Not Another Broken Doll

Chapter 5

The following day, Ruth left home even earlier than the day before and this time she had waterproofs on. She was not ready to face a full day of answering basic questions to undergrads about how to use voice waves to decipher consonants until she had been to the café and apologised to Christoff. Well… She just wouldn’t be ready anyway but at least she could tell herself she had done one good thing before that happened. She parked her bike outside the café and waited for Hannah to arrive. Her friend was intrigued to what was about to happen.

“Frau Spain, Hannah” Chris said from behind the counter without taking is eyes off his phone. “Latte to go?”

“Chris. Stop.” He ignored her. Ruth figured he’d still be annoyed at her behaviour the day before. “Chris. Please.” He put the jug of milk down and turned around. Ruth looked at his expressionless face. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk yesterday. You were only trying to help, and I was not fair to you.”

“It’s OK.” He said and he carried on making their coffee.

“No, it’s not” she said. He turned around with her coffee in a disposable cup. “Look, I’m not going to bore you with details, but I’m not used to trusting others in general.”

“You don’t need to explain” he said. He looked at Ruth and she did seem mortified. “You didn’t need rescuing.”

“Do you like music?” Ruth blurted out, feeling incredibly awkward. Hannah hadn’t said a word yet, but she was having fun at this complicated display.

“Yes. Why?” Ruth handed over the envelope with the tickets to Hafen festival. “What the…?”

“My cousin works in the organisation, the charity that is running it. Please take them. I’m sorry I was an i***t with you yesterday. You can take anyone you want with you, they’re great tickets” She said hurriedly as she started gathering her belongings to leave.

“Hey, you, stop there!” Hannah said. “Let’s sit down, shall we?”. Ruth looked at Hannah and she knew she was not taking a no for an answer. She obliged.

Chris stood silently for about a minute. Ruth was confused and trying to fight the impulse of running away, but she was also too curious to let this go, and too afraid Hannah would mock her until the end of time for this.

“I can’t take these” Chris finally said.

“Why not? They’re great tickets.” Hannah insisted. “Also, you can take whoever you want”. Chris looked at Hannah quizzically. He was not having a good time. “Unless you’d rather go on your own…”

“Okay, okay. On one condition.” He hurriedly said. “You’re coming with me” he added, looking at Ruth. She choked on her coffee. “Seriously, lady what’s with you lately?” he said as he poured a glass of water for her.

“Sorry, what?” Ruth asked when she recovered her breath.

“These tickets are really good tickets, and as you said I can take anyone I want.” Chris lowered his face to be at the same hight as Ruth’s. “And I want you to come along. Can’t be that bad, can it?”

Ruth tried to keep her gaze on his eyes, but she had to look away. Last time anyone looked at her like that things did not end well… for anyone. But not all men are a waste of space, right?

“OK, but it feels wrong. It’s my apology present.” She said looking at Hannah for some support.

“Don’t ask me, it’s his present!” Hannah teased.

“Then let me convince you. It’s still three weeks away, and these tickets are hard to come by.” Chris’ brain was working very quickly, but he managed to come up with a plan “Let me get you lunch on weekdays until that night. It would be weird for anyone to go to a concert like this with a total stranger, right?”

Ruth did not seem too keen on the idea, but she took a second to think about it, and what Ingrid had told her. This could indeed be fun for a change.

“She agrees” Hannah said, grabbing her by the hand before Ruth had a chance to answer. “Just know she has messed up eating times and she doesn’t do dairy. She’ll be here at one.” Hannah pulled Ruth’s hand and got her out of the café without a chance to say goodbye.

On the way out, Ruth smiled awkwardly at Chris. The moment she set foot on the street again and the light rain started messing with her hair, she felt something she had forgotten about: the thrill of getting to know somebody new, and it was all thanks to Hannah, who was laughing lively at her. What she did not feel was that a pair of eyes were looking at her through the lens of a camera from an office across the street.

“We found her” a voice said.