A Friendly Encounter

There he was, seated in a busy ramen noodle house, phone in one hand, he was mesmerized by the endless information at the tip of his fingers. She observed him slurping up the piping hot noodles from his large soup filled bowl, never taking his eyes away from his handheld device. His azure eyes reflected the faint glow from his phone screen, the ceiling fan blowing gentle air against the top of his golden hair. It had been several years since she last laid eyes on him. That was at their high school graduation, things didn't not end on good terms between them and the sight of him boiled the blood in her body. Her fists closed tightly over her paid noodle ticket, which she had only just collected from the vending machine outside.
Well maybe he won't see me if I sit over there she thought looking to the far side of the restaurant. It may have been busy but the seats were limited and the space was tight. She clutched her bag and squeezed through the narrow space behind the stools to reach an empty seat. She took off her jacket and presented her ticket to the man behind the bar she bowed as she passed him the piece of paper and sat down. She too pulled out her phone and joined the army anti-social businessmen that populated the eatery. Her brown eyes wandered and tried to catch glimpses of him. She could not believe she ran into him, in Tokyo with a population of more than thirteen million people, a city with thousands upon thousands of noodle bars. They both came into this one little shop, in the same year, on the same day, at the same time.
Although time had passed she never did get over the distress he caused during such vulnerable years of her life. He was her first love, her first boyfriend, and her first heartbreak. It had been almost seven years since they last spoke to each other. Then, he was a rebellious musician with softer side only known to her and her, a naïve, gentle soul who loved a man she thought would never hurt her. Their relationship ended abruptly, without warning one day in autumn. She would never forget that day. It felt like any other morning, she woke up, rolled out of bed and prepared herself for the school day to come. They would meet at the corner three streets down from her apartment where they would share their morning kiss and walk to school hand in hand. Except this day, this day was different. On this day she showed up on time at their usual meeting place. She kept looking at the face of her watch unsure of whether the time showing was correct. She waited and waited but no one turned up. Worried that he may have been sick and bedridden she made her way to his home only to find no one was home. Senseless thoughts raced through her head, she thought up crazy scenarios to explain his absence. Maybe he had been struck by a car and was hospitalized? Perhaps he got mugged and was laying in an alley somewhere bleeding to death? Her heart beat fast and her breaths were short. Feeling lost she went to the only place she knew where someone could help, school. As she entered the grounds she was greeted by Taichi who was standing with some of his friends from his soccer team. Before he could even let out a word Sora fell into his arms and blurted her morning out to him.

"Sora, calm down. I'm sure I saw him earlier walking into the common area" She wiped away her tears embarrassed at the scene she had caused. "How come he didn't meet up with me this morning? He always walks me to school"

"I'm sorry Sora, I really have no idea. Do you want me to help you find him?

She nodded. Taichi placed his hand on her shoulder and the other grasping at the corner of her elbow. Comforting her as they entered the common area. Yamato's unmistakable golden hair stood out from the crowd. She ran towards him.

"Yamato!" She cried.

"Whoa, Sora. Come on, get a hold of yourself"

Confused, she questioned him. "What do you mean? I didn't know where you were, you didn't tell me you weren't going to meet me this morning. I was really worried"

He looked away and smug look came over his face. "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. And I don't have to waste my time waiting around for you."

Tears began to fill her eyes again. "I don't understand" she could feel the stares of her fellow schoolmates; quiet whispers filled the morning air around her.

"What are you going on about Yamato?" Taichi interrupted.

"If you care so much about her, you have her!" A sharp stinging feeling pierced through her heart she always thought heart break was a figure of speech but she could feel so much pain through hers.

"You knew it was coming to an end, I'm done with you Sora!" She could not hold the tears back anymore, she hid her face in her hands and turned and ran away.

"What the heck, Ishida?!" Taichi ran after her. Yamato turned to his friends and laughed.

She really did not understand what had happened. There were no signs leading to a break up or any changes in the way they interacted with each other. For days she waited for an apology that never came. They became strangers after that day, he barely even acknowledged her in passing. Rumors began to surface that she was a crazy, suffocating, and needy girlfriend and that Yamato had dumped her for another.

A thud hits the counter in front of her she snapped out of her trance and jumped in her seat as she let out a high-pitched squeal. The azure eyes met hers and she realized she had inadvertently been starting at him that whole time. She quickly glanced down at her bowl, picked up her chopsticks and went for it. Picking up large bunch of noodles and planting them into her mouth.

"Sora?" He stood up and walked over to her.

"Yamato?" She choked out on a mouthful of noodles.

"No way! Is that really you? I mean, of course it's you! I would never forget your face, not in a million years. How are you?"

"I'm good," She said nodding while wiping away the residual noodle juice from her face. "I'm working in Tokyo now, finished my degree in fashion design and I work for a magazine a couple blocks from here"

"Wow! I can't believe it's you" He smiled. "It's so good to see you"

"…Yeah, you too" she said surprisingly. "So you work around these parts too?"

"Believe it or not, but I am still studying…well training. I'm training at the Japanese Air Space Academy. I get paid so it's not so bad these days" A bothered looking businessman gets up from his stool and tries to get past the blonde with no luck. Yamato stands as far to the side as he can to let him through but realizes he must leave the shop so he can get through. He steps outside and lets the man pass. Re-entering the restaurant he continues their conversation.

"It's really good to see you Sora" he squeezes through the same path she took earlier to get to her seat. "I know this is a horrible place to try and chat, but I would really like a catch up and I think I owe you a drink or two"

"Or three" Sora added.

He let out a laughed and agreed. "Yeah I know. Do you have a business card or a phone number I can have or something?"

"Um yeah, hang on a minute" She pulls out her bag from behind her and starts digging through for her wallet, she opens it up and set in it's own little pouch is a small stack of cards. "Here, and count yourself lucky. I don't going giving out my number to any man who asks for it"

He again let out a laugh. He looks down at the card and begins to read it aloud. "Sora Takenouchi, assistant fashion editor, JStreet Fashion. I really can't believe it's you, Sora. I mean, what were the chances that I were to bump into you?" He smiled. Another patron stands up to leave. "Hey look, I'm going to call you and we're going to go out have a catch up and all that, ok?"

She looked at his grin, it was hard to say no. "Yeah, sure. You do that."

"I will, I promise. It was good seeing Sora, I'll get in touch soon". She waved him goodbye and took a deep breath.

Did that just happen? He pretended like nothing happened between us.

She picked up her chopsticks and stirred them through her noodles. He's still so handsome.

She thought back to her last years in high school. How much it pained her to see him with another girl, the thought that he could possibly be happy with someone else and how it had upset her immensely. To say it didn't change her would be a lie. She waited many years before she was able to share that kind of connection with anyone again. Trust, if you call it trust towards the opposite sex ended all her relationships. Unanswered questions trolled her mind over the years. What was wrong with her? Why was she not good enough for him? Why did she never get an explanation? An apology? An acknowledgement that he broke her heart? She got nothing. There was something about that that left her unsatisfied and unsettled. She just wanted to know. She needed to know.

I have not written a fanfiction in many, many years. Probably around 10 years! I'm not very good at writing nor do I tend to read often so I know my written language could always use a bit of work. Please read and review so I know whether or not to carry on. Thank you for your time :)