INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 5: A COFFEE CONVERSATION

“Yeah, that’s my order thank you very much.” Petrichor said as she walked towards the counter. She picked up the covered, white paper cup from the flat surface of the counter, took a sip from the cup and smiled at Alice.

“You guys have the best cappuccino. I haven’t tasted anything this good since Starbucks in Manhattan. Thanks a lot.”

“You should try the one in Venice.” Xaviere who had been looking intently at Petrichor since she stepped to the counter blurted out.

“Oh, you’re that afro guy from Psychology, right?” Petrichor asked pointing her left index finger towards him with a slight tilt of her head while she held the hot beverage in are right hand.

“People normally go with, ‘Guy with the square glasses’ but I will take it”

Petrichor laughed.

“I’m Xaviere by the way.”

“I am Petrichor but you already know that now, don’t you? She said then took a sip from the cup. Xaviere smiled, and then looked to the floor awkwardly returning the gaze at the sound of her next words.

“You’re Italian?”

“What?”

“Are you from Italy? You were talking about the cappuccino of Venice.”

“Oh, that. I was part of an excursion to Italy back in high school. We went to many catholic monuments and all. The Vatican City, Cagliari, Sicily and Venice; we even went to the Circus Maximus and the Coliseum in Rome. It was quite an experience. Italy is a beautiful place.”

“Wow; that must have been an amazing experience. Back in the Big Apple, the only excursions we ever took were to the zoo or the museum where they showed us some old bones.” Petrichor said laughing.

“It could not have been that bad.” Xaviere said smiling.

“Nah, nah don’t get me wrong. There is never a dull moment with New York. It’s just that I have always wanted to go somewhere away from the yellow cabs and skyscrapers, you know. Somewhere exotic; some place without the concrete and tarred roads. Somewhere like Venice for example where they have houses built on rivers and pedal boats just to leave to a place. Somewhere like Paris; go to the Eiffel tower and sip champagne under the lights.”

“You guys have The Statue of Liberty over there in New York.”

“Dude, there is nothing romantic about a giant woman holding a torch and a book.” Petrichor said gesticulating with the cup she held in her hand. Xaviere laughed and she laughed too. He was actually doing it. He was having a conversation, and with a girl. He was not stammering. He was actually doing it.

“England is the worst.” Xaviere said. “It is such a boring old place that the most famous monument is a clock tower that’s name after your annoying uncle; who names a clock Big Ben?”

“Errmmm, I guess the same people that named a bunch of rocks arranged in a circle Stonehenge.” Petrichor said with a smile on her face. Xaviere loved her witty comebacks. He loved her black hair that she had packed in a bun with curly stands of it loosely swaying over her left eye. He loved her catlike, brown eyes and her Arabian looking nose; long and slender. He loved her full lips and the dark lining she had drawn around it. They said nothing for the few seconds and Xaviere used that time to memorize the details of her face while she stood there sipping her coffee but still maintaining eye contact, looking into his eyes through the glasses on his face.

“Hey, WXYZ…” Alice said calling out to Xaviere by the nickname she had made from his initials. “Your latte is ready. I made the croissant every crusty just the way you like it.”

“Thanks a lot Alice.” He responded after being brought back to reality by Alice’s voice. He took the folded, brown paper bag and the coffee cup from Alice and walked over to Petrichor who was waiting just a few paces away from the counter. They walked over to a sit close to the big, rectangular glass window.

“WXYZ; what is that, your secret spy codename?” Petrichor asked humorously. Xaviere laughed at the idea that he, the most un-athletic nerdy person he knew was a spy.

“It’s just some dumb stuff Alice came up with. My name is Xaviere Williams so she wrote than my initials as ‘WX’ then wrote ‘YZ’ at the end to complete the series in the alphabets.

“That’s funny, I like it.” Petrichor said smiling.

“So you’re a psychology major?” She asked

“No, no far from it; I’m actually a premed. I am planning to go into the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.”

“Wow, I never would have guessed that. What are you doing psychology for then?”

“Honestly, I think it will be an easy A for me.”

“Ouuu, that’s a first. I picked the course because I have always been fascinated with what makes us act the way we do. You know, like why do girls twirl their hair when they are around a boy they like? Why are girls attracted to bad boys? Stuff like that.” Petrichor said.

“Well that’s due to the psychomotor-pheromones relationship that occurs in mammalian females and inert attraction of the gender to alpha males which in the human case happen to be bad boys.” Xaviere said making air quotes with his fingers as he said the words “bad boys”. Petrichor stared at him in amazement.

“Okay…well I wasn’t expecting you to know that.” She blurted out laughing. Xaviere laughed too.

“You could sure teach Professor Muller a thing or two.”

“Me? C’mon, that’s not true. I honestly don’t know that much.” Xaviere said in the manner he always did when he was being humble about how intelligent he was.

“So what is your major?” He asked.

“Global Linguistics; I plan on furthering into anthropology with a focus on language formation.”

“Ok, that’s a lot more interesting than my boring stuff.”

“What? You’re going to be a doctor. Xaviere MD, with your white lab coat turning the nurses heads.” Petrichor said jokingly. Xaviere burst out laughing.

“Dr Xaviere, I’d be on my way now.” She said with exaggerated formality.

“Of course, and please don’t call me that.”

“What? You’re going to be a doctor someday won’t you?”

“I will but I don’t like the ideas of titles. Gives people a false feeling of bigness. Makes you feel like you are a little bigger than what you actually are. You take your eyes off what really matters and focus a lot on your personal achievements.”

“And what are those things that really matter?”

“The small things; family, having a dinner with your relatives, decorating a Christmas tree, just being human or even having a latte while sitting at a table with a beautiful girl.” Xaviere said. At the sounds of these words, Petrichor blushed; the colour of her cheeks turning pink. She lowered her gaze and then said,

“If calling you doctor makes you act this smooth, I will call you doctor all day.” Xaviere laughed. She got up and slung one arm of her backpack on a shoulder.

“I am leaving.”

“Okay…. Okay” Xaviere said hesitantly. She rolled her eyes and sighed. She then scribbled down on the serviette Alice had given Xaviere earlier and this she walked away. Xaviere looked at the sheet that lay idly on the table. He picked it up with both hands and after examining what was written he looked through the window at Petrichor who was now walking away. She turned around for a minute and gave him a smile.

“Oh s**t!” Xaviere exclaimed as he looked frantically at his watch; it was 9.13. Xaviere was late.

“This is the relationship between cyclohexane and benzene….”

“Excuse me sir.”

“Yes, who are you?

“I am meant to be in this class.”

“Young man, you’re 17 minutes late, I am not sure you are.”

“I am so sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”

“You claim you’re meant to be in this class; yes?” The lecturer said after a brief pause. The he asked Xaviere, “Who discovered the ring structure of benzene?”

“August Kekule and he claimed it was revealed to him by an angel in his dream.” Xaviere answered.

“Well, that is actually correct. You can have a seat. Just be on time next time.”

“Thank you” Xaviere said as he walked into the class. The class continued. During the remaining minutes of this class, Xaviere was not interested in the chemistry of aromatic hydrocarbons; all he thought about was Petrichor.