We walk out of the surgeon’s office, and suddenly, I’m not feeling so hot. “You okay, man?” Blake asks me, noticing that I’ve slowed my pace.
“Yeah, I think…I just didn’t eat any breakfast.”
“Y’all feel lightheaded?”
“Yeah.” I nod.
We pass this open café by the entrance. “Here, I’ll go get you some orange juice or something. Sit.”
I sit on a chair by the café, and I see Blake go up to the counter, and order us both breakfast. He brings me the orange juice and heads back up to wait for our order. As soon as I take a sip of the stuff, I feel better. Something about being laid up for weeks is getting to me. I used to be able to do whatever I wanted to and never felt run down, but after this surgery and sitting around for weeks, I’m not what I used to be. I can’t wait until I can get back into shape, so I don’t feel as old as I do.
Taking another sip, my eyes follow someone walking to the café, and I purse my lips together in frustration. It’s Ava. She looks at me and gives me a tight smile, perfunctory I guess, and I give her a tight smile back. Inside my head I’m praying that she’ll take the hint and ignore me, just like I wish I’d ignored her. But she doesn’t. I’m guessing it’s her innate manners that forces her over to say hello. “I see you got your cast off.” She observes.
“That’s what I’m here for.” I say, letting her know full well that I’m not stalking her or anything. “My brother Blake’s just ordered us breakfast.”
She looks over and sees my brother standing there. He’s not looking in our direction, so he doesn’t notice. “The pancakes here are good.” She says conversationally.
“I’m not sure what he’s ordered.”
“Well, I have to get back to work.” She says. “I hope your arm feels better.”
I don’t know why, but I say thanks, as she walks away, heading to the counter. She places her order, which is just for orange juice, and she walks away.
Blake sees her as he brings us a tray of food. He looks at me almost apologetically. “Shit, that her?”
I nod, defeated. “Yeah.”
“Looks like the lord wants you to keep bumping into her, man.” He says under his breath. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, man. She never says anything to piss me off. It’s all just inside my head.”
“Well, she couldn’t have said much to you, man. She was only here like ten seconds from what I saw.”
“That’s about right.”
He sets the tray down and I use my good arm to bring the food closer. “Smells good.”
“Yeah. I meant to just get y’all the juice, but my stomach started growling the second I smelled the place. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Mama’ll have our asses if she finds out. She made a big breakfast this morning.”
“She’ll be fine. You looked like you were going to pass out there. You okay now?”
“Yeah. I just need to get this body working hard again. All that laying around put me out of my game.”
“I figured as much.” He takes a bite of his breakfast sandwich. “What did she have to say, anyway?”
“Nothing much. She has to go to work. She just saw that my cast was off.”
“You okay, man?”
“I’m fine. I guess I have to get used the fact that we’re going to be sharing a college campus pretty soon. Bet I’ll run into her lots there, too. I just hope it’s coincidental. I don’t want anything to do with that nutcase ever again.” I want to add, ‘I don’t think my heart can take it’, but I leave that part out.
“You don’t have to speak to her, man. Just be polite and keep walking. That’s all there is to it.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
But that isn’t all there is to it. And I’m about to find that out soon enough.
