I've been writing a lot lately. And it resulted in this.
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“What can I get for you?” Amanda asked him
as he sat down at the counter. He was dressed in a sweater vest over his shirt and a leather
jacket, his dark hair was shaggy and face unshaven for a few days. His brown
eyes were tired and watering from the cold air and his rubbed his hands
together for warmth before looking up at her.
“Just a cup of coffee,” was all he
said.
She smiled to herself and grabbed a
mug.
An hour later he’d had four cups of
coffee and mostly sat staring at the counter, drawing fake works of art with
his finger. Thirty minutes past closing time, Amanda stood behind the counter
sweeping up imaginary dust to keep herself busy. She knew he had to leave
sometime soon.
“It’s probably none of my business,”
she said leaning on the counter in front of him. “But you seem a little down.”
“Guess I’m not very good at hiding
it,” he said looking up. He smiled a little, but a sad smile. She smiled
involuntarily when she noticed he had dimples.
“It’s just, that’s your fourth cup
of coffee in an hour and you’ve done nothing but stare at the counter or the
wall.”
“An hour? Oh you’re closed, right?
I’ll get out of here.” He stood to put his jacket back on. Amanda knew she’d
probably regret it, but she told him it wasn’t a problem and he could stay if
he wanted while she “finished cleaning up”. Then she went back to sweeping up
nothing.
Every now and then, Amanda glanced
up at the stranger, who was looking more and more familiar each time. She knew
him from somewhere, but she didn’t know where. After a few minutes it was
starting to annoy her that she couldn’t figure it out. She knew it wasn’t from
the café. And it wasn’t from any place in town. She felt like it was on
television. It had to be. He was on TV. But who was it?
“What are you staring at?” he asked,
genuinely confused. She was pulled out of her thoughts, clearly unaware that
she’d been staring.
“Sorry,” she said, “I didn’t realize
I’d been-,” and then it hit her. “You’re Lee, right? Lee Ryan James. I knew I
recognized you. You were on one of my favorite shows.”
“Thanks,” he finished the last bit
of coffee.
“And you’re with, you’re with that
girl, Claudia Yates, right?” Lee’s face fell and she immediately put two and
two together. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Lee managed a sad smile. “It’s
alright,” his British accent was adorable.
“Give me a few minutes to lock up
here,” Amanda said grabbing his empty mug. “I think you need something stronger
than coffee.”
Thirty minutes later they were
outside a small ice cream vendor on Plum Avenue, just a block from Amanda’s
flat. She hadn’t been in London long, but she knew where to get good ice cream.
She made sure of that. Lee sat at the picnic table facing the empty street
while Amanda waited in line. “Hi Amanda,” the man behind the plate glass said
as she stepped up to make her order.
“Oh, hello Norman,” she replied with
a slight smile. “I’ll take two small cakebatter cups please.”
“There you are,” Norman said when he
brought them to her. “It’s alright,” he said when she tried to pay. “I’ve got
them for you.” He smiled like a kid at Christmas. Amanda awkwardly smiled back.
She knew he had a huge crush on her, but he just wasn’t her type.
“Thanks, Norman,” she turned to walk
away.
“Amanda,” he said and she
turned to him. “Did you- did you get my note?”
“Yes I did. And the flowers,” Amanda
said.
“I thought you’d like them,
daffodils.”
“Yes, they are my favorite, huh.”
She really wanted him to stop talking now.
“Yeah, you told me that,” he smiled.
“I remember. They were sweet, thank
you.” She turned again to go.
“Amanda…”
She turned to face him once again.
“Yes?”
“If you ever want to go out
sometime, you know you can call me, right?”
“Goodnight Norman,” and she walked
over to the table with Lee. “Here you go,” she said placing the cup in front of
him and then digging into hers.
“You know,” Lee said taking the cup.
“When you said I needed something stronger than coffee, I thought we were going
to a bar.”
“Oh no,” Amanda smiled. “No, I never
drink to feel better, I drink to feel even
better.”
Lee took a bite of ice cream. “Oh,
that’s good.”
“I know,” Amanda smiled. “Best
homemade ice cream I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of ice cream.”
Lee smiled. For the first time
tonight, he really smiled. “Look,” Amanda said, “you smiled. The ice cream’s definitely
working.”
He looked up at her. “Yes,” he said,
“it definitely is. Although, it does seem strange, eating ice cream when it’s
freezing cold out here.”
“Well when you eat it when it’s hot
outside, it melts too quickly. This way it stays colder longer.”
“What so your lips stay frozen
longer too?” Lee laughed.
“Precisely,” Amanda said.
“So is that your boyfriend in
there?” Lee nodded his head toward the window where Norman occasionally and not
so subtlety glanced in their direction.
“Uh, no,” Amanda said with a sigh.
“He’s my neighbor.”
“Very friendly,” Lee said.
“Yeah, he has a bit of a crush on
me.”
“A bit? No, that’s like a mega-byte.”
“Yeah, poor guy. I keep trying to
give him a clue, but he doesn’t know how to take a hint.” A few moments of
silence passed before Amanda mucked up the courage to ask, “Do you want to talk
about it?”
“I don’t know,” Lee said really
fast. “I haven’t really talked about it with anyone, yet.”
“It’s alright if you don’t want to,”
Amanda said.
“No, I do want to… but I just…” he
finished off his ice cream and stuck his spoon in the cup. “She left.” Lee
looked as if he was about to cry, but didn’t.
“I’m- I’m sorry.”
“She met someone else. Moved out.”
Amanda just stared at his tired
eyes. She realized now that he’d probably cried so much already, that he was
all dried up. She took a deep breath in.
“I know what you need,” Amanda said.
“Come on.”
They walked the two blocks to her
apartment and climbed up to the third floor. “This is nice,” Lee said as they
entered. “Much better than my first flat.”
“Yeah,” Amanda said. “When I first
moved here, I got off the plane and had no idea where I was gonna go. I just
needed a cup of coffee, so I asked the first person where to go and they led me
to the café. Kevin, the owner, got me a cup.” Amanda smirked a little and Lee
sat down on the couch while she went to start a pot of tea. “He was the only
one working and so I just grabbed an apron and a hat and started working. I was
on payroll by the end of the day. But by the end of the night, Kevin invited me
to stay with him and his wife until I found an apartment. And less than a week
later I was in here. And I got her to
knock two hundred dollars off the rent because an old woman who used to live
here died in here and no one wanted it.”
“Well, I say you sprung a deal.” Lee
smiled. And after a few moments he added, “I wish we could do that on set. They
won’t give you an audition so you just walk up and start reciting lines in
front of the camera.” He chuckled and Amanda smiled involuntarily like before.
“I think Kevin was desperate. And
now I’m practically running the café myself because he’s got a newborn at home.
But I don’t mind. More money for me.” Amanda sat down beside him on the couch
and tucked her feet up underneath her. It felt weird to be hanging out with a
celebrity. Not that he was very famous, a few movies and mini-series here and
there, and his main show hadn’t even premiered in the U.S. yet, but he was
still a celebrity to her.
“How long have you been here?” Lee
asked. By now he had his jacket off and slung over the back of the couch.
“I moved here about six months ago.
My friend was supposed to come with me, but she said she needed more time to
save up money and so I told her I was going and she could just come when she
was ready. But I knew she wouldn’t come. She’s not a spontaneous kind of
person, and this was very last
minute.”
“I like spontaneity,” Lee said. Then
his face fell, “Sometimes.”
“I know what you need,” Amanda said
getting up and running into her room.
“No more ice cream, please, I’m
full!”
“No!” Amanda ran back out with a DVD
in her hand. She held it up for him to see.
“Love
Actually?” he asked skeptically. “I don’t do chick flicks.”
“It has Liam Neeson in it,” she
replied. “It’s not a chick flick.”
“Oh no, you’re putting it in the
player. You’re really going to make me watch this aren’t you?”
“No,” Amanda said matter-of-factly.
“I’m going to watch it, and you can stay or you can leave. The door’s unlocked.”
She sat back down on the couch and switched off the light.
Lee looked from the TV to the door
and then back at Amanda. He smiled, defeated. “Alright, but I’m not sorry if my
feet smell,” he said untying his shoelaces.
“Just keep them over there,” Amanda
said, to which Lee replied by lifting a foot up to her face.
“Ew!” she cried smacking it away.
But Lee just laughed. “You want some popcorn? Or are you too full?” She was
mocking him.
“No, I couldn’t.” And after a few
moments. “Yeah, you better make some.”
When Lee had been introduced to a
movie that he claimed was “alright” but Amanda knew he loved, it was two
o’clock in the morning. “Thank you so much,” Lee said as she walked him
outside. “You know, I don’t usually do this sort of thing.”
“You mean, you don’t get ice cream
with random baristas and then go back to their place only to watch chick
flicks?”
“Aha! You do admit that it’s a chick
flick!”
Amanda smirked. “It was nice to meet
you Lee.”
“You too, Amanda.”
“I do want an autograph, too.”
“Okay, well I don’t have any paper.”
“Oh, you can just bring it by the
café sometime,” she smiled.
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.” They held gaze for a few
moments. “Wait a minute,” Amanda said.
“What?”
She took a deep breath in through
her nose, smelling the air. “It’s going to snow.”
“What?” Lee looked genuinely
confused.
“It’s going to snow. Tomorrow.”
“No, the weatherman isn’t calling
for snow.”
“I’m positive. Tomorrow, it’s
happening. You’ll probably want to bring that autograph by early.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not going to
snow.”
“Oh yeah?” Amanda raised her
eyebrows. “How much do you want to bet?”
“I’m not betting you.”
“Fifty dollars.”
“Dollars or pounds?”
“Pounds. They’re worth more if I
need to convert.”
“You’re on.” Lee shook her hand and
then smirked, walking away. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” he said heading for a cab.
“Bring my money!” she yelled back.
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Oh, if only things like this happened in real life.
