Loki's Mark

Chapter Nine

Eight months. Eight long, empty, desolate months since I walked away from those haunting green eyes and all the promises I wished they had held. Eight months of moving around constantly, never staying in any one place for more than a few days, or a couple weeks at most. Renting shitty motel rooms and taking whatever odd jobs I could get, enough to keep me fed, a roof over my head, and to buy the next ticket out of town when my skin began to crawl and the paranoia became too much to take.

Until now. Thousands of miles and hours later, I was just too tired to keep moving anymore. The mark had almost completely faded at this point, all I could see was the barest outline now. Almost like right after he had kissed my wrist. A few days, maybe a week or two, at most, at this point, and it would be gone. So, I had found a job at a local bookstore that was also a coffee shop, and a tiny studio for dirt cheap, and I had decided to rest for a while.

I spent my mornings helping customers and serving drinks, my afternoons wandering the city and learning its history, and my evenings volunteering at whatever place would have my help. Despite wanting to rest, psychologically, I could not let myself rest physically. Exhausting myself to the point that I dropped into bed without even changing my clothes most nights, was the only way I kept the dreams at bay.

No, I wasn't having nightmares anymore, at least not any involving my mother, or the curse. Now, they were just the memories of every touch we had shared, every conversation, every kiss, every interaction, our last time together. Especially our last time together. Everything I had sacrificed, and given up, so that at least one of us would finally be free of the torment we had known all of our lives. I knew that I would never be able to love another again, not after him. Every interaction would only make me wish it was him, and I couldn't do that to anyone else.

Hell, there were times I thought I saw him everywhere. A stranger passing in the street. Someone sitting on the passing bus as I walked the streets. Someone walking the streets as I rode the bus. A customer who declined my offer of help. A man, smiling at me in the park, before his wife and kids joined him, and shattered that illusion. None of them were ever him though. The relief I felt every time almost balanced out the heartbreak. Almost.

It was a blustery, rainy, early summer day, and the coffee shop was filled to bursting. It had been constant and non-stop all morning, and I had already worked three hours over my normal shift. Finally, the rain broke and the sun shone through, turning the afternoon into something that almost brought a smile to my face. My boss told me that I could serve a few more customers, grab the last of my tips, and go ahead and head out. I nodded with a smile, and grabbed a coffee that had just come up, frowning at the ticket before figuring out that it was going to a gentleman sitting at a window table.

Whisking my way over to him, I only gave him a cursory glance in passing as I mentally sorted my final tasks before I could leave for the day. Short, curly black hair slicked back, light brown eyes, business suit, reading a newspaper. "Excuse me sir, Americano black?" I asked politely, my customer service voice turned up to 11. He started to answer, but we were interrupted by someone calling me from the counter.

"Tessa!" I turned and saw that Mike was holding up a danish, and I nodded. "I'm sorry, did you have a pastry as well?" He nodded, and I set the coffee down on the table, while grabbing his empty cup. "I'll be right back with that sir, my apologies!" I dropped the cup off in the bin as I made my way back to the counter, then returned to his table with the pastry. I smiled again and cleared my throat, and he looked up at me.

"Once again I apologize sir, please enjoy!" I said, as I started to set the plate down. He took it from me instead, with a nod, and our fingers slid over each other as the plate transferred hands. He gave me a brief flash of a smile as he turned back to his paper, giving me no more thought as his attention became absorbed elsewhere.