Four, Five, Six Pick up Sticks

Four
He sees her wave from the top of the escalator, scrambling back up the descending stairs. His heart feels suddenly weightless, like a branch uplifted by a sudden wind gust. She walks towards him as he walks to her. His heart seems to emanate warmth and excitement through his entire being. She gets to him, all smiling wide, but petite smiles. They hug one another. As they fall back to standing apart, her hand runs softly down his arm. Her soft little hand, so strange and unfamiliar; he doesn’t really know what is happening. Touch is short and rare for him in his life.
Lucia is a beautiful, charismatic, and outgoing woman. She is only slightly shorter than Tom is. They have been dating on and off for several months, and this is the first time they have talked for any length of time in a week and a half. They recently just got back together, this morning over the phone.
She invites him over to a small table at the food court.
“So, how have you been!?” she says with exuberance; her eyes alive, open, and peering up at him.
“Good. I just started school this week, and I got another job!” says Tom, catching her excitement somewhat, but still overwhelmed emotionally by her presence.
“Really? Wow, I can’t even get one and you have two!”she says, with genuine enthusiasm for him.
“Anyway, I’ll be a teacher’s assistant, grading papers and giving occasional lectures on art history.” he adds.
“That’s great! I’m so happy for you!”
“How has your job search been going?” he says, as he folds his legs under the table, and sits more upright to get a better look at her face.
“Oy vey! When will they ever call! I’ve put in about 35 applications to restaurants, grocery stores, movie rental places… That was three days ago! Nothing back yet!” laughing as she says this.
“Well, I guess there’s no hurry. Your last job sure wasn’t a walk in the park…” he says.
“Ha! You have a point there.. No need to hurry off into a job like that anytime soon!”
“How about pizza and doughnuts? Does that sound good right now?” he asks, referencing one of their first meals together, pizza and doughnuts.
She laughs spontaneously, feistily, and raucously out loud. She relaxes back into her seat, as if riding some calming carefree wind that he doesn’t feel pass by.
“That sounds great!” she says finally, to his surprise.
They leave the mall, and head to Mic’s donut shop, which also sells small pizzas.
Five
It is early morning, and he is all alone. His first thoughts are of Lucia. “Sweet, soft Lucia. How great it was to see her last night! That woman is quite incredible at relationships. I really wish I was better at them!” Tom thinks to himself, as he looks out through the big front window, feeling happy to see the sunshine dancing on the wet lawn.
He draws himself out of bed, letting the single blanket slough off his body and fall half to the floor, half on the bed. He yawns and looks around his one bedroom apartment. The place is too small to be messy. Living on his own, there isn’t much food in the place. He quickly dresses and heads outside to take a bike ride. The sun is bright, the air is cool, and he is totally rested and fulfilled at the moment. He rides down to the Fifth street burger joint for a quick breakfast burrito and orange juice.
After breakfast, he rides to the other side of town to do some writing at the Coalesce coffee shop. He remembers the girl he met there, Sandra, while riding over. He is excited to have with him a copy of one of his latest short stories. “I hope she will ask me again to see my writing! I would like to share it with her, but if she doesn’t bring it up, I think I’ll pretend I have forgotten about it, and see if she brings it up later!” Tom thinks to himself.
Six
He pulls his bike up in front of the Coalesce coffee shop, and leans it safely up against a light post. He feels warm from the ride, and from the increasing temperature of the sunny day. The sunlight just peaks over the two story businesses across the street, illuminating the inside of the coffee shop. Small particles of dust are lifted up into the light as he swishes open the tall green glass door.
A man he does not know is at the counter, taking orders from one of three customers. Tom is somewhat disappointed that she is not there. He thinks to himself “I guess I’ll get a Mocha and sit down to write for a while anyway. Maybe I can leave my writing with the man at the counter.”
He waits for some time, and listens to each customer’s unique order: a yerba mate for here, plain latte to go, and soy milk chai for here. Finally at the counter, he orders a mexicano again for here.
“Will Sandra be in today?”
“She’s on her break. She should be back any minute now.”
“Great! Thanks for the Mexicano!”
He turns away from the counter and heads upstairs. He finds a table by the window, shaded by the black awning over the front of the café. He pulls out a short black journal and turns to a blank page. The pen exudes a deep blue gel ink, which transforms the page into a sort of tattooed looking arm someone cruelly practiced on late at night. He looks up quickly from his writing to see an attractive woman coming towards him; it’s Sandra.
“Hello! How are you doing today!” exclaims Sandra, as she leans over his table, bracing one arm gently on his notebook.
“Great! I was hoping you were here; I have a story to give you. This is a few pages I wrote for a class. It’s not much, but I’d love to know what you think!” he says, lifting the thin pages up to her.
“Thank you so much! I look forward to reading it tonight!” she says excitedly.
Sandra walks back down the stairs, scanning the pages quickly with her eyes. She looks up giving a small smile to Tom, before disappearing down the old wooden stairs.