Getting hot at the coffee shop

21

As I watched Christopher wrestle with the tree, I heard shoes slapping against the pavement. Looking up I saw Katie running to me.

“Are you alright?” She panted, out of breath from her sprint across the road. Her eyes were filled with worry.

I nodded and felt my eyes begin to water again.

“Yeah. Just a little shaken is all.” I felt a little foolish that I had the two of them so worried about me when it was just a stupid miscalculation on my part.

“What happened?” She inquired as she looked over and saw Christopher snatching the trees remains out from under the car, snapping in half.

“Just pure stupidity.” I told her as I pressed my face into my hands.

“I don’t believe that for one second” came Christopher’s voice as he tossed the branches off to the side where they landed on the gravel. “Why don’t you tell us what really happened.” He raised an eyebrow at me and I saw that they were both watching me, patiently waiting for my explanation.

I sighed. Did I really want to tell them that I had had words with Leo? I’m sure it was obvious to anyone within a mile of us that we didn’t exactly gee haw bug did I need to go putting it out there for everyone? Feeling a surge of anger rise up in me, I decided I would tell them what happened.

“It wasn’t like it was something major” I began looking at the two of them whose full attention I had. “I asked Leo if he could park better because he was basically in two parking spots, and he pretty much responded like a jerk being sarcastic and calling me princess.”

I shrugged it off when I finished. Hearing it for myself it really didn’t sound all that bad. Not nearly as bad as I had made myself believe it to be. More than anything I just felt humiliated at this point. I looked back and forth between the two of them to gauge their reactions. Katie was the first to speak.

“That doesn’t even surprise me with that asshole” her mouth twisted into a frown. “All he ever does is run his mouth with smartass comments like he’s some type of god or something.”

I nodded. She was right about that one for sure.

I turned back and looked at Christopher to see what his response would be but he was looking off in the distance, his jaw set firmly and his expression unreadable.

After a few moments of silence Katie looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. We locked eyes and she frowned at me and nodded her head slightly at him. I shrugged slightly to let her know that I didn’t know what was going on.

Our silent conversation of wondering what was going on with him didn’t last much longer.

Finally he took a deep breath inward so that his chest puffed tightly against his shirt and then exhaled slowly. I could hear it that he was trying to control himself, maybe fighting some type of inner demons that we neither one knew about. His jaw was relaxed at this point but his eyebrows were still furrowed.

Slowly he turned and looked at me deeply, his eyes filled with anger. I shrank back thinking that it had registered with him what I had done and now he was mad about it. He proved me wrong when he finally spoke up.

“So he called you princess?” Was all he said.