Come, Angels of Unknown

I rubbed my face with my palm when I exited the store, the hot air hitting my cheeks. I stepped forward not even looking at whatever was in front of me, and I almost hit a lighting pole when someone's hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me backwards, helping me escape the fate of going headfirst into the metal pole.

“Now I know where you work, I guess,” I heard a familiar voice from behind me, and I barely gathered myself enough to look at the person and realize it was Frank.

“Oh, hello.” I forced a small smile on my face and he seemed to be doing the same.

“I think I might’ve just saved your life,” he snickered and I had to copy the sound, simply because it seemed pathetically funny, the fact I almost ran into a lighting pole because I wasn’t looking in front of myself. It happened a lot, actually, the amount of times I’d accidentally gotten lost in my thoughts and nearly killed myself was surprisingly huge.

“It’s actually quite possible,” I had to admit and he smiled at that. “Where are you headed?”

“Starbucks,” he grinned. “The only place that has coffee as nearly as good as yours.”

I couldn’t help but to giggle. “Actually, I was about to go there myself.” That wasn’t a lie. I was about to go to Starbucks, pick up coffee for me and Mikey and spend the rest of the day bored out of my mind. Now, I realized this day could’ve turned out differently, if I just asked him to go with me. “Would you like to join me?”

“I’d love to.” He smiled and I smiled back, not really knowing what I was thinking. I wasn’t exactly sure why I’d asked him to come with me, I usually wasn’t that type of person who needed, or liked company for that matter, but I guess I just enjoyed his.

We started walking towards the square where Starbucks was located and I remembered the way he smiled. I wasn’t exactly sure why I was thinking about that, but it occurred to me that there was something simply wrong about it. It seemed happy when you’d first see it, but there was something that made me wonder if it genuinely was.

“Do you have any siblings or something?” He broke the silence and woke me up from my mild-daydream.

“Yeah. I have a brother. He lives with me, actually,” I told him before I pushed the store door open, letting him in before myself. He mumbled a ‘thank you’ and went forward to find us a table when I closed the door behind me. I noticed he found a table for two at the very corner and I followed him there. We both sat in the chairs and he continued the conversation.

“I have a little sister. Well, not so little, she’s fourteen.” He smiled, slightly nostalgically at his tangled fingers which he laid on the table surface. “I sometimes think I’m letting her down.”

I furrowed my brow, a bit taken back by the thing he said. “Why would you think that?”

“I’m not really sure.” He sighed, hunching a bit forward and looking like someone dropped a big weight on his back. “I’m not a really good role-model.”

I snickered dryly. “I know how that feels. I can’t even describe how much.”

“It sucks, yeah,” he smiled without amusement and he was about to say something else when the waitress interrupted him.

“What can I get for you two?” She smiled warmly.

“Espresso,” I said.

“Soy latte,” Frank told her and she mumbled a ‘coming up’ before she moved on to the next customer. I smiled at him when he looked at me again, trying to seem as friendly as possible. I wasn’t really sure why I wanted him to feel comfortable around me that much, I guess it was just one of my impulses. He seemed like a really troubled kid and I wanted to know why, and if I could help him.

“Can I ask you something?” I said after a few minutes of silence. We already got our coffees and he was looking at me while taking a sip from his mug.

“Yes?” He said when he lowered the mug on the table, the porcelain hitting the cold plastic of the table surface silently, still audible from all the tension that grew in the air when I spoke.

“Is everything okay with you?” I asked even though I knew the answer, just as well as I knew the next thing he said was a lie.

“Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” He looked confused, almost oblivious but I knew he was lying.

“Because you practically told me there was something wrong the day we met.” I forced my gaze deeper into his eyes, trying to read something real and true out of them, something that would contrast the usual emptiness those eyes carried. It was a shame, because they were such beautiful eyes. I did, actually, read something. I didn’t even remotely like it.

He was about to say something when his phone rang.

“Sorry,” he looked at me apologetically before he pressed a button and put his phone against his ear.

“Hello?” He said into the speaker and the voice from the other side started talking swiftly, not giving him a chance to respond. I couldn’t hear what the voice was saying, but I noticed his brows furrowing and his facial expression turning a bit upset.

“Amber. Stop. Take a deep breath. And tell me what happened.” He said firmly, his voice sounding serious and demanding. The sudden change of emotion on his face caught me a bit off guard, since I had him mesmerized as someone with a rather mellow and soft personality.

He realized I was looking at him and he shot me another apologetic look, mouthing something to me while still listening what the person on the other side of the call was saying.

“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Cover for me, or something, okay? Thanks, I owe you one,” he closed his eyes and sighed loudly before speaking again, greeting my confused look with yet another of his apologetic ones. I presumed people would forgive him murder if he gave them one of those.

“I’m so sorry. I’m in huge trouble. I have to go now, but I’d really like to do this again sometime.” He smiled slightly, still looking guilty as fuck and making me wonder if he influences everyone around him the same as he did with me.

“It’s okay. I'll tell you what,” I smiled slightly, assuring him it was okay, “I’ll give you my number, so we can do a rain check?”

His face lit up slightly and I couldn’t help but to feel just a bit better because of that. “Sounds great.”

I gave him my number, he gave me his and left a few crumpled bills on the table, despite my whines how he didn’t have to, then shot me another big smile before rushing out of the store.

I sighed and paid the bill with the money he left, cursing internally because I really didn’t like people paying for my shit. I promised myself I’d be the one to pay next time we’d meet.

When I headed home I realized it was already around three o’clock, which made me wonder how much time we actually spent only in silence. When I unintentionally slammed the apartment door a little bit too loudly, I heard Mikey’s voice from the living room.

“You’re home late,” he whined.

“Oh shit, I completely forgot about our lunch arrangement.” I groaned after I kicked my shoes off and entered the living room, where I saw him sitting on the couch eating macaroni and cheese. “I ran into Frank and we went to Starbucks.”

“If it’s Frank, I totally forgive you,” he snickered and I couldn’t help but to smirk and roll my eyes.
My stomach growled and I remembered I should probably eat something, or else I’d be leaving this place in a gurney.

“Is there any for me?” I pointed at the plate he was holding in his hand.

“Yeah, there’s more on the stove,” he said without moving his eyes from the TV, “You might want to heat it.”

“Okay.” I went into the kitchen and grabbed a plate for myself, filling it with the pasta and placing into the microwave to heat it. Milo appeared behind me and jumped up on the counter, obviously positioning himself for me to stroke his back. I rolled my eyes and did as I was ‘told’. He soon started pointing his paw at my left jeans pocket where I kept my phone. “You little fuck,” I chuckled when he touched the phone through the jeans fabric. He meowed loudly.

“What, you want me to call someone?” The picture of Frank’s face flashed before my eyes. “Yeah, maybe I will. Who would you like me to call? Frank?” Milo meowed again and I took that as a yes. “Well, it’s a bit early, now, isn’t it? I just got his number. What about tomorrow?” I smiled when he snuggled his head against my palm.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” I decided.

Notes

I'm sorry for the wait people, I just hope it was worth it.