Fall Away

I couldn’t help smiling as I looked around the café. As much as I loved my job at Bella, the coffee shop half – Amor – was always a little more fun. Just as many people came in and out, but it never seemed as buys. Most people ordered a single drink and would sit down, leaving me plenty of time to people watch.

You could tell a lot about a person just by watching them. You have the business men in their suits, coming in for a cup of coffee before rushing off to work. The students, who would order a latte or mocha before pulling out their laptops and textbooks.

There were others. The frazzled moms, who looked like they needed a break; the elderly people, who just wanted black coffee, “none of this fancy stuff you make nowadays.”

Then there were the artists. The dreamers. The people who would come in, order something, and sit. Just sit, watching the world go on around them – without them.

I saw pieces of myself in these individuals. It seemed like we were all watching the world pass, searching for something familiar. We all wanted someplace to belong.

I was jerked out of my thoughts as someone sat down across from me. “Hey Ellie,” Soren said cheerfully.

I shook my head. “Are you sure you’re not stalking me?”

He laughed. “I’m not. Promise. I just wanted something to eat and figured I’d check out the other half of this place.”

I nodded agreeably. I still wasn’t totally happy with him, but he was a paying customer. I wasn’t going to try to shoo him away. “Can I get you anything?”

“Yeah, um… I’ll have one of those coffee things” – he pointed to something on the menu – “and a sandwich.” He looked for a minute, then pointed to something else.

I wrote both down on my pad, then went back to the counter. I gave the sandwich order to Tasha, the other girl working with me, and started to make Soren’s drink. Tasha finished the sandwich around the same time, and I took them both out to him.

“That was fast.” He looked surprised.

I shrugged. “Slow day. Small place. Fast service.”

He nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

I nodded too, then turned to leave. “Ellie.”

I stopped. “Yeah?”

“I really didn’t mean what I said.” His eyes were serious. “I was just kidding around.”

For some reason, I believed him. He seemed to be the kind of guy who was used to acting impulsively and dealing with the consequences later. I didn’t think he’d actually try to insult someone.

“Eliana?”

Soren was watching me, but my train of thought had totally switched. “Why do you call me that?”

“Eliana?” he repeated, looking slightly confused. “It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, technically, but no one calls me that.” He frowned, opening his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. ‘How do you even know my name?”

He looked pointedly at my nametag and I waved it off. “No, I mean Eliana. I think there are maybe two people in this town who know my full name.”

He shook his head. “I heard it somewhere. I guess I must have talked to one of those two people.”

I nodded slowly. I guess it was possible. I mean, how else would he have known? “Can you… not call me that?” I finally asked. “I like Ellie.”

He looked at me curiously, but finally nodded without questioning my motives. I was glad – I didn’t feel like trying to explain why it brought up so many bad memories.