Everything's Different Now

Joe Jonas. Wow. I never would have imaged seeing him again, ever.

"Thanks." he said slowly taking the phone from my hand.

"Er- Hi." I said, managing to briefly smile "It‘s- It‘s good to see you again." I continued as he keeps staring at me, not saying a single word. Maybe he doesn't remember me, but how could he not remember me? "It's me, Eri-"

"I know who you are." he finally responded not sounding the slightest bit happy to see me. If anything he sounds angry.

"Oh ok. Well how are you?"

"I actually have to be somewhere, so can we not do ‘this'." he said using his hand to gesture the two of us.

"Oh right I‘m sorry. I‘ll let you go then."

"Bye." he quickly said before pushing his phone into his pocket and leaving as if nothing had happen. I briefly watch him before going back into the coffee shop and continue to clean up empty tables and help Linda serve customers.

As I get behind the counter Linda shouts out a drink order to me, placing a clean mug under the cappuccino machine I can't help but think about how different Joe is. Apart from the obvious increase of facial hair and that he has new glasses, he's not the Joe I remember. The Joe I remember was.... Well he wasn't that rude to me. He's never acted that way towards me before, even when he was mad at me. Back then he was almost always glad to see me-

"Erica!" Linda shouted snapping me from my thoughts

"What?" I gasped looking at her as if she caught me doing something I shouldn't be. She signalled to the cappuccino machine which has started overfilling the mug.

"Oh shit!" I muttered quickly turning it off and attempting to clean up the mess. "I‘m so sorry. I‘ll make you another one." I said to the customer who was watching me destroy her order.

----------

"Joe are you listening?" Kevin shouted from his seat across the room as I stood on the small platform getting my tuxedo jacket pinned to the correct length.

"Yes I‘m listening." I said looking at his reflection in the full length mirror in front of me.

"Really? Then what did I say?"

I shrugged looking down at the floor, I think it's pretty obvious I haven't been listening to anything he's said the past fifteen minutes. All I've thought about is seeing Erica earlier, I never wanted to see her again after the way she left me all those years ago and I thought I never would, then bang! There she is. How do you just get up and leave, what's worse is that she did it straight after having sex with me, what decent human being does that?! I thought she loved me, guess I was just kidding myself. I'm a little pissed off by the way she was acting when she saw me, like nothing had ever happened. Did she really expect to just smile and give her a ‘nice to see you again' hug. I don't think so.

"Are we done yet?" I quickly ask wanting to go back home and forget the past hour of my life. Except for that Latte because it was pretty amazing.

"Almost." The tailor sighed as he pushed another pin into sleeve of my jacket. "How‘s the fit?" he said stepping back

"It‘s good." I nodded then turned to face my brother "Kevin?"

"Oh I‘m sorry I wasn‘t listening." he said looking from his phone back to me

"Funny. Come on, does this look ok?"

"Yea it‘s fine." getting his approval I step into the changing room "What‘s your rush anyway?" Kevin asked as I pulled the curtain shut.

"No rush, just want to get back to my apartment." I said quickly taking off the tuxedo.

"Why? Is Ashley waiting for you?" he scoffed, pulling up my jeans I finished getting dressed. Ashley is my ex girlfriend, I ended it just over a week ago but Kevin still feels the need to tease me about the fact she would always be waiting for me at my apartment, or show up when I was on my lunch break from work; whether I asked her to or not. It was the main reason I broke up with her, that among other things.

"You‘re not funny Kevin." I said as I handed the tailor the tuxedo

"I‘ll have you know I think I‘m very funny." he smiled

"Then keeps your jokes to yourself." I snapped

"What is with you man? You‘ve been acting like a dick since you stepped through the door."

"Look I‘m sorry ok, I‘ve just had a tough afternoon." I sighed grabbing my jacket from the chair next to Kevin who continues staring at me

"Feel free to share at anytime. Preferably now." he urged

"I don‘t want to talk about it." I quickly answered rushing out the door, Kevin right behind me

"Seriously? Consider it my wedding gift." he said trying to keep up with my pace.

"No."

"Good because I really want an i.Pad" he laughed

"I‘m not getting you an i.pad."

"Spoilsport." he muttered "So who are bringing as your plus one then?"

"Plus one for what?" I asked abruptly stopping and turning to face him

"My wedding! Hello! You were bringing Ashley, who was your back up?"

"I didn‘t have a back up." I shrug then continuing to walk this time at a slowly more normal pace

"Well pick someone, I‘m not getting enough food for 200 people if there are only 199 people."

"Do I really want me to choose now?"

"We have a week. One week!"

"Calm down Kevin. I'll bring someone." I sighed reaching the corner of the street where me and Kevin part ways

"Please don‘t bring some random girl you meet in a bar."

"I promise." I said raising my hand and placing the other over my chest

"See you later." Kevin laughed as we hugged goodbye "Don‘t forget Dad want's us round for dinner tomorrow." he quickly added as he pulled away

"How could I forget seeing as I‘ve had a call from both our parents to remind me today." I muttered as I checked the time on my watch. "Right, well I‘ll see you later."