"Love Heals when the pain's too much to bear. When you reach out your hand and only the wind is there. When life's unfair, Love Heals"
It was some hours after news came of Collins stabilization. They had stayed and talked for a good long while until a nurse came and kicked them out. "Visiting hours my ass!" Maureen had complained. There was no need to fight a losing battle, so the other four pulled her away from the conflict, into a car, and drove off to the Life Café. They were going to have that brunch, well, dinner by this point, after all. Collins told them not to let their lives revolve around the life of an already dying man, because it would only end badly.
The five friends had an unusually quite meal together. Not saying that nothing was said, just that there were no tables being jumped on or excessive drinking. They talked about New Year's Day and tried to convince each other to share their resolutions before it was time. They conversed about Angel, and how much they still missed him after these many months. Then they talked about where they were headed next. Careers, life, and so on. Mark claimed he was going to quit his job at Buzzline because it didn't feel right. Roger was going to try to go back to performing after all of these years. Joanne was going to stick with her lawyer job. When Maureen was asked, she couldn't really think of anything. She was so unpredictable that none of them pursued it any further. They all knew she would find SOMETHING to stick her nose into by the time the year ended. Mimi didn't say much either. She was considering quitting her job as a dancer at the Cat Scratch. The job was exceptionally easy for her, but it got old after awhile. An idea would come to her eventually.
Maureen and Joanne were the first to leave, followed closely by Roger and Mimi. Mark said he was going to stick around and finish his coffee, and pay this time. The owner would probably shit a brick when Mark showed him he had money this time. They said their goodbyes and left.
"Check Please?" Mark asked politely. He saw the manager roll his eyes, heave a sigh, then slouch his way over to the table.
"What, now your just going to rub it in my face? You never have money so why should I even bother wasting paper with a check!"
"Because I have some paper here that you might be interested in having." Mark enjoyed toying with the funny little man as he waved a crisp new fifty dollar bill that he had gotten from the ATM on the way to the Café.
"Oh fine! You surprise me more and more every time I see you. Just do this more often for my sake!" The manager snatched the money out of his hand and sped off behind the counter.
"Keep the change!" Mark yelled. He did sort of feel sorry for the man. He came into his restaurant almost everyday for and never bought a single thing, then he couldn't even pay the one time he DID get something. He might as well be generous while he could.
Mark heard a faint giggling noise coming from a booth not too far from his table. Without thinking he looked up, and saw a woman. For a split second their eyes met. Mark turned his head away in extreme embarrassment. Was it just him looking at another pretty girl? Or was she in fact looking back it him too. As he took another sip of his coffee, he tried not to look in her direction again, but it was inevitable. The two looked at each other again and swiftly looked the other way. "Is this my chance" Mark thought to himself. "This has got to be it… I've got to do this for me. It's about damn time I do something for ME!" He was way to busy thinking about how he was going to introduce himself, that he failed to realize she was already taking the initiative.
"You come here often?" The girl said with a smile. She had medium length brown hair with green eyes; which was something Mark didn't see very often, but that feature instantly became his favorite part of this mystery girl.
"Sometimes, yes."
"I would have to say it's more than sometimes! I've never seen the manager that angry at a customer before."
"Well, I suppose we do kind of have a bad history." Mark was finding it amazingly easy to talk to this woman. Every time he had gone through a scenario like this in his head, he would always freeze up, forget what to say, forget his manners, forget to breath, and any number of things more!
"Do tell, I'm suddenly interested."
Mark went on to explain his horrendous habit of dropping by the Life Café to listen to music, sometimes for over an hour, only to leave later and never buy anything. When the manager complained to him about this fact, Mark bought a tea the next day only to find he didn't have any money on him, so he bolted for the door. She laughed as Mark hoped she would. The two talked for a considerable amount of time more. Mark told the girl stories of him and his family. This term confused her for quite sometime until he explained the concept of the strongest bond of friendship that he and his friends held mutually in their hearts. The girl talked about her school life and how she was planning on attending college soon. She had been out of high school for 5 years and felt it was time to start pursuing something more.
Mark took a quick glance at his watch. It took him a moment to realize they had been talking for about an hour already! Roger probably thought that Mark was just going to pay the bill and get home. Him and Mimi were probably already worried. He hated to break the conversation up, but he really had no choice.
"Well, it was really great talking with you, but I'm afraid I must be going." That's where Mark felt he had tripped up. One of the most beautiful girls in the world and he used the most over-used "Sorry-but-I-have-to-go" line ever. "Maybe we could do it again sometime." He added, just for his own sake.
She was already writing on a slip of paper. "Sure, here is my name and phone number if you'd like."
"Names! I'm sorry I have not even told you my name yet. It's Mark. Mark Cohen."
"And I'm Arella Saunders. I'll catch you later Mark!" They shook hands and she left the restaurant. She certainly was full of energy, Mark had to give her that, but this felt like something that Mark wasn't quite sure what to call it. He hadn't felt this way for a long time, but he most certainly knew that he was going to keep track of that phone number, and he was going to meet that girl again.
On his was home, something was bothering him. Something about that girl. Was it her looks? No, she was beautiful. Her personality? No, she was an amazing person to be around. Her mood? No, she was always happy. Her name? Yes, her name. What about her name was familiar to him. Arella. Where had Mark heard that name before? Of course! At his Jewish Community Center. She was Jewish? She was perfect for him! And her first name, Arella, had the deepest meaning of all. Mark wept to himself on the sidewalk as he got to the front door of the apartment complex. He took a deep breath and walked in the door. Arella was the Hebrew word for Angel.
I don't consider this to be my best chapter. I spent so much time deciding how Mark should meet this girl that i think I botched it up a little. Tell me what you think in your reviews please!
