Leaves [gxg]

3

3

The next day, River welcomed Erisa into the shop before opening time. As bubbly as ever, the young university student breezed in, dropping her bag under the counter and then leaned upon the counter top staring at River with an inquisitive gaze. Erisa looked amazing, with a light brown lipstick that accentuated her dark skin, her hair styled into dual pom-pom's that made her look younger than her twenty years, and her usual white blouse and black trousers. The ones she only wore for working at the shop.

"There's something. I don't know what it is, but something." Squinting, Erisa studied River for far longer than River felt comfortable with. With a snap of her fingers, Erisa stood upright. "You met someone."

Spinning around, River showed Erisa her back and began wiping the tables with anti-bac wipes. She knew Erisa wouldn't let her get away with that so easy and, when the girl popped into view, River smiled and turned away again, moving to the next table. Again, Erisa's face appeared, bending almost double to try and catch River's eye.

"No. No. No. I've not 'met' anyone." She rubbed the table top so hard it ripped the wipe in two. She rolled the two halves into a ball and pulled a new one from the packet. "I just had a chat with someone, that's all. Just a chat. A chinwag. A conversation."

"Far too many synonyms aside, who did you 'chinwag' with?" Taking the wipe from River's hand, and the packet from the other, Erisa held them out of River's reach, raising her eyebrows, urging River to continue. "And?"

"And nothing. It was just a customer. A regular customer. Someone who comes by every so often." Snapping her hand out for the wipes, River found them pulled mere centimetres out of reach. Erisa was not going to let this one go. "She's called Celeste. She quit her job, yesterday, and needed someone to talk to. Besides, she's straight. I think. I'm pretty certain she's straight."

Erisa handed back the wipe and the packet and gave River one of those knowing smiles. She bumped her hip against River's and made a 'uh-huh' sound as she returned behind the counter. River didn't want to say too much, through fear of revealing everything she had sat up most of the night thinking.

Only moments before Erisa had arrived, River had received the text message Celeste had threatened to send. It still sat in her inbox, unread, and she didn't know when, if, she would ever get around to reading it. If she read it, she would only put herself in a position where she could fall for a straight woman. She had done that before and had suffered the ignominy of watching the person she liked dating others. Dating men.

It wasn't even that she was desperate. It was only a few weeks ago that she had gone on a few dates with another woman. She had enjoyed their time together but, as the dates had worn on, she knew she wasn't going to fall for the other woman. She couldn't keep people dangling like that. The decision to end it, however, only came after two more dates and a lot (a lot!) of worrying and second-guessing.

But, she had to admit to herself, there was something about Celeste that had caught her. The very thought of having a text from her, waiting for River to read, sent shivers of anticipation through her. Taking the used anti-bac wipes, she dropped them into the waste bin, the lid almost trapping her fingers, and rubbed fingers into her hair. She pulled out a pencil that she didn't remember tucking in there and placed it on the counter before Erisa could see.

"So, a regular customer, female, comes in late at night, I'm thinking. When else can you sit down for a chat?" Tying an apron around her waist, Erisa ran through the evidence in her mind and River considered hiring a law student for part-time help was not her best idea. "Knowing your type, she's tall? Dark haired? Short dark hair, you love your little pixie styles. Successful? Intelligent? And with a strong personality with a hint of vulnerability."

"How do you know this? Are you stalking me? What would your boyfriend think?" She clamped her mouth closed, realising that she had confirmed everything Erisa had said. "Don't forget, it was a chat. Just a chat. And she's straight. I think."

Shaking her head, Erisa began filling the kettles, getting them ready for the early Saturday customers. The hardcore shoppers who always stopped by before heading off on their regular clothing raids. River tried to avoid the knowing, amused looks from Erisa. She didn't like people thinking her so predictable, but Erisa did have a point. Celeste ticked every box in River's preferences. Right down to not wearing any jewellery. Not a ring. Not a necklace. Not even earrings.

She thought back to the night before and how Celeste had turned her head, at one point, revealing the cutest earlobe River had ever seen, unmarked, with not even a healed hole in sight. With an absent mind, she tugged upon her own earlobe, remembering the regret she had felt after her school friends had persuaded her to have her ears pierced. She had sworn never to let anyone persuade of anything ever since.

"Are you going to see her again? Should I start looking at bridesmaid's dresses?" With that light, yet hearty laugh of hers, Erisa began arranging cups and saucers, giving them one final wipe, even though they were all clean.

"Bridesmaid dresses?" Even River could tell her voice had raised to a squeak. Any higher and she would attract bats. In daylight. She knew Erisa only pulled her leg, but the thought had nearly choked her. "No. No, I'm not 'seeing' her again. I didn't 'see' her the first time. I mean, I haven't even read her text yet ..."

She stopped. Erisa's face had taken on the appearance of all grin and wide eyes. River knew she had said too much. Far too much. And Erisa was about to put two-and-two together and make 'happily ever after' from it. Before River could stop her, Erisa had found River's phone, behind the counter, and held it up in front of River's eyes, waggling it around.

"Read it! Read it! Read it!" Forcing the phone into River's hands, Erisa rested her chin on her hands, waiting. "If you don't read it, I will, very deliberately, disrespect your privacy at the first opportunity."

It wasn't a big deal. She had intended reading the text later, after she had stopped running through every single ridiculous scenario her twisted mind could come up with. Then, when she had returned to some form of sanity, when she could read the text in the context Celeste intended it, without adding in any flights of fancy her strange mind could come up with, she could read it for what it was. A text from a customer.

As casually as she could muster, River opened the home screen, giving Erisa a 'see!' poke of the tongue from her lips. She regretted that. She wasn't a child anymore. Firing up her messages, she opened the text from Celeste. She knew it was from her, few other people texted her, not even for business purposes.

Once she read the text, she read it again and frowned. She saved the number into her contacts and then read the text again, as though that would clarify things, but it didn't. Confused, she looked towards Erisa. With no other option, she handed the phone across to her assistant, hoping she could make sense of it.

"Oh." Now Erisa looked confused. "It says nothing. I mean, this is almost like a business text. There's no ... humanity to it at all. No emojis. No 'lols'. Not even an 'x'. I put an 'x' at the end of texts to people I don't even know!"

The text had said, in plain, staid fashion, that Celeste had enjoyed their talk and that she would look forward to hearing from River, in the future, regarding the discussed trip to Truro. It felt so cold and impersonal. Erisa was right. Even River tried to spice up her text messages, despite worrying, every time, that she had come across as some mad woman who couldn't take things seriously.

She felt disappointed, even though she had convinced herself that Celeste had no intentions other than visiting the tea estate, if she intended visiting the tea estate at all. If nothing else, the cold missive had made it abundantly clear that Celeste did not hide any deep seated feelings for River. Which River had completely believed in the first place. Mostly.

"See. I told you. Straight." She tried to look smug, but it felt more like a grimace. A bordering on tears grimace, even though she knew Celeste was not interested in her like that.

"I'm so sorry." Giving River a sad smile, Erisa rubbed River's arm, giving it a little squeeze. "So, what's this about a trip to Truro? Business?"

River clicked her phone screen off and laid the phone back on the counter. She nodded, answering Erisa without words. She had still not replied to Celeste and, now, she wasn't certain she should. She couldn't imagine travelling for hours in the company of someone so devoid of warmth.