1998 (Story 1 of the Table Twelve Stories)

1998

                E. Terrnal’s Café was always busy on a Saturday morning. Emily wandered in, ordered her usual latte and sat at her favourite table; Table Twelve. It was the perfect spot, nestled neatly in the far corner of the café, next to the window, which allowed the daylight to dance across the polished metal table, and just far enough away from the radio to hear ‘Truly madly deeply’ by Savage Garden quietly pouring through the Café.

            As Emily sat at Table Twelve, her head pounded with the need for painkillers and caffeine. The night before had been her friend Sarah’s birthday/house warming party, the first night out Emily had had in ages. Emily had been working as a paralegal at the cities highest profile law firm since her graduation. Two weeks ago she was offered a promotion and a transfer to New York, finally giving her the sense her hard work paid off. A promotion was all she had wanted in the past year, but the transfer wasn’t something she had foreseen. The truth was she didn’t really want to move to New York. But the chance to do her dream job left her considering moving to the big apple. It had been two weeks since the offer and her bosses were starting to pressurise her for a decision. So Emily had decided to have some fun, go to Sarah’s party in hopes of clearing her head, but the vast amount of cocktails she had consumed had, in the bright morning light, probably not been the best idea. 

            She just needed some time to herself, to relax and think about what to do. As Emily settled at her table, opened her new copy of ‘About a Boy’ and took the first sip of medicinal latte, a figure appeared to the side of her vision. She looked up. Oh damn it, she thought. It was Nicholas. Standing there in his Khaki pants and black bomber jacket, holding a mug of what Emily suspected was coco; his favourite.

            “Is this seat taken?” Nicholas asked in his usual nervous mumble.

            “No,” Emily replied uncertainly and pushed her blonde bangs from her face, “take it.”

            Nicholas set down his mug, draped his jacket over the chair and sat down. Emily peered over her book and saw that it was indeed coco in Nicholas’ mug. I know him well, she thought.

            “How can you drink coco with a hangover?” Emily smiled after a few moments of unusually awkward silence.

            Nicholas smiled back, “I wasn’t drunk and I’m not hung over, unlike you. You look like crap.”

            “Oh thanks,” Emily guffawed and swept her blonde bangs back from her face again. She knew he didn’t mean it. This was how they were. Always joking and making fun of each other. Only Nicholas could insult her and A, get away with it and B, it would make her smile.

“For your information,” Emily teased, “I didn’t drink that much. I can still remember everyth…” she said uncertainly because she was actually struggling to remember anything about the night before. She knew Nicholas had been there though, yes, she thought, Nicholas was definitely there.  

            After a few silent moments, Nicholas said, “I… I err… as I wasn’t drunk I can remember everything about last night.” He set down his mug and fished around inside his jacket pocket. Emily peered over her book again and watched as Nicholas searched with a very worried look on his face. What is he doing? she thought. Tentatively, Nicholas revealed a small silver earring from his pocket and pushed it across the table towards Emily.

            “You left this… I found it, err… I found it on my pillow,” Nicholas muttered.

Emily felt the colour drain from her face; the events of the night before suddenly came storming back, as she reached up to her earlobes. She was so hung over, she hadn’t even realised she had been walking around all morning wearing only one earring. 

            “Thanks,” Emily squeaked, quickly snatched up the earring and put it back in her left ear. Sheepishly, she went back to sipping her latte.

Oh God, oh God, oh God, she thought. What had she done?

            “So… erm… What are you up to today?” Emily stuttered, quickly trying to change the subject.

            “Ems, seriously?” Nicholas implored, “Are we just not going to talk about last night at all?”

            “There is nothing to talk about,” Emily mumbled and delved back into her book. She didn’t want or need any emotional crap right now. She needed clarity and space to sort her head out, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get that now.

            “Okay. Fine,” Nicholas said, sipped his drink and leaned back in his chair.

They sat in the most awkward silence Emily had ever experienced. She had known Nicholas for four years. They had met at collage, both studying Business and Management. They liked the same movies, had the same friends, had quite contrasting tastes in music but even a year after graduating, they still saw as much of each other as they did then.  

            But there was one thing that always pissed Emily off about Nicholas. He may have been shy and quiet, but he always had to be right. Well not this time, Emily thought. If he wanted to sit there in a sulk and insist on discussing last night then he could sit there for the rest of his life, she thought defiantly.  

Emily went back to her book as Nicholas sat peering at her through his thick rimmed glasses. His bright amber eyes bore into her as he leaned back and ran his hands over his shaven hair.

I will not break, I will not break, Emily chanted as his amber eyes continued to bore into her.

I will not break, she thought.

“You kissed me first,” Emily broke.

            “What?! No I didn’t, you kissed me!” Nicholas guffawed. 

            “Ha! In your dreams, you were the one who suggested going somewhere ‘a little quieter’. Who does that if they’re not going to make a move?” Emily argued.

Although, she had jumped for joy inside when his delicious lips had lingered and finally met with hers. It was as if all the sexual tension between them, which she hadn’t registered until that moment, had propelled them together with a heat and intensity that Emily had never experienced before.

            “Did I drag you?! No,” Nicholas continued, “And you didn’t exactly push me away. Also if I remember correctly, you started unbuttoning my shirt first!” Nicholas gloated.

Okay, Emily thought, maybe he was right about that. But, when they had gone to the bedroom, kissing like their lives depended on it, all hands and lips, Emily would have needed to be a saint not to unbutton his shirt and see where it led. As it turned out, it led to one of the best nights of her life. But she would never admit that to Nicholas, he might be quiet and shy, but his ego was big enough already.

            “That’s not fair,” Emily argued, embarrassment consuming her, “I didn’t know what I was doing! I was really drunk and as you’ve pointed out, I’m hung over and I look like crap.”

            “But only you could be hung over and still look beautiful,” he said with quiet intensity.

            His words stilled Emily. Never, in the four years she had known him, did she think he would ever pluck up the courage to say anything so beautiful.

            “What? Okay, are you still drunk? Because that is probably the first nice thing you have ever said to me,” she said uneasily, trying to look away from him, but failing.  

            “I told you… I wasn’t drunk,” Nicholas sighed and leant forward, resting his elbows on the shiny metal table, “You were right; I knew exactly what I was doing last night. I’ve waited four years and wasted God knows how many chances to make a move.”

            He meant it, she could tell, and that made Emily’s heart unexpectedly skip a beat.

            “Come on Ems, seriously? After all this time, are you really that surprised we ended up in bed together?”

            She had always been attracted to Nicholas, it was hard not to be, but the way they squabbled made Emily think they were firmly in the friend zone; which was fine by Emily because they were great friends, the best of friends in fact. But now she thought about it, the possibility of them being anything more had always been pushed a little too far back in her mind for her to notice when Nicholas was trying to make a move on her.

            “I…I don’t know what to say,” Emily said quietly.

            “Look, I might as well say this now,” Nicholas whispered, shifting in his seat. He looked apprehensive, almost nervous, which made Emily blush and want to run the other way. But the sincerity in Nicholas’ gorgeous amber eyes kept her rooted to her seat.

“Ems, when you told me about your promotion last week, I was thrilled. You work so hard and you really deserve it. But, when you said you might have to move to New York, I… I don’t know what happened, but inside I wanted to scream at you not to go. The thought of you moving and not seeing you anymore… I don’t think I could do it,” he said as he fumbled nervously with his mug of coco.

            “Nicholas, you don’t have to-”

            “Yes I do Ems. I need to say this to you,” he implored.

            She knew what he was going to say. He was going to ask her not to leave. But she didn’t want him to; the decision to move to New York was hard enough, without Nicholas making her feeling guilty about leaving.

            “When I thought about it,” he continued, “I realised the feelings I have for you… it’s more than friendship Ems. So, I made a decision to tell you all this at the party last night, but you were a bit too drunk and I thought there was no way you would listen.”

            “So I was too drunk to have a serious and important conversation with but not too drunk to sleep with?!” Emily retorted.

            “Don’t get pissy,” Nicholas bleated, “You’re not complaining are you?”

No, Emily thought, but kept silent.

“When we were sitting on Sarah’s porch, and you were telling me how you didn’t know what you were going to do about your promotion-”

“Wait, what? I said that?” Emily asked, but again, as Nicholas relayed the events of the night before, her memories came back.

“Yeah, you said you really wanted the job but didn’t know if you had a good enough reason to turn it down and stay. When you said that… I kissed you and-”

“Ha, I knew it! I knew I wasn’t-”

“Ems just shut up and listen. I kissed you because… I guess… I wanted to give you a good enough reason to stay,” Nicholas beseeched. Emily looked into his amber eyes once again and couldn’t help the need to reach out and hold his hand. What is he doing to me, Emily thought.

“I didn’t plan to sleep with you Emily and I was going to stop kissing you, but then you kissed me back. And I guess… I didn’t realise how badly I wanted you until you were practically on top of me,” Nicholas smiled.  

“Oh god,” Emily sighed and buried he head in her hands. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe shy, quiet, funny, kind and obviously gorgeous Nicholas was saying he wanted her. She couldn’t believe how much she now realised she wanted him too. She also couldn’t believe what this revelation made her think and what she was about to say.

“Ems,” Nicholas whispered, sounding almost wounded at her reaction, “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you or if you regret last night, but I guess… I figured you would always be here, and now you might not be… If you were set on going to New York I wouldn’t say this, but last night you looked so unsure. I know you Ems and I need to tell you that… I don’t want you to go.”

 That was it. Those few words sealed her decision. It surprised Emily how easy it was and how happy she felt at the choice she had arrived at.

“Ems, say something,” Nicholas implored, but she couldn’t. She had just had the most romantic things she had ever heard said to her, which had opened up a whole load of emotional crap in her head that she needed a moment to digest.

“I’m sorry, look if you want to talk, call me, but I should go,” Nicholas mumbled, looking embarrassed. He quickly rose from the table and put his jacket on. 

As Emily sat there and watched him trying to rush out the door, looking like he wished he could take back everything he had just said, a strange emotion washed over her. She knew what she wanted now.

 “I’m not going anywhere,” Emily smiled and rose from her chair to join Nicholas.

“What?” Nicholas said, bewildered.

“You heard me,” Emily said and just to make sure he understood, she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

Suddenly, he grabbed her face and kissed her back with an intensity that made Emily’s heart flutter. She didn’t care that they were standing next to Table Twelve in the busy Café. She didn’t care that every pair of eyes were probably watching her and Nicholas kiss and embrace to a level which would probably be better done in private. No, she didn’t care because she was where she hadn’t even realised she wanted to be.

Home.

Reviews

[Persona]

I remember read this months ago. It was good :)

[TL Boehm]

Yes I remember this too. I really enjoyed that last bit when she realizes where she wanted to be "home" that's wonderfully romantic without being "mushy"

[John Lauterbach]

I remember reading this once before. It's still a cute story, didn't see much wrong with it except for; "I will not brake, I will not brake..." The next line has "break," which I assume is the form you want.

[Hester Vane]

Yeah, that's what I meant, I'm going to change it. I had to change the formats of these stories because WC decided to delete them! Thought I would send it around again. Thank you for reviewing again, I really appreciate it! I promise I have got new stuff coming very soon. Thank you