"Six Days" - The First Day

       Somewhere between my modest art deco apartment building and the newly completed public sports complex was a small family owned dinner. Nothing too impressive, but definitely something you would be proud to pass down to your children when the time comes. Trying to escape the sudden down poor of yet another summer flash flood, I had found refuge beneath the tiled roof of that exact dinner. It was getting late, and the room appeared to be mostly abandoned. In one corner sat a man and woman, talking over two small cups of what I assumed to be coffee. Behind the counter was a single woman in typical dinner attire, occasionally looking in my direction probably trying to see if I wanted to order anything. And finally, standing in the middle of the room was a teenage male, grinning ever so much as he loaded soft serve ice cream onto a folded cone. I looked across the room several times, taking stock of my surroundings and watching the various people go about their business. After finishing my third time glancing around the room, I noticed the waitress from behind the bar was moving in my direction.

       “Are you ready to order?”
I tried to think quickly, wondering if they would let me stay in the dinner if I didn’t order something.

       “Sure!” I said, trying to think of an inexpensive item without looking at a menu. Seconds passed, glancing around the room, and when I saw the couple in the corner it hit me. “Coffee, black.”

       Motioning towards the empty seats the waitress turned her back and walked away. I chose to take a booth parallel with the couple in the corner, trying my hardest to stay away from the sugar crazed teenager with ice cream all over his lips. It was relaxing to sit for a moment, staring out the window as the cars drove past in the down pour. From my vantage point I could see the entire eatery, but my focus was leaning towards the window and the rain. Before I knew it, the waitress had returned, coffee cup in hand. Without saying a word she placed the cup and saucer combo on the table before me and walked away. Looking back in the direction of the moving waitress, I again saw the couple in the corner. Paying more attention to them now, I saw a most oddly dressed woman, facing me. Her companion, a clean cut twenty something male, had his back facing me. Before long, I was reminiscing about the last time I was in a coffee shop with a woman. This sudden burst of nostalgia had left me staring at the two people opposite me. I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was staring at the woman, but it didn’t take her long to notice. Waving her hand back and forth before my eyes, finally brought me back to the here and now. I casually smiled, nodded my head, and resumed my gaze out the window.

       As time passed, the diner grew more and more quiet. The lack of customers had left the audio level fairly low already, but with the exit of the teenager, the ice cream machine stopped churning its contents. Now, I could inadvertently hear the conversation of the couple before me. I wasn’t trying to listen in, but I after overhearing one comment I could no longer help myself.

       “Jennifer, that’s ridiculous! Not all men are as insensitive and uncaring as you think.” protested the young male.
       “Oh please, all they want is the chase. During that first week of seeing a guy, it’s nothing but passionate kindness and sweep you off your feet romance, and any amount of time after that is a waste and a shame.”
       Laughing aloud the man responded, “But there are guys who fall desperately in love with a person, and stay like that forever.”

       The woman just shook her head, staring into her cup of coffee, losing herself in its circles. Before I knew what was happening, the woman had looked up and made eye contact with me again. Tilting her head slightly to the side she squinted her eyes at me, thus drawing the attention of her companion. As he moved to turn around she spoke a loud a question, the first words she ever said to me.

       “So, what do you think?”
       “Huh what?” I replied, in more of a idiotic stupor than actual language.
       “About guys,” she continued, “do you think they are capable of romance after the end of the chase?”
       Having been granted time to formulate my thoughts, I was prepared for the battle at hand.
       “Of course!” I explained, “There is always going to be some jerk who wants nothing more than the thrill of conquest, but there are good guys who there who actually have a heart.”
       Slightly chuckling, she rolled her eyes and said, “Deep down, you are all best. No matter how much of a jerk, lover, or nerd you are, every guy has that animal inside. You hunt, and you like it.”
       The other man, having ample time to look me over during the exchange piped in shortly after the woman finished.
       “No hun, some hunt, but some of us like to gather. Gather lots of them around me and have my fun from there.”

       This is where my story started. This is the little coffee house I met her in, and the day that would change the rest of my life forever. This is the story, about how Marcos, Jennifer, and I would become the best of friends, in the shortest amount of time, but like all things thrown together in haste, something will go wrong in time. In six days.