EMOTIONAL DISTANCE

August

She recognized him straight away. He was sitting at one edge of a picnic bench with a bagel sandwich and a large iced coffee. Today he had on jeans and a t-shirt with some construction company brand on it. She couldn't tell what company it was but it was 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday, so he must've been dressed to work. Teens don't get up at that time just for fun.

He was too busy with his nose in his phone to notice her waiting in line outside of the coffee shop.

"Back again, hey?" The barista's voice caught Paul's attention. "How come I've never seen you around before? Are you new to the area?"

Paul watched in the corner of his eye. "Sort of, yeah," responded the woman waiting to order.

"Sort of?"

Two girls drove by and honked the horn. "HI BRENT!" they shouted. Class of 2021 was written on the car windows in blue.

"LAY-DEEEEES!" he shouted back. "Sorry," he said to the woman. "Anyway, we should grab a drink sometime. I'll show you around."

Paul rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah... Do you have oat milk?"

Paul bit his lip to hide a laugh. Her response was priceless.

"Sure do. And soy."

"I'll take a black coffee. Medium roast. No sugar."

"With oat milk?"

"No. Just black."

"Oooh-kay. Comin' right up!"

This was when Paul realized it was Adrienne. He wanted to see the woman who turned down Brent, and when he twisted to look, she was looking straight at him like she knew he was there the whole time. He recognized her mask.

"Oh. Hey," he said.

She sighed. "I was worried it wasn't actually you. You know," she circled her finger around her mask. "Hard to tell."

"Medium roast." Brent was back from inside the shop with a paper cup of coffee.

Paul stood up at the same time Adrienne turned to grab her coffee. "Here, I got it," he said. He was quick, with the change from his iced coffee in his front pocket. He handed Brent the five dollar bill.

"Paulie?" he said with surprise as he took the money.

"Thanks," said Adrienne, to Paul — not Brent.

Brent pointed from Paul to Adrienne. "Ya'll know each other?"

"Yeah we do," said Adrienne. She turned to the man standing in line behind her, waiting to be served. "Sorry, sir," she said. She motioned to Brent, basically forcing Brent to take the man's order. It was a clever move to get away. Her back was already turned to Brent before he could even say goodbye.

"Thanks for this. You didn't have to," she said to Paul. They walked back to Paul's sandwich and coffee.

"No worries. Least I could do," said Paul. He already paid $1,500 in damaging her car. And by he, it meant his parents. They weren't upset at him. When he said he was in an accident and explained that he tapped his bumper to another car during stop-and-go traffic at a light, his parents' response was, "That's it?"

Adrienne could read his shirt now. The breast said Montelli Pools Norwalk Connecticut with an ocean wave behind it.

"Working today?" she asked.

"Yeah. Now, actually." He checked his phone just to be sure. He'd be late if he stayed any longer.

"Have a good one," she said, holding up her coffee.