"The Coffee Shop Scene"
from We're All Broken People : Episode 2 'Call Backs'
“Gosh it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other.” Gabrielle looks intently at the eyes of the person sitting across from her. The smell of coffee in the air, sweet comforting with a deep core of bitterness. A great metaphor for life. She studies his face but he studies hers more intently. Her eyes are the most intriguing. He thought that he would never earn the right to look at those eyes again. The swirls of brown and soft palatable hues of green offer a catalyst of memories, a concoction potent with nostalgia. His coily hair rings across his forehead and his soft smile is that of pure bliss. This is a moment that he never thought he would be granted with again.
His leather shoe slowly taps quickly and nervously against the dark tiled floor of the coffee shop, the morning light shedding in through the window only adds to the comfort. “You’re right. It has been forever. How are the boys?” She smiles, her lips glowing in the sunlight like the thick oil across a canvas. The reflectivity is prominent but skewed. “They are good, I dropped them off at school and now I have some time to myself. I take off Tuesdays anyway.” Finley quickly fidgets, his eyes bouncing back and forth before he finally asks the tone filling the room in a heavier way, “Why did you agree to see me?”
Gabrielle’s jaw tightens before she says, “I’ve wanted to for a long time. When you know someone for so long it feels so strange… foreign to have them fade away like that. I’ve missed talking to you.” The way she says it isn’t in the way of a love sick puppy or a way that completely forgets and overlooks all of the mistakes and hurt that he has brought her but it does hold truth and honesty to how she feels. Finley holds a slight smile knowing that there is still a seed of anger deep inside of her, a resentment of him, a detestment that he could possibly never ever walk away from. But in this moment he forgets the bad of the past and relishes in the moment remembering the way that they made each other feel. It is ironic that the same reels of memories have two sides to them, the bliss and the pain.
Finley’s and Gabrielle’s are full to the brim with both.
“How long has it been now?” She answers slowly, “About a year and a half.” Finley leans back in his chair amazed he had survived without her for over a year. A feat he would have admitted to being impossible. She then said after some time, “Finley y-you hurt me.” their eyes lock and hold like a tightrope connecting between their minds holding them together. He nods curtly, All he can do is nod and acknowledge his fault.
“-But you also helped me a lot.” The tension at the table is interrupted by the barista calling out loudly, “Gabriella!” Finley smiles before slowly getting up from his chair and saying, “I-I got it.” His movements are choppy and lacking any ounce of fluidity. He is stiff, quick and sporadic. He grabs the two cups of coffee and soon begins to return to the table where he hands her the paper cup and for a moment they look into each other’s eyes and she smiles. As she brings the cup up to her lips Finley muses, “They sure live up to the stereotype, getting your name wrong and everything.”
Gabby laughs even if it is for a quick moment before she brings the beverage to her lips she laughs and her eyes light up as if fireworks were blasting through them. Although cliche to say and the expression has been used hundreds of times it quite so perfectly captures the joy that all cliche has been forgotten. Finley brings the cup up to his mouth slowly taking a sip, the liquid passing through his chapped lips and the steam slowly blurring the lenses of his glasses in a fog. He wipes them off on his long sleeved blue sweater and he asks, “What do you do now?”
The mood is lighter, almost airy like a cloud or a feather. Gabrielle flashes a smile for a moment, her black hair perfectly complimenting the shape of her upturned mouth. “I mostly do photography, commission based work. A lot on social media. I also do stage productions on the side. I am in high school again. I never really had a chance to go until now.”
“Wow, High school! You made it. Is it awkward at all?”
She shrugs and hesitates a moment before answering, “Yes, sometimes. Others not really. I am eighteen years old so I am older than most of my classmates but it isn’t that different.” Finley nods as he takes another sip of his coffee, “Wow, Stage productions as well?”
“Yeah, I just auditioned yesterday for a new show about a jazz musician.”
Finley nods and says slowly, “Is there any chance that I’ll see you on Broadway one day?” Gabrielle blushes before saying slowly, “You were never interested in my aspirations.” There for a moment the recluse pain slowly emerges and damages the conversation. Finley tightens his jaw and attempts to avoid the hurt creeping up from inside her as he says slowly, “You’re right. I-I was foolish, I apologize.”
“You really have changed.”
“College will do a lot to a person.”
The two spend a moment just studying each other’s faces again before Gabrielle says gradually, “I should probably get going to work. I uh work at the Publix across the road.” Finley nods a slight disappointment, slashing at his hopes and he nods and says in his deep pursed voice, “Of course. May I walk you to your car?”
His voice echoes with sophistication and intelligence. It’s what made Gabrielle fall for him in the first place. She had yet to hear his voice angry, or lying or cunning the way that she grew to hear it and to know it. She preferred it this way but inside of her she hears that slyness behind each innocent syllable that he utters.