In the Grey

13

Chapter 13

I was determined that the first spot to try was the Starbucks given it was literally only one of two physical public spaces we had ever been inside of together. It also happened to be the first place that I had ever laid eyes on her. The memory made my lungs burn.

Inside I walked directly to the counter and said, "Hello, is the lady that normally works here around 2 pm, um here today?"

The barista, who I had never seen before, stared back at me blankly from behind her mask. I stared back for a silent moment before adding, "she had like, dark hair?" I shrugged.

"I don't know who you mean sir." She paused. "I'm pretty new here." I had forgotten that not unlike my jeans, it had also been two months since I had stepped foot in here.

"Okay... well, she was a little older than me and has the dark hair, like I said." I was trying to picture her in my mind, but no more specific details came to me. I blurted, "she's very nice."

The girl was unmoving behind the counter. "Did you want to order something?" She asked.

"Uh, no." I shook my head. "I just really need to talk to that lady."

The girl still didn't move from her spot. "I'm the only one here right now sir." The way she kept saying sir was making me uncomfortable. "The night manager will be here at 4." I pulled out my phone. 11:32am.

"Cool." I said to my phone screen.

A white receipt printed out to the left of the register, and she turned and ripped it off the little black box before beginning to work her magic at the espresso machine without even glancing at me again. I walked back over to Jon who was staring at his phone.

"Any luck?"

I gave a short shake of my head. "The manager is on at 4, I guess... I guess I'll come back then. Jon nodded and the girl behind the counter shouted, "Jon" and set a drink in the to-go tray.

"Dude," I said.

Jon shrugged innocently. "We're already here?"

I looked around the empty Starbucks, my eyes stopping at the corner table. It seemed sort of surreal. I walked over to it and noticed it was at least three feet away from the wall. I looked behind me and then nudged it over so that it was flush with the window just like it had been when she sat there. It had a sign on it that said SITTING with a big red circle and a slash through it. There were no chairs at any of the tables – just in case people weren't sure what the sign meant, I guess. I squatted like I was sitting in the same seat that I had when we had talked for hours.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Jon asked behind me taking a sip of his drink.

I remained in an uncomfortable half squat and said, "this is where we met. Well, actually, we met out there," I stood and looked out at the street and the bench across from it. I could picture her sitting there, slowly raising her hand while the sun glared in my eyes. I turned to the door. "She held the door open for me and then came over here to sit. This was her spot."

Jon nodded and his eyes got big for a millisecond in an effort to show interest in what was probably the least interesting story ... to him.

"She sat on this side?" He asked and moved into the sliver of space, his back pressing against the wall.

"The lobby area is closed," the girl said from behind the counter.

Jon nodded at her, "Got it!" He replied extending his free hand in a thumbs up but remaining where he was.