Crying. Across from Natalia there was a girl in rags with a tussled bag on her lap crying. She wept into her hands. The coffee before her was left untouched. She must have some money to afford a luxury of coffee at one in the morning. Her hair was a fair color, now washed out. She tucked strands of hair behind her ears, revealing a pale, round, beautiful face. Her legs were clad in leather boots and crossed under the table. The only other person aside from Natalia and the strange crying girl was a man typing madly on a laptop. He was hissing something under his breath. The poor soul working the graveyard shift was falling asleep on post.
Natalia stood up. She walked over to the crying girl and touched her shoulder. The girl looked up, startled, her black eyelashes matted with tears and her cheeks damp.
"Hello?" She said, dumbfounded.
"Why are you crying?" Natalia sat next to her, holding a cup of tea.
"Why are you here at one in the morning?"
"I could be asking you the same exact thing." Natalia offered a base smile. She was a tall, thin, elegant looking woman with silvery hair pulled back into a braid and a bow in her hair.
"I ran away from home." Lili said, unconsciously touching her belly. Natalia noticed; she didn't comment.
"I see. I did too. Let's run away together."
"Great idea. Let me believe a stranger I met in a coffee shop in a town I don't know while my legs are aching." She rolled her eyes. Natalia found herself smiling. She quickly frowned, swallowing any bit of happiness she had. It was forward of her to suggest the idea, but she wasn't feeling chipper exactly either.
"I like your spunk. Want something to eat?" Natalia asked. Lili mutely nodded. Natalia stood and walked over to the front.
The half-asleep cashier snapped up, taking her order. The smell of freshly made pastries leaked into the room, the tiled floors, the posters of women half-dressed, the fly buzzing in one corner. Even the man on the computer looked up suddenly at the smell. He wore a silk scarf around his neck and a sweater over a white shirt, plaid pants, unfashionable, apparently. He looked across the room, as if having awoken from a long dream. He peered at his watch in disbelief.
"Fuck! I missed my girlfriend's party." He said, standing up and pushing his laptop into an orange bag. He snapped it shut and slung it over his shoulder, scurrying out of the room.
Lili sustained laughter. She couldn't for long. It was the funniest thing she had heard in a long time. She thanked Natalia for the pastry—a honey-glazed, flaky dough circle filled with pink Kelly. She munched through it hungrily.
"You haven't answered my first question," Natalia reminded her.
"Oh," Lili said, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't, did I? Well, I don't want to."
"Fine with me." Natalia said.
"Why are you here so early?"
"That's a story for another time."
Lili nodded. If the stranger didn't press for her story, she wouldn't press for the stranger's either.
Instead she resorted to listening to the music playing quietly in the background. At first it was a light, hip pop tune. Then it meshed faultily into a punk rock song about running away. Lili reconsidered Natalia's offer. She told her this. Natalia set down her third cup of tea.
"Oh?"
"Yes," Lili nodded. "I think that if you wanted to hurt me you already would have. Then again, I don't think I can survive on my own. I stole some money but it's not a lot."
"Yeah, I see, I have some too of what I saved up from work. It's a good sum, maybe."
"Should we run away?" Lili asked curiously. Everything is better than her past. The past is passed. The past is to be forgotten.
"I guess so." Natalia shrugged.
I'm sorry for posting the second chapter so soon, but I just wanted to state that this story has nothing to do with the violence inflicted on Lili. I started with that for a reason that will soon become apparent, I hope.