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One Coffee
Huling Na-update:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Where was he? How long had he slept? His arm was numb under his body and his back ached. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand as the other reached for his phone. Ten-thirty, he’d slept about an hour. A chill ran down his sore back. It was cold there and he was already wearing the only sweater he had. And there was no coverage, of course, forget about internet.
He remembered the coffee machine at the hall. Getting up wasn’t easy, but the promise of a hot drink pulled stronger than his weariness.
He strolled across the waiting room, fishing in his pockets for change.
The family was enjoying a late picnic of snacks and the old man mopped the floor near the closed booths. An hour later and he still hummed the same song. Outside, it poured like frigging end of the world.
It was even colder in the empty hall. He shivered up to the coffee machine, so old it didn’t take bills, only coins. So he inserted one into the slot and waited for the buttons to light up.
They didn’t, and his coin clinked down to the tiny repayment tray.
“Whadda?” he grunted.
He tried again, with the same outcome. So he tried yet again, and again, and again, determined to make the frigging piece of junk work. Finally the machine was as kind as to take his coin, but the buttons remained dark and no paper cup showed up to gather anything. There was no sign the thing was working at all.
“C’mon!” he growled, smacking the buttons that refused to get the memo about his coin.
Anger sent a hot wave up his face, not the way he wanted to warm up.
He hit the side of the machine. “C’mon, bitch!”
Nothing. The damned thing seemed to be mocking him.
He took a step back to kick it and paused, a foot in the air. That was a guitar against the wall, between the coffee bitch and the next vending machine.
A muffled sound coming from the gap made him frown. He moved half a step to his left and spotted somebody sitting on the floor. A girl, curling up with her face hidden against her folded arms. The way her shoulders trembled could only mean she was crying her heart out quietly. Or maybe she was laughing her butt off? At him?
The fan.
The fan he’d heard playing from the restroom. Shit. Sure it was her, and he’d be damned if he felt like addressing her. But what if she was actually crying? He couldn’t pretend he hadn’t seen her and leave her there like that. He wasn’t such a bastard—yet.
“Hey,” he tried from where he stood, keeping his voice down. “You okay?”
The girl didn’t seem to hear him. The perfect excuse to retreat back to the waiting room, before she saw him, recognized him, and a moronic grin of devotion swept away any prior hint of intelligence.
But she let out another muffled groan. He swallowed a snort, hating the whole frigging situation, and stepped closer to her.
“Hey, girl,” he said a little louder, a reluctant hand reaching out for her arm. “What’s up?”
The girl shivered from head to toes when he touched her and looked up, showing her reddened eyes and the tears raining down her pale cheeks. She stuck to the wall behind her with an upset glance around.
Not a girl but a woman his age, even though she was dressed like she were ten years younger. Just like him, come to think about it. A dark fringe escaped from under her woolen cap, and some dark locks framed a nice, ordinary face.
“You okay?” he asked, still leaning toward her. It was the stupidest thing to ask, but he couldn’t come up with anything better.
Only then she met his eyes. And he had to admit her look was closer to a glare than to devotion.
Kaugnay na kabanata
No Return Wash Away
The gentle poke kicked her back from her private idaho of bitterness and despair to reality. She looked up to find a young man frowning down at her from under the peak of his baseball cap, looking halfway between concerned and not quite convinced about what he was doing.She tried to move away from him but the wall behind her cut her way, so she nodded, glancing at the end of the hall.The young man studied her as she stood up slowly, her back still to the wall. His eyes were dark in the shadow of his cap and he set his square, firm jaw, stepping back when she tried to come out of the gap.“I’m fine,” she muttered, annoyed at his attention, wiping her nose on the back of her wrist.She wanted to go to the ladies’, but he was in her way. So she kept her head down and just brushed past him.The soft click when she locked the restroom door made her feel safe from new disruptions. She rested against it for a moment, trying deep shaky breaths. Thank God the old man had left the place squea
No Return Two Coffees
He dropped himself on the couch, still swearing black and blue. They could go to hell, the coffee machine and the fan. He was so pissed, he didn’t bother to check if his phone had any thread of coverage. As if.He’d downloaded his emails at the airport, so he thought he could kill some time reading them. He brought his legs up to the couch and turned his back to the waiting room and the rest of the frigging universe.The third email made him smile. It was from the head of the LA Squad. As usual, she wanted to know when they would be back home, so she could put up a signing with the local soldiers. She was a funny mental case that followed them since before their first album, and she never abused her privilege of direct communication with him.Even though he wouldn’t be able to send his reply unless he found a way back to civilization, he started typing it. Until something blocked the light. He glanced up to find the fan standing right in front of him, handing out a steamy paper cup to
No Return Nothing Personal
The family had improvised beds with chairs and they were all sound asleep, wrapped up in their coats and jackets. The old man was done cleaning and gone—Silvia pictured him sleeping in some small backroom, to an old record player spinning a Sinatra album.At the hall, she showed Jay how to make the coffee machine work. His triumphant grin when he was able to get his own coffee made her chuckle again.“This fucking junk made me sweat for nothing,” he said, and glanced at Silvia. “If you forgive my French.”She pretended to be shocked and crossed herself. Jay narrowed his eyes, raising only one eyebrow.They were still suffocating their giggles as they tiptoed across the waiting room back to their corner.As they sat back down, Silvia thought that it looked like both of them had decided to put behind their rough start, acknowledging it’d be easier to bear the situation together.“So, Argentina,” Jay said. “Buenos… Aires? Heard it’s a big city.”“Yeah, too big for my guts.”“You don’t li
No Return The Guitar
“You have a guitar, right?”Silvia needed a moment to extract herself from her gloomy musing. “Yeah. Do you wanna play?”Jay shook his head with a playful smile. He’d weighted how mean it would be of him to do this, and his inner bastard argued he’d promised to make amends first thing next morning and it was still night, so. The fact that she didn’t recognize him annoyed him more than he was willing to admit, pushing his ego to team up with his inner bastard.“No, but bet you can play,” he replied in his most innocent accent.She stared at him for a moment, like wondering what was with him, then she shrugged and nodded.Jay noticed the rigid case she was opening looked brand new, and the guitar itself made him raise his eyebrows. It was a gorgeous electric-acoustic Fender. Who took such a beauty on a trip other than a music tour? His fingertips tingled to caress the velvet wood and the shiny metallic strings.Unaware of his cannibal-craving stare, she sat the guitar on her lap and che
No Return Love & Hate
They were playing one of Jay’s old songs when he realized Silvia was singing the background vocals. He looked up at her and raised one eyebrow, both mocking and questioning. She raised both—what?—and nodded for him to keep playing. He did.“Well, what about those BG vocals?” he said when the song was over.“Oh, I love their arrangements. If you can take it, I’d rather go for that.”“Be my guest.”But he still couldn’t bring his inner bastard to behave, so he picked Save Your Soul. And she sang the higher voice along with a contagious spark of joy in her eyes. Jay leaned a little forward to sing:But who are we supposed to be? She smiled in the following pause and leaned a little forward too, chuckling when he sang, like asking her:And who am I supposed to be today?Her lips pursed in an ironic smile as he charged on with the chorus, nodding for her to join him.I give back all that’s been givenI take back all that’s been takenI could never go on this way again…She hit all the rig
No Return Just a Hit
Silvia sang oblivious to the rest of the universe.This was just like having Jim Robinson playing only for her.Jay was simply irresistible, he played so well, and his voice kept triggering avalanches of chills down her spine.And since they were complete strangers, and would never meet again after they left the bus station in opposite directions, she felt unexpectedly liberated. So she sang along like she’d always sung those same songs back home, in the shower or while she cleaned her house.Loving every minute of it.She didn’t remember ever coming across such an attractive, charming guy, with such a magnetic personality, nice and rude at the same time. A real bad boy, her little sister would have called him. She labeled him as a lovely bastard. Exactly the kind she always fell for.Good thing she still had eyes on her face, even after so much crying, to keep her from overlooking what was in plain sight. First of all, the age gap. Jay looked closer to her sister’s age than to hers,
No Return Ten Less
Right from the hall door, Silvia saw Jay had fallen asleep, curling up on the couch. It was a miracle he hadn’t knocked the guitar down to the floor in his sleep.She left the paper cups on the coffee table, put the guitar in its case and searched her bag for her trip blanket.Jay’s jacket was still dripping on the back of the other armchair and it was plain to see he was cold. She tucked him in, grabbed her latte and went back to her armchair. Out the windows, the platform lights drew static white cones that the rain pierced in a hypnotic dance.Silvia glanced at Jay and sighed with a mild smile.She’d never been a fan of spite sex, but this gringo sure made the idea appealing.If only she’d been ten years younger and ten pounds slimmer.Then she would’ve felt authorized to wish she were sitting on the couch with him, resting against his side under the blanket.For starters.She turned to look out the windows again, as the endless night crawled its way through the storm toward the mo
No Return Help Marching On
A soft touch on his shoulder woke Jay up. The first thing he registered was daylight, the next was the man standing by the couch, looking down at him with an apologetic smile. He tried to sit up and found Silvia’s head resting on his chest, and his own arm around her shoulders. One of his legs was stretched over hers under the blanket.The man realized he could hardly move and crouched down by his side to speak in whispers.“Sorry to disturb you. We’re leaving, but I’m afraid we have no room in my brother’s car for you guys. Is there anything we can do to help?”Jay understood this was the father of the family that had spent the night there like them. He tried to move again and asked the man for a minute.“I’ll be at the hall,” the man said, straightening up.Jay turned to Silvia. There was no way to leave the couch without waking her up. He managed the easy part—removing his leg from over hers. But as soon as he tried to gently pull out his arm, trapped between her back and the couch
Pinakabagong kabanata
No Return True Freedom
Silvia woke up to Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus.The sun was setting and she was alone in bed, tucked in soft sheets that smelled of lemon and the fat white comforter. Jim had left a few hours ago to let her rest, because after those weeks apart, it was plain to see she wouldn’t get any rest with him around.She’d fallen sound asleep, exhausted, and now she had the persistent feeling of being still lost in a dream. But she wasn’t. This was not the Black Rock. It was the Ashtray, her new home, and that music had to be a phone ringing.But not hers. She’d never used that song as a ringtone.She followed the music to the other nightstand, where she found a new phone still inside its open box with a red ribbon. And she laughed out loud when she grabbed it and saw the caller was My Personal J.“Hey, you awake?” Jim asked when she picked up, still chuckling.“Hey, you just woke me u
No Return Yours
They staggered into the bedroom and fell on the bed as they kissed, their hands struggling to get rid of their clothes.Silvia pulled Jim to bring him on top of her, yearning to feel his weight. There was no other body to hers, no other hands to touch her, no other lips to drive her crazy, no other skin to stroke hers. She wrapped a leg around his waist, pushing him down, and moaned when she felt him inside of her, his fire sweeping it all away, and she gave in to his need and his exasperated anxiety.Because that was exactly how he was feeling. He’d never missed her body, he’d never needed her like this. Yet there he was, fighting himself back to keep from going off like a frigging teen, growing crazier with every moan he pushed out of her mouth, every move of her hips, every touch of her fingers, every brush of her lips. Like he would never have enough of her.Why was he feeling this way? Why nothing seemed enough? When had all bodies lost their ap
No Return The Ashtray
Silvia exited the Customs Office feeling stunned and a little dizzy. After such an emotional last week in Bariloche, she’d had to go through the long flight that had taken her to another time zone, another season, another country, another culture, another language. She looked around, feeling she was running on fumes and she was about to pass out any moment now.Jim threw the sign she hadn’t seen into a bin to come stand before her, hands in his pockets and a smile under his black cap.“Looking for somebody?”Silvia just dropped everything to fall into his arms. He held her tight, kissing her hair, and felt her shiver nonstop. She needed a whole minute to fight back her tears and get a little grip on herself. When he assessed she would be able to walk, he took her hand, grabbed the luggage cart with his other hand, and took both to the parking lot without a word.Silvia just let him lead the way. She was there, with him, finally. Sh
No Return Storm Alert
Silvia left before her friends and siblings even registered what she was doing. One minute they were all toasting to her for the hundredth time in the bar, and the next minute she was hugging every one of them, telling them how much she loved them. And then she was gone, all alone.She walked down the street, gazing up at the sky, admiring the colors in those minutes before the early sunrise. Her feet didn’t need to consult with her brain to head straight to the downtown beach, walk down the stone steps and take her right up to the lake shore.She sat down on the cold pebbles and lit a cigarette, face to the east. It was her last sunrise of the only life she’d ever known. The last sunrise with her lake and her mountains. Like so many times before, she wished she could capture every little detail as far as her eyes could see, carve it all in her memory and keep it inside of her, true and unchanged, forever unfading.She watched the sun come up behind
No Return December
Tobias and Leandro had done their best to clean up the Black Rock before Silvia came back home. And the outcome made her smile, because the house was squeaky-clean and smelling of flowers. They were surprised to see Mika there too, but Silvia’s look kept them from asking any questions.Knowing the siblings needed time alone for their reunion, Leandro left for Beltane, to have dinner with Claudia. At the Black Rock, Mika went to the supermarket, to restock the fridge with something that wasn’t trash food and make dinner for the three of them.The moment she walked out, Tobias asked Silvia what had happened to their sister to make her lower that proud head of hers, admit her fail and come back home. It was just natural he would take mortal offense when he learned why Mika was actually back. But Silvia would have none of it.“I’m telling you the same I told your sister,” she said. “You don’t want me to keep treating you guy
No Return Lil' Sister
It’d been six months since Silvia had last seen Mika, and one look was enough to tell her all her little sister had been keeping from her.Rob and Juan had planned a Saturday night out after dinner, but Silvia resorted to the such-a-long-flight excuse to stay behind.“Would you lend me a hand with the dishes?” she asked Mika.The others understood and took off, leaving the sisters alone.“I thought Lorena was coming too,” Silvia said as they picked up everything from the table.Mika hesitated, found her sister’s eyes and shrugged. “We broke up.”“Oh. You never mentioned it.”“It happened three days ago. I didn’t wanna write to you about it. It was your last days with Jim, and I knew we were meeting today.”They took everything to the kitchen and Silvia asked Mika to make mate while she did the dishes. The girl knew better than trying to beat
No Return The Thing
Silvia almost missed her flight, too absorbed staring at the tiny thing on the table before her.What on God’s green earth was that thing doing there, and in her keep?That white-gold band with a little, discreet diamond.An engagement ring.That frigging coward! Throwing it at her from ten feet away!But no matter the delivery method, Jim had given it to her.His mother’s, he’d said.Bring it back, he’d said.She felt lucky her brain was able to register the last boarding call. She looked up, startled, and jumped to her feet. She was about to hurry away when she remembered the ring. Actually, it was more like feeling a leash tugging at her neck, stopping her from walking away from the table.She spun around on her heels and scowled down at the damned thing.“You…” she growled.The moment she had it in her hand again, she realized how small and light it wa
No Return Catch
It was sort of weird. Being with Jim usually involved having people around, but now they were all alone, making their way through the usual crowd in LAX. Come to think about it, both of them loved having an active social life. Maybe that was why she hadn’t needed any major adjusting over the last ten days in LA.…?Silvia would’ve punched herself best Fight Club style. She had only minutes left with him and she was pondering about their social habits? Really?She checked in for her flight and they headed to the boarding area in no hurry.“So you think you can be back by January ten.”“Yup. I gotta report to work with Jo on the fifteenth, but I want a couple of free days before that.”They walked a whole minute in silence.Silvia wondered why all of a sudden they didn’t seem to have anything left to say. Why were they avoiding eye contact? Why did she feel like getting into the boarding
No Return Jam
“Hurry up or I’m calling a cab!”“Bet you’re dying to do it, you chicken.”“Please, Jay!”Silvia finished raiding the master bedroom one last time, to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything.“Jay!”“Coming.”She snorted and went to canvass the ground floor. She was just done when Jim came down the stairs in no hurry.“Can we go before I have a heart attack, milord?”“Cool down, woman, we have plenty of time,” he said, grabbing her duffel bag on his way to the front door, where she waited with her rucksack. He paused at the doorway to poke her nose. “Really, such a rush to leave me.”Silvia wasn’t about to explain she was always that upset whenever she had a bus or a plane to catch, so she just scowled at him and followed him out.“Got everything? Tickets, passport?”Silvia ch
