turned around and reached for a cup on the table.
You smiled a little awkwardly, watching as the guy just sat with a smile. As you stood there, you noticed the sound of crashing water had stilled and all that remained was a swooshing of wind. You looked out the window and looked at the trees, their leaves dancing and releasing little droplets, letting them fall to the sleeked concrete below them. You didn’t notice she had turned back around and was handing you the cup.
“John.”
You were caught in the movement of the trees and the water, the sound of the wind. You were amazed as you heard your name, thinking you had for the first time, actually understood the wind. But then it came again, along with a prod at your belly.
“John.”
And you turned, your cheeks reddening at the recollection of your last thought; more silliness.
“Thank you,” you said, taking the drink and bringing it close enough to smell the steam.
“You owe me seven sixty,” she said, still smiling.
You looked at her and you remembered it was after all you who had invited her to coffee.
“I’m sorry,” you blurted, putting down the coffee and making for your wallet.
The guy, laughing at this point.
“I’m kidding,” she stressed, “I thought you’d like something warm if you made it out of that bathroom. We thought you had frozen to death in there. I was about to send Greg in there after you.”
You laughed along with them.
“Thank you,” you reiterated, “it’s good to have something hot.”
She smiled, a satisfied smile.
“Oh, John this is Greg, Greg, John.”
He reached out to shake your hand. You slowly reacted, reaching out and leaning in. You shook his hand. A little longer than the usual handshake, you had been caught. As you had leaned in, your nose freed from the numbness it had been captured by, you were taken by her scent. The sweet scent which even after the rain’s campaign and in the midst of the coffee’s burnt aroma managed to linger in the space of her. He pulled slightly, his hand. You reacted immediately letting it fall.
“Still a little frozen,” he laughed, getting up from the table. “It was nice meeting you.” Turning to her, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, “I’ll see you soon. I have to go, I have a class I hope is cancelled.”
As he walked away, her eyes trailed him. Then the door closed after him, a swooshing sound muted, as the wind was not allowed in. You listened to the sound and then turned to her, a smile lingering on her face. She reached for her cup. There was a silence between you, and you noticed the business students’ laughing had become silenced as well.
“He’s in our class,” she said, breaking silences. And at that moment, from the cluster behind the two of you there was a stifled solitary giggle.
You shook your head, “I never noticed him.”
“He’s also in the sketch comedy group on campus,” her smile being refreshed with this last statement.
You felt your shoulders fall a little and quickly sipped at your cup hoping it had been a sudden draft that had affected your shoulder height. Looking at her you smiled sheepishly.
She smiled sincerely.
You felt almost a tingling down your spine. You hoped it had nothing to do with the draft.
“I should get home so I can change before my work shift,” you told her.
The warmth of the small shop having melted away at you, you felt warm then. Your eyelids by this point had regained a little weight so that when they closed, you noticed the darkness. As you did, you yawned, your eyes watering.
She let out a half breath laugh as she stood and she leaned in toward you giving you a hug.
“Go get some rest,” she said.
Your arms missed the cue and they came up a little delayed, her arms already around you, you could only bend at the elbow. Even though it was an awkward hug, you let the weight on your eyelids win out and smiled as you inhaled that sweet scent that even in the crowded aromas of the shop, managed to stand out.