We didn't exactly meet on the best of terms. On that particular day, everything was going wrong. It began before I had even awakened, when the power went out, rendering my alarm incapacitated and causing me to wake late. The coffee I had brewed while trying to get ready was unceremoniously knocked from my grip shortly after boarding the subway train. I then arrived late for an important meeting to determine the future of a project I had been working on for close to a decade only to have my computer blue screen, wiping all the data from its hard drive. And though it was agreed upon to reschedule the session, the damage was done. My stress levels were through the roof and my mood was far from pleasant. Yeah, not exactly the best start.
He wasn't having a great day either. His day began with him arriving home to his apartment after a rather stressful international flight to find his girlfriend asleep in his bed tangled up in another man. After (literally) kicking the man out of his home and angrily breaking up with her, he threw the tearful woman and her belongings into the hall. The now ruined sheets were ripped from his bed and were shoved into the trash (though he would have preferred to burn them right then and there). His head sat head in his hands as he contemplated why it happened and after nearly an hour of unmoving silence, he stood and left the apartment with the need for coffee and food at the forefront of his mind. He trudged through the crowded city streets with his eyes faced towards the ground and he walked and let his mind wander through his depressed state.
At the same time, I was heading to the technology store to see if anything could be done about my poor computer. The tech people at work had told me that the failure had been inevitable and that I should just buy myself something new, but in my need for something to actually go right that day I clung to the hope that the store would be able to recover my lost work. The laptop was tucked under my arm and I walked quickly through the throng of individuals who were out and about. I wasn't paying attention to them anyway, just a woman on a mission.
I turned a corner rather quickly, putting my hand out the catch the edge of the building to swing me around the bend. I was met with a mass of human flesh and I shouted in alarm, stumbling backwards. The laptop slipped from my grip and the world seemed to slow as I watched the technology slam on the hard pavement. It bounced and rattled on the ground, the lip snapping open violently. The sounds of two loud gasps met my ear. One of them had escaped my lips as I watched my precious laptop tumble from my fingers. The other came from the person who knocked it from me.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" a panicked voice sounded. I looked up to see him, rattled and shaken looking, reaching down to pick up the fallen computer.
A wave of anger surged through my body, and before I could quell it, livid words crashed from my lips and into the open air. "Could you watch where you're going?! Now, thanks to you my laptop is probably completely broken!" I ripped my poor computer from his hands and shot him an angry look.
"I'm so sorry Miss, please I will pay for the damages I'm so, so sorry-" a stream of apologies poured out from him, but my furious state drowned out any reasoning I held.
"You had better!" I snapped, and started marching forward. It took a second for me to realize he was not behind me. I turned around sharply and gave him my best what-the-hell-are-you-doing look as he stared back with a look of confusion. "Well hurry up then!" He was shaken from his shocked state and silently followed me to the store.
The computer geeks didn't tell me anything to help my worsening mood. "We can recover some of the files, but this laptop isn't going to last much longer. If you keep using it you will most likely lose it all again. Do you want me to recover it?" He gave me an apologetic grimace in response to my distressed nod. He took the broken machinery into some special room away from my sight, and I let out a defeated groan and buried my face in my hands. I didn't have the money to be buying something new. But to work I needed a computer, and this one wasn't going to cut it anymore.
A distraught voice cut through my thoughts. "God, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I will pay for a new one I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"
"Stop!" I interrupted him, with a little more force than I had intended. I softened my tone before starting again. "It was already broken before I dropped it. It's not your fault, really. But thank you for being so kind." I gave him tired smile, all my energy suddenly drained from my body. I ran a hand over my face wearily and turned back to the counter to wait for the man to return.
But he didn't leave. "Please, let me buy you a coffee or something. I may not have broken the computer, but I still feel bed. Please, it's the least I can do."
I turned back to face him, thinking on the matter, before letting out a low sigh and nodding. When the computer was finally returned along with the file disks, we walked a few blocks to a small coffee shop. He ordered two cups while I grabbed a table. When the brew was placed in my grip, I breathed in the sweet aroma and a small smile graced my face. The scalding liquid was the perfect cure to my tensed body. My muscles relaxed visibly and I released a sigh.
"Thank you," I breathed, looking up at him and finally taking in his features.
He was tall- like well over six feet tall- and his height was complimented by this muscular physic. He had brown hair the color of toffee that tumbled gracefully to just above his shoulder, and capped by a dark beanie. But his green eyes looked tired and worn, as if he dealt with a great struggle. His frame was slumped yet tense at the same time and, from his distracted gaze, his mind seemed to be somewhere else.
I bit my lip gently. I really didn't want to feel sympathy towards this guy I didn't even know the name of, but from what I could tell his day had been just as rough as mine. I ran a hand through my auburn hair a released yet another sigh before saying gently, "What's on your mind?"
His eyes snapped out of their dazed staring and darted up to meet mine. He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated.
"It's ok," I said quickly. "You don't have to say anything to a stranger. I understand." I looked down into my coffee as if the dark liquid held the secret to what I should say. "It just seems like you're having just as bad a day as I am," I paused for a moment, keeping my eyes trained downwards, before continuing. "My entire future depended on this one meeting, and the universe decided today was the day to screw with me." I gave him a weary smile and a slightly awkward shrug. "Absolutely nothing seems to be going right."
My weary smile was met with a bitten lip and his finger traced the rim of his coffee as he thought.
"Really," I tried to reassure him, "you don't have to say-"
"No it's alright," he released a sigh that with it seemed to release so much tension that had been previously knotting his muscles. He blinked slowly and exhaustion radiated from him. "I've had a pretty crappy day, as you predicted before. My… my girlfriend… cheated on me."
A wave of sympathy washed over me and I wanted to express it by reaching my hand forward to hold his, but I did not want to make him uncomfortable since we were both still practically strangers. Instead I resorted to a verbal communication. "I'm so sorry. That's awful."
He breathed out a shaky laugh. His eyes glistened brightly and this time I did not stop myself from taking his hand. His fingers engulfed my small ones gratefully and we sat like that for a long time, neither one moving while he tried to regain his composure.
"I just thought she was the one, you know?" he said, the tears starting to well again.
"I know, I know," I reassured him, running my thumb back and forth over the back of his hand in an attempt to reassure him and quell any emotions that were trying to come through. "You don't have to say anymore." I quickly racked through my brain for something- anything! - that could distract him from the memories.
"Umm uh," I stuttered painfully. "Do you watch Fringe?" I blurted out, immediately horrified that that was the first thing I could come up with, but it succeeded in surprising enough to redirect his train of thought.
He blinked a few times, processing the question that had been thrown at him. He finally nodded.
"Last week's episode was crazy, right?" I asked with an added gush of enthusiasm.
"Y… yeah, it really was."
We spent the next half an hour discussing the plot twists and favorite characters and what our predicted outcomes of the future episode. We debated over whether John was really good or bad and what Peter hiding from everyone. I watched as all the memories of his ex were buried.
"I think Walter is my favorite," he told me.
"I dunno," I mused, trying to keep a straight face. "I think Gene is mine." I bit the inside of my cheek as he went through each of the characters. He gave me a look that clearly asked "who?"
"You know," and between the laughter that was bubbling out of me I gave him my best "moooooooo!"
A look of realization swept over his face and released a rather loud snort and he bowed his head, his shoulders shaking with laughter. He lifted his head and his face now held an almost blinding smile. It spread across his face and revealed the presence of dimples that had been hidden by his frown. My breath caught in my throat at the striking slight. I let my own grin spread wide on my own face.
"Haha no but in all seriousness, my favorite is tied between Astrid and Peter."
We continued the argument for a while longer before something important popped into my head. I still didn't know his name.
"My name's Genevieve," I said, holding out my hand.
Another beautiful smile adorned his visage and he took my hand in his. "Jared," he replied.
And though my life changing meeting had gone awry, and the girl he thought he'd be with for the rest of time had stabbed him in the back, two warm smiles radiated between us.