It Was Just Coffee


This is a post for the Red Dress Club. Normally it would appear at my primary blog, but today I felt like mixing it up. It is based upon the following prompt:
We'd like you to write about what your character wants most.

Which reminds me of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams' character asks Matt Damon's character, Will, what he wants. And Will can't answer. Because he doesn't really know.

Do you know what you want most? Does your character? Write a piece of 600 words or less


Johnny looked out the window and watched his past walk into the present. He had arrived early so that he could choose a seat that would allow him to look out the window and watch the people walking by.

Until a moment ago he had been unsuccessfully doing his best to distract himself with a copy of the local paper. Had you asked him to tell you why he looked up when he did he would have shrugged his shoulders but the truth was far different.

For lack of a better description he had felt a disturbance in the force and looked up just in time to see her park the car. He watched as she adjusted her mirror, applied some fresh lipstick and made whatever adjustments women make before they go see that guy.

A mixture of anger and excitement washed over him and he wondered if this was a smart idea. Time and circumstances had torn them apart. Now they lived in different cities and the only reason that he was there was for a business meeting that couldn’t be conducted by telephone.

She hadn’t wanted to see him and had told him so. She said that she didn’t think it was a good idea but he had pushed her to join him for a cup of coffee and nothing more. He was just about to give up when suddenly she shifted gears and said ok.

They gave each other a hug that was both awkward and familiar and sat down. At least that is how it had started and then things had gotten strange. Maybe strange wasn’t the word for it. Maybe it was more accurate to say that he couldn’t remember the last time he felt so scared and so alive.

He wasn’t the only one who had carried anger and hurt. He wasn’t the only one who felt like they hadn’t gotten what they had deserved. The conversation at the coffee shop had gotten tense and intense very quickly. So he had suggested that they walk, silently dreaming/hoping that she would come to his room.

And she had. But before she came out she had explained that she was coming up so that they could talk openly and nothing more. He said that he didn’t expect nor want anything else. It wasn’t true but he wasn’t about to say different.

It hadn’t taken more than a minute for him to realize that the fire still burned for him and he hoped for her. At the same time he sort of hoped that he was fooling himself. The idea of being with her was intoxicating but so very frightening.

It wouldn’t take much to reopen the wounds of the past. But he had promised himself that if he ever got a chance again to take it.

So when she said nothing was going to happen he lied and said ok. He figured that she was lying too, but didn’t do anything to destroy the fiction she had created to give herself permission to go with him.

The conversation was a both heated and tender. There were harsh words spoken and for a moment it had looked like it would end badly. And then he wrapped his arms around her. For a moment she was stiff, but he whispered softly in her ear and asked her to look at him.

Later on she would say that he had kissed her first and he said it was her. One kiss was all it took and nothing was ever the same again.

And by special request here are links to past Red Dress Club Posts:

Links to Past TRDC posts:

No comments:

Not Quite Abandoned

I didn't think it had been as many months away from here as it has clearly been. I was certain I had updated this place in December and ...