Through different eyes...
The rain outside made everything look polished and new, at the same time casting a comfortable gloom on the general atmosphere. She sits there, pretending to read. In reality she keeps looking at her watch or the door, or settling her hair. How she manages to turn a single page at all is a mystery. The fidgeting, the glances cast at the door; clearly she was here waiting for someone, and she was nervous as hell about it.
He walks in and her face changes, it's calmer and more tense at the same time. That is who she's been waiting for. They exchange pleasantries. The conversation is strained. Strained the way it is when two people who least want to run into each other are forced to be pleasant. To pretend to slip into the roles of people who share an easy camaraderie, or at least congeniality. He walks out again, she's trying hard to hold in the tears that are fighting their way out her eyes. Trying hard to keep them in, to not create the added drama that people look for. Trying to deny them the entertainment they will gain on a day when they're stuck, bored of their banter in a coffee shop, waiting for the rain to stop. She's concentrating so hard on keeping those tears inside.
He walks back in carrying a bag. He hands it to her and she rummages through it. She picks out a small blue tooth headset.
She fails. She wipes her eyes absently, surprised to find those tears there.
He leaves, sighing in relief. Sighing the way one does after realising they've made it through an important interview unscathed. She's trying hard not to break down right there. A cigarette in one hand, a tissue in the other, she stares at the place he occupied not 5 minutes ago.
She finally lets the tears come, lets them flow down her cheeks freely....and the sun comes up outside. She nods to herself...the sun always comes out.
He walks in and her face changes, it's calmer and more tense at the same time. That is who she's been waiting for. They exchange pleasantries. The conversation is strained. Strained the way it is when two people who least want to run into each other are forced to be pleasant. To pretend to slip into the roles of people who share an easy camaraderie, or at least congeniality. He walks out again, she's trying hard to hold in the tears that are fighting their way out her eyes. Trying hard to keep them in, to not create the added drama that people look for. Trying to deny them the entertainment they will gain on a day when they're stuck, bored of their banter in a coffee shop, waiting for the rain to stop. She's concentrating so hard on keeping those tears inside.
He walks back in carrying a bag. He hands it to her and she rummages through it. She picks out a small blue tooth headset.
She fails. She wipes her eyes absently, surprised to find those tears there.
He leaves, sighing in relief. Sighing the way one does after realising they've made it through an important interview unscathed. She's trying hard not to break down right there. A cigarette in one hand, a tissue in the other, she stares at the place he occupied not 5 minutes ago.
She finally lets the tears come, lets them flow down her cheeks freely....and the sun comes up outside. She nods to herself...the sun always comes out.
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