The rain outside had picked up. The glass panes were covered in water. Customers sat by the windows conversing and mingling over their drinks whilst the rain fell down the glass windows and into the gutter being taken wherever.
Marc was drawn to Lena. Everything she did. From her little smile to her adorable giggle he was transfixed. He was serving the other people but always came back to her. He felt new, fresh and different. In a good way. A way he hadn't felt for years. It reminded him of his early years.
She made Marc feel so great. It was absolute joy for him to comeback after working hard in the factory to see her with a smile on her face or to pick her up and go on a little drive into town to shop around or go watch a film. It all changed when he signed up. He sat in the front seat of a car, the first drops hit his window pane and the emotion started flooding in. He had told her what he wanted to do, how he wanted to move away and enlist. Take a job and serve. But the thing holding him back was her. His partner. She had said how he shouldn't think of such stupid things. He had already signed up and was deploying in a weeks time. Marc hoped she would understand like she did so many times. As he did for her. It was not to be, the last thing Marc saw of her was her figure walking out of his life. A tour later and he had returned from Afghanistan. Injured no doubt. Whilst patrolling, an IED had detonated sending shrapnel directly into Marc's kneecap tearing the meniscus and tendon and fracturing the patella. He recovered but with a permanent limp. With nobody to turn to and no work to be found in his home town, he turned to London.