Maybe...You Should Talk to Him: Lighting vs. Water - November 24, 2010

The girl must have been no more than fourteen years old. And yet she walked into the cafe like she had all the power in the world. And she did have the power. In a way, at least. She exuded it, like it was raw energy announcing her presence, sending a shock through everyone. Like electricity. From the way she was dressed, she looked like she was going to a funeral., with a black shirt and pants. But I couldn't imagine anyone with enough sense going to a funeral with combat boots and a trench coat two sizes larger. Oh, am I rambling? Sorry, I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. Not that I'm that kind of guy who goes after young girls like that. Really, I have a girlfriend. It's just that she had this kind of energy that had everyone in the cafe captivated by her. I mean, her face and hair didn't seem to have anything out of the ordinary about them. Her hair was this ink black color and her eyes were a piercing dark brown as well as her skin. Her ethnicity was African American. But, like I said, she had this thing about her.
Oh and guess who was her waiter? Good old me, and I guess I was just a little too excited for the job. Maybe I just wanted to learn more about her. Was she a runaway? An orphan? I just had to know. I came up to her while she was looking at the menu on her table. "Have you decided on what to order, yet?" She stared up at me as if I wasn't there and her gaze went right through me. "Oh," she said, realizing I was there for the first time, "I'd like a," she stared back at the menu blankly and I knew immediately that she hadn't looked at her menu at all. "What if I recommend you something," I offered, "a key lime pie, maybe?" The girl nodded numbly and went back to staring blankly at the menu. "Key lime pie it is, then," I noted to myself. I came back to sit with the girl during my break and saw that the pie was completely intact. "Are you gonna eat that?" I asked. Once again, she gave me this blank look until she finally recognized me. "Oh," she remembered, "yeah, if you want it, you can have it." Now, I noticed she was staring out at the window, with an intense look on her face. "You waiting for someone?" I questioned as I took another spoonful of a delicious pie that should never have gone to waste. She jolted and turned back to me with a cornered look on her face. "No! I'm not. I'm just-I'm just," she sighed and went back to staring at the window. I raised an eyebrow and swallowed my spoonful. "Hey, whatever it is that's bothering you, it's gotta be serious if you're going to be moping around the cafe all day about it." She wrenched her gaze from the window and sighed again. After a moment of working her mouth, trying to say something, she finally seemed to find the right words. "It's just that," she replied, "I'm so confused about something. There's too many choices I can make. And then, he's following me." A mixture of hate and something like adoration were present when she pronounced 'he'. I hid a smile behind my sleeve. A love interest, huh, I thought. I cleared my throat to get rid of my smile. "Um, well, if you have so many choices, why don't you narrow them down." She didn't even glance at me when she answered. "If I narrow them down, I have two choices." I frowned, puzzled. "Only two? I thought you said you had too many." She shook her head. "No, I have many. If I stop thinking about the two major ones, the choices start multipying, until I don't know what to with myself. It numbs down the stress when I think about those more than two choices, too." I frowned again,"Um, I'm not sure I quite follow you." She turned to me and gave me a smile that didn't really reach her eyes, "It's complicated, sorry." I nodded and she stared back at the window. "Basically," she explained after a while. "One choice involves him and the other involves..." She squeezed a napkin  that was in front of her on the table. "...betraying him," she finished under her breath. I felt compelled to help this girl. I really did. That's why I blurted out, "You're running away from that guy, right? Maybe...you should talk to him." Her head whirled to face me with a fierce look. "I never asked you for-"
"Aline, maybe you should listen to his advice. Why can't we talk this out?" "Her name is Aileen?" I asked. The spiked black-haired boy who looked about her age with deep blue eyes shurgged, "Close enough. Her last name's Stormparade, too." He acted really casual about the whole situation. His attitude was a more 'go with the flow' kind of vibe. I could almost see waves crashing and cold winds freezing them and then the waves melting again in his eyes. Which was the weirdest thing I ever thought about, and why I will never look into another guy's eyes ever again. Where the boy was unsettled by the encounter with the girl he had been chasing, Aline was another image. Her eyes were wide open and she didn't dare look behind her while she had her hands on either side of her head, looking like she was trying to block her ears. "No," she kept repeating over and over again. The boy placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please, Aline, tell me. Why won't you talk to me?" She shook her head. "No, Yuri, that's not it." She stood up so fast, that it was almost like she had moved at lightning speed. She stared  at the boy, who I figured his name to be Yuri, and gave him a disbelieving look on the verge of tears. "Why do you keep putting so much faith in me? Why do you keep following me? Why do you keep believing in me? Why do you keep-" She caught her words just in time. But I could picture exactly what they were. She had been about to say, "Why do you keep loving me?" The two kept staring at each other. Lightning and water, I realized. It's just like lightning and water. They hurt each other and cross each other, but as opposites, they're easily compatible. I never stuck around for the outcome of that encounter since my break was over. But I heard from some of the customers that they had walked out of the cafe with their hands intertwined and plans to go to the park to talk things out. I smiled to myself thinking that my advice had served well for once. 

-Lady Stormparade