The next day was nothing special. The stranger had come in and left again, once again returning to his routine of putting the cash on the counter and looking at his feet. Not that this surprised Jody in the least, but it somewhat intrigued her. What had happened to someone so young to make him so afraid of the world?
Meanwhile, the stranger had returned to his trendy- but not too trendy- apartment in TriBeCa. Upon opening the door, he was greeted by a blinking light on the answering machine. It seemed to mock him more and more as he gradually made his way closer. Who would bother calling him? Begrudgingly pressing the button, a voice began to speak.
“Hi honey. It’s Mom. Please call me. I’m very worried about you. Love you. Bye.”
That wasn’t a new call. His mother called at least once a day to check up on him.
“Hey... It’s Zac. Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight. I bought too much at the store, so uh, I’ll set an extra place for you if you want it.” His brother’s voice paused and sounded like it was going to break with pain. “It’d really be nice to see you again. And you’ll be getting out of the house a little bit. We all miss you Taylor, we all...”
Zac couldn’t finish his sentence- his brother had already pressed the delete button and now his voice and invitation were nothing more than a memory.
Suddenly being in his own apartment disgusted him. He didn’t want to be there anymore. It was filled with so much hurt and so much self-loathing that it drove him mad. Grabbing his keys, he nearly ran out of the apartment.
Once in the street, he clutched his jacket around himself. The wind was whipping and since it was nearly November it was quite chilly.
But where would he go? He couldn’t go to Zac, that would mean that he would be obligated to stay for dinner. Going to Issac, well, that wasn’t an option either. Issac had turned a not so great corner in his life and was now into some not so legal happenings. Going down the path that Issac went would be the easy way to go, but somehow he just couldn’t see himself doing something as illegal as what Issac was doing.
Somehow, he ended up at the Starbucks. He went to go open the door, but before he knew it, the door hit him in the face.
“Oh my God I’m so sorry!” he heard a voice say. “Are you alright?”
He shook his head out of shock and then felt his nose to make sure that he was really OK.
“Yeah, I think so.” He was being studied and he knew it. He looked at his feet again. “Shit that hurt.”
The guilty party frowned. “Sir, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. It wasn’t my intention to get you with the door.”
“I know. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m such a klutz.” By this time he was able to ascertain that the voice was feminine. “I mean, this doesn’t usually happen outside my apartment. Usually I’m the kind of chick who walks into a door. I usually don’t hit people with them.”
He chuckled a bit at the girl’s rambling.
“I know it’s not much of a consolation but why don’t you come inside and...” The girl looked at him for the first time. “Oh my God... I know you.”
Oh shit. This wasn’t good.
“I’ve gotta go,” he muttered as he started to back away. The last thing he needed was to be recognized right this second.
“No,” she said as she reached out and gently grabbed his arm. “Let me get you your raspberry chi...”
His head perked up. “Jody?”
“Yeah. Let’s get you inside.”
The wind picked up slightly and they both shivered. “Can we make that a hot chocolate?” the stranger asked.
“Sure,” Jody replied as she went to open the door. The stranger hesitated and looked at the door. They both looked at each other and laughed.
“I’ll get the door,” the stranger said, almost relieved that he ran into- almost literally- someone who only knew enough about him to know that he liked raspberry chi tea.
They both chuckled as he let her into the store.
“Thanks,” Jody said as she, once again, entered the Starbucks. The stranger looked a little nervous. “You go to your usual table. I’ll get everything else.” He nodded and walked away.
“What? Couldn’t keep you away?” Jody was barbed as she hopped back behind the counter.
“Leave me alone Horace,” she barbed back. “I nearly killed someone with the door, so I figured I better get them some hot cocoa before they try to get revenge on me.”
He raised his eyebrows. “That was you who almost decapitated raspberry chi boy?”
“Guilty as charged.” She nearly finished making the hot chocolates. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some apologizing to do.”
“Hey,” Horace called after her. “Why don’t you take some of that birthday cake with you?”
Jody smiled. “Thanks Cupid.”
Upon going into the seating area, Jody spied the stranger in his usual place- an unsocial booth in the corner- as she approached.
“Here ya go- a hot chocolate and a slice of what we now call birthday cake.” She placed everything on the table and took a seat across from him.
“Thanks,” he said as he took the hot chocolate.
A slightly uncomfortable but friendly silence ensued.
“Sorry about that whole door thing. I generally don’t try to kill the customers. It goes against company policy.”
The stranger smiled. For the first time, Jody got a full view of the smiling stranger.
“Yeah, they’re not too keen on that kind of thing,” he answered with a small grin. His shaggy blond hair fell in whisps around his face and the wind had swirled the hair on the top of his head. His blue eyes appeared to be both relieved and apprehensive simultaneously- something Jody had never seen before.
She took a sip of her cocoa and studied him again. “What’s your name?”
He squinted at her. “What?”
“What’s your name?” He still looked puzzled. “I mean, you know my name and it’s a little awkward having cake and cocoa with someone and not knowing their name.”
He paused, obviously hesitant, and took another sip of his cocoa. Several moments had passed before he spoke again. “Taylor.”
“Excuse me?” Jody said, not hearing him properly.
“Taylor. My name’s Taylor Ha...” he caught himself. Giving away too much too soon could be very dangerous. “Taylor Jordan.”
“Well then Taylor,” Jody said as she wiped her hand on her napkin and then extended it over the table toward the stranger, “I’m Jody Thompson.” He took her hand and shook it. The two smiled at each other as their hands separated.
“So where do you go to school?” Jody questioned.
Taylor scrunched his face up. “School?”
“Yeah. I go to Five Towns College on Long Island. Where do you go?”
“I, uh... I don’t go to school.”
Jody squinted at him. “Oh?”
Her comment begged him to elaborate. “I, uh... I just don’t go to school.”
“But, um, you are out of high school right? I’m not having hot chocolate with jail bait, am I?” Jody asked slightly mortified at the prospect that the good looking young man she was talking with was a minor. She’d never hear the end of that one...
“No no no,” Taylor said with a slight smile. “I’ve been out of high school for a while.” Jody sighed out of relief. Taylor smiled at her. “Why? Do I really look that young?”
Jody shrugged. “I’m bad with this whole guess the age thing.”
“Mmm,” Taylor murmured as he took another sip of his cocoa.
Another silence settled on them.
“So what do you do?” Taylor looked at her funny. “For a living. What do you do? You’re obviously living somewhere around here.”
This was going to be interesting. “I’m a musician.”
Jody’s ears perked up. “Really. You struck me as a musician.” He smiled at that, partially relieved that he still wasn’t recognized. “What kind of music do you play?”
“We’re kinda going with the whole acoustic vibe right now.”
“We?” Jody asked with raised eyebrows. “So you’re in a band.”
“Mmm hmmm.”
“Maybe I’ve heard of you. What’s the band’s name?”
Oh no. This had potential for disaster. How was he going to dodge this one?
“Um... We’re more of a garage band kinda thing.”
Jody nodded. “That’s cool.” Somehow she got the feeling that it was a touchy subject. She let the topic go.
Another silence passed as Taylor finished off his hot cocoa. “I...should... get going,” he stammered. Something about Jody made him off balance.
“OK, well, I don’t want to keep you,” Jody said as she gracefully bowed out of the conversation. “I should get going as well. It’s getting late and the trains are scary after dark.”
“Thanks for the hot chocolate.”
“Sorry about the door,” she countered.
It was awkward as they both stood. Jody took a deep breath and stuck out her hand again. “It was nice to finally meet you, Taylor.”
He took her hand. “Formalities suck, don’t they?”
“Yes they do,” Jody smiled as she realized that this was getting a little awkward. “I’m gonna leave so this doesn’t get any more awkward.”
Taylor smiled back at her while still shaking her hand. “Good plan.”
“So I’m gonna go...now.” Jody took her hand back, threw out her cup in the garbage, and exited the store. With one last glance over her shoulder, Jody walked down the street and into the subway system.
Taylor remained at the Starbucks for a moment, looking after her. He shook his head and started out of the store, this time being careful that he wasn’t going to get hit with the door this time.
