@ Joe’s Cafe

There you are! I want to exclaim this when the couple walks in.

But it’s a moderately large room, and they’re marginally far from where I sit, and they’re not even a couple. Well, they’re two people, and they came in together, but I sense something not quite couplish about them. I know. I’ve seen many couples come in here while I’ve been sitting here. Same spot, different days, different couples, and this is not a couple.

So maybe I shouldn’t say “there you are” because they might startle, like deer in the headlights, and take off. That would be something to see, wouldn’t it? Or I could pretend to be their long lost friend from college, or maybe I AM their long lost friend from college but I’ve forgotten most things about them because I’ve had amnesia from the accident. Whoa, that might be too complicated.

She stands arms length apart from him. She came in first. They’re paying separately…

Maybe if I just observe them some more while I eat my biscotti and sip my lukewarm tea (it’s what happens when I start writing – I tend to forget my food, but you know that), I can draw some more conclusions about them. So why do I think they aren’t a couple? Body language always tells the tale. She stands arms length apart from him. She came in first. They are paying separately. I can tell because both of them have one hand in their pockets while they decide what to order (like that Alanis song). It’s the classic sign of the person who’s paying.

And I have to keep looking away so they don’t know I’m writing about them.

See, I told you I’ve been in this place too many times, and for far too long. He’s wearing a leather jacket, which is kind of too hot for the weather outside, almost like he’s trying to impress someone. Yes, exactly. These two are friends, but he wants more. Now I can see it in his eyes, which I think are brown, but I’m not sure. Marginal distance and all. And I have to keep looking away so they don’t know I’m writing about them. She is in a short-sleeved t-shirt, and it’s a little too cool of an outfit for the weather. If they could only meet in the middle, there’s your relationship right there. Someone check the weather forecast before you go out.

And now she’s looking my way, with those blue eyes, or maybe they’re black, and I can’t stop looking at her. She is breathtaking, and of course now she thinks I’m some kind of creep. I’m really not. I swear. And I think she even smiled. And I’m right. They’re both paying for their drinks separately. Never a dull moment at Joe’s, and I will probably never see these two again, but they have unwittingly helped me get something out I needed to get out, and I’ve immortalized them as they are now forever on this page.

Sam