V

"Watch out where you're going, dumbass!" A biker shouted at Jesse, who was almost hit by the bicycle as he walked mindlessly on the side of the road. 

The streets were already packed with people, all with the New York morning rush hour. The working class mob were out and about, scrambling to get to their menial, humdrum and routinary boring lives. 

It was an unusually cold morning for August, barely a few weeks before summer transitioned into autumn. Steam rose up from the manholes, providing some sense of warmth to the homeless folks seated on the cold concrete sidewalks. 

Jesse's attention was fixed on his phone's inbox, checking for messages. He took a profusely long drag on his cigarette, carefully scrolling up and down to check if K has already sent him a text.

Two weeks had slowly passed, Jesse haven't heard anything from her. He acted like a totally  crazy person the first few days after they met at Castello. Every time he went out, he searched for a pair of deep blue eyes - wishing that he could see her again even if it's just by pure chance. He hasn't hooked up with anyone at Clix since. He had not had sex for two weeks. It was the longest time he did not have sex since... he couldn't even remember. He didn't want to risk blowing up a night with K in case she called or texted him in the middle of coitus.

Jesse zipped up his dark navy jacket, feeling chilly despite already wearing a knitted mustard sweater underneath. He billowed out a huge puff of smoke, then discarded his cigarette butt on the trash bin outside one of his favorite cafés along his neighborhood. He decided to go in to grab a steaming hot cup of black coffee, per usual. He could no longer hold off 'til he gets to his office for his morning coffee fix. Besides, Dan really takes a while to fetch him his coffee and bagel. There wasn't a day that he hadn't cussed on Dan for being such a slowpoke. Sometimes when his extreme paranoia sets in, he opens the lid of his coffee first to check if Dan had spitted in it. But then, he drinks it anyway.

The inside of the café smelled like coffee heaven. The scent of freshly roasted beans filled the whole area. Lots of people were already lined-up to get their orders, busy fiddling on their phones as they waited for their turn.

Jesse turned to look at the display fridge and pastry warmers. Thinking if he should get a bagel, a pretzel or an obscenely large chocolate-chip cookie.

He noticed a girl in line leaning towards the curved glass of the display fridge, a pretty smile on her face as she looked at the array of cake slices and pastries. Dark-haired, slender, light olive skin, cobalt blue eyes glowing as the yellow fluorescents from the display fridge hit her pupils. 

Jesse took off his black Ray-Ban Wayfarers, taking another careful look at her.

K.

Without thinking over, Jesse cut from his line and darted towards K. He looked at her again, as he stood behind her, seemingly oblivious as she listened to music with both of her earphones on.

"Hey, stupid, there's a line out here!" A man who looked like he was in his early forties, wearing an oversized coat and tie, called Jesse out as he snuck in the line just right behind K. 

"I'm with her," Jesse derisively explained to the guy, like an asshole, then turned back to K. She was bobbing her head to the music, her eyes half-closed as she drummed her fingers rhythmically against the sides of her thighs.

Jesse was curious what song she was listening to, she seemed so high-spirited and bright. Like a lone pretty little daisy dancing with the breeze on a huge green meadow. He impulsively reached for K's other earphone, and placed it onto his left ear. 

Hello, Goodbye by The Beatles. Classic.

"You say yes, I say no, you say stop, and I say go, go, go

Oh no - You say goodbye, and I say hello

Hello, hello - I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello

Hello, hello - I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello"

K was shocked, bolted out of the blue. She turned her head to see who it was.

"Hi," Jesse whispered to her ear, both his hands in his front pockets. He wanted to scoop K up in his arms and kiss her again. It took him lots of self-restraint to stop himself from doing what was in his mind, the fact that they were in line at a coffee shop.

K turned her attention back to the line, completely ignoring Jesse. She took a step forward as a customer left with his order.

Jesse followed and stood beside her. "Hello, hello - I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello," he silently mouthed the lyrics while looking at K. He looked adorable, totally out of his character.

She smiled, not paying any attention to Jesse. She then reached for her phone and pressed shuffle play. They were now listening to At Last by Etta James.

   

Jesse's mood shifted. Despite the song's overall happy, nostalgic, bluesy-jazz, feel-good rhythm and melody, he couldn't help but feel downcast. He hasn't listened to it in what seemed like forever.

At Last was his mom and dad's song. He always listened to it when he was little. He remembered his dad would put the vinyl track in his vintage phonograph, and then he would distract mom while cooking her specialty brisket. They would dance to Etta's gentle, highly expressive croon in middle of their huge mid-modern century kitchen floor. 

They were really, really happy... until they weren't. His parents inevitably split and divorced. His dad fucked up, literally - with a different girl, every single night. Jesse stayed with his mom during school days, then at his dad's during weekends - until his mom got sick with brain cancer and died shortly after. And then he eventually grew up to be a screw-up, too.

His dad wouldn't care much about him, which was totally fine with Jesse, as long as he paid for his education, his rent, and his credit card debts. He was spoilt rotten by his rich, druggie, Jewish daddy - who happened to be one of the highest-paid stockbrokers in Wall Street, just so he could try and be content with all the fancy things he had. He had everything, just not a happy childhood.

K looked at Jesse, noticing how he fell silent all of a sudden. "What's the matter, bud? You don't like Etta James?" She asked him, her smile bringing Jesse back into earth.

"K, you didn't call me," Jess breathed, vehemently trying to change the topic.

"I thought you were the one who's going to call me?" K teased and turned the tables around, raising her dark brows at him. 

Jesse opened his mouth to reply, but then the cashier shouted "Next!" They were next up in line.

"What can I get you this morning?" The skinny, homely cashier asked them unenthusiastically, not bothering to hide her chagrin towards Jesse and K.

"A tall cup of black coffee," they answered in unison, making them stare at each other's eyes and smile.

"Oh, that's real cute," the cashier commented blankly and sarcastically. "Two tall cups of black coffee. Anything else?" She asked, she looked bored out of hell.

"I'll have a poppy seed bagel, and..." Jesse turned to look at K.

"I'll have one, too. I'll have everything here," K acquiesced.

"Me, too." Jesse echoed, then hurriedly reached for his credit card to pay for their breakfast. "I got it," he said coolly.

The cashier just raised her eyebrows, took a breath and tried not to roll her eyes. Moments later, she got them their orders in a tray.

K snatched away the other pair of her earphone from Jesse, slid it inside her bag along with her phone, and walked towards the small round table right beside the huge glass windows.

"So," Jesse started, placing the tray on their table and taking the seat across K. "You didn't call me."

K ignored his question a second time and reached for her coffee cup. She carefully removed the lid, blew on the steaming hot black liquid and inhaled its lovely scent before she took a sip. She then picked up the bread knife, sliced and cut on her bagel. She was teasing Jesse again, with how deliberately she slowly bit and chewed on her bagel while looking up at his pretty eyes.

It made Jesse gulp an invisible lump on his throat. He knew what K was doing. Prick-tease. He grabbed for his coffee and sipped liberally, even though it was still steaming hot.

"Do you live somewhere around in the neighborhood?" He asked. The fact that they randomly saw each other again in his favorite coffee shop, in the Lower East Side, got him thinking that she might be from his side of the city too.

"Maybe," K just shrugged her shoulders and beamed at him.

"God, you're so frustrating," Jesse groaned, taking a huge bite off of his bagel. "Why do you always keep me guessing?"

"You look cute when you get upset and frustrated," her quick reply, poking fun at him. She paused and looked down the table, her face turning serious. "Listen, you're cute, Jesse. But... you sleep around way too much," K uttered and emphasized on the last three words, surprising Jesse. "Excessively. It's crazy."

Jesse stopped to cough, almost spitting out his drink. He was caught off-guard, wondering how K knew about him hooking-up with almost every pretty girl around New York.

Oh, wait. Clix.

He realized and remembered K saw the app on his phone when he asked for her phone number at the subway station. But then, she wouldn't know still that he slept with those women aplenty.

"H-how did y-"

"I have access to the database," she explained, stopping him mid-sentence. "I'm a web developer for Clix. I see you, Jesse Akerman."

She looked right through him, really deep within him.

Holy shit.