Tea for Two

I stood at the top of the staircase in my parents house, the champagne coloured silk dress sat perfectly though after multiple fittings you would expect it would. At seventeen I had finally decided it was time to face my fears and go to a charity event in the city with my family. My mother had spent the past two weeks fussing over me, ecstatic that I had finally wanted to do something other then sit home and drink tea and watch French art house films.

“Oh, Robert doesn’t she look gorgeous,” gloated her mother as she walked slowly down the stairs, not wanting to fall off the insanely high things her sister had insisted were shoes.

“She’s always been gorgeous, Patty” My dad said smiling at me proudly hugging me as I came down. Out of my entire family my father was the only one who knew what it would have been like. Although he was orthopaedic specialist he still had an extensive knowledge of psychiatry. “Are you sure you are ready for this?” he whispered into my ear, and I nodded.

“I have to start sometime,” I smiled meekly, I was nervous. So nervous that five minutes prior I had been re-applying my lipstick after throwing up. Waiting patiently in the black SUV was Karina and Marcus. Karina jumped out of the black SUV just as my parents and I made our way outside of our large house.

“You look amazing,” she said hugging me, Marcus looked over and did his nod as if he agreed before returning his attention to the game device in his hands.

“Are you sure it’s not too much?” I asked, uncertain of my dress choice. My sister was rather plainly dressed this evening in simple black gown. She usually was the one who was begging for attention.

“You look fine, I think mom went a little overboard because it’s your first time. But you definitely look hot,” she said sliding into the car me following her in. A mere thirty minutes later we pulled up at the function centre, a valet took our car and we where ushered to the table. I could already feel people looking at me, questioning people if they knew who I was. We where shown to our seats, I sat next to Karina and a lovely older lady whose name I later learnt to be Edith.

Edith was amazing, she was from Britain and had moved here to live with her son after her husband had passed away three months prior. Her son was currently in an active conversation with my father about the efforts of the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. “So, do you like tea?” I asked, I thought it was a stupid question. What British person doesn’t like tea?

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea,” she said causing a smile erupting on my face, knowing that I had made a wonderful friend in Edith Smith. Little did I know then she would become the grandmother I never had, and taught me so many valuable life lessons during our frequent late afternoon tea parties.



Five days had past since my first outing with Jordan, and I had to hear from him. I was beginning to wonder if he had given up on me, thinking I was a lost cause. The night hadn’t been a total bust, apart from Jordan being an arrogant asshole. I made some new friends, especially in Kris who’d I had seen several times since. He now brought me in lunch after his morning practice sharing it over a freshly brewed cup of tea and enjoying each other’s company, until it was time for his afternoon nap. Which I found comical that a grown man still needed to nap at two in the afternoon. I also had made friends in both Marc and Vero, with Vero calling me late Wednesday morning wanting to grab a coffee and go shopping, which I agreed to.

The shop was unusually quiet for a Friday, Sidney hadn’t made his usual appearance something that Lauren said had to do with his weird pre-game routine that he has had going since he was little. That and she then reminded me that generally when you put someone on a plane the night before they wont be visiting at ten in the morning the following day.

I looked down at my phone scrolling through the contacts until I found the name I was looking for before stepping out back and pressing call. It rang three times until someone answered.

“Hello?” said a croaky voice as if they had just woken up. “Oh shit sorry Jordan, did I wake you?” I said biting my lip as I hoped that I hadn’t.

“No, it’s okay,” he said before moving and I heard a light click on and sheets rustling, I knew then I had indeed woken him. “Is something wrong Lizzy?” he asked sounding slightly panicked, I mentally kicked myself realizing how odd this must be for him. Usually it was him who was making the random calls and initiating the text message conversations.

“Everything is err, fine. I, um, I was just wondering how you are?” I asked trying to sound casual, this was a lot harder then the conversation in my head was.

“Yeah, been better,” he said laughing like it was funny, “Was that the sole reason for your call?” catching me off guard, there hadn’t really been a reason in the first place. There was a brief silence at both ends of the phone, as I contemplated my answer. That’s when my mouth answered for me.

“I missed you,” I said, instantly slapping my hand over my mouth, and I swear I could here him grinning through the phone, causing me to mentally kick myself.

“So, um what are you doing?” I asked sitting on the plush chair bitting my nails nervously.

“Just chilling I guess,” he said and I nodded, “Well, um do you want to come down to the shop?” I asked again silence, “You know, to organize my next lesson thingy,” I said trying to convince myself more then him that’s why I wanted him there.

“Um sure, I’ll be there in fifteen.”

I was the only one in the store today; I had sent Lauren who was missing Sidney home so she could have a hot bath. After hanging up the phone I decided to close up early to spend the afternoon with Jordan. There was something about the arrogant prick that intrigued me, and I was going to figure him out if it was the last thing I did. Sure enough fifteen minutes Jordan was walking through the door. Like when we went to find his mom a present he was wearing casual clothes, he wore a knee length trench coat, a scarf wrapped around his head and a beanie over his lengthening hair. He looked relaxed, more relaxed then I expected.

“Hey,” I said walking over to him flicking the ‘open’ sign to read ‘closed’. “I thought we could go get something to eat.”

“I would like that,” he said smiling as I slid into my jacked and shut the shop up, before walking in the direction of the little diner I often frequented.

“So, I was thinking for like my next outing or whatever. I want to go to a game,” I said causing him to stop in his track.

“Wh-Why? You don’t even like hockey,” he said. I had wanted to bring this up with him; I had barely known him and I could tell it already killed him watching the games alone.

“Well, my friends sudden interest in the face of the NHL might of brought this on. Or perhaps, my newfound friends love for the game. You can teach me the rules or something,” she said brushing her hair behind her ears. He wasn’t against her coming to the games; it just confused the hell out of him how bipolar this girl was. One minute she hated his guts, the next she was calling to tell him she missed him and wanted to spend time with him. It would also be the perfect distraction to him for not being down on the ice. Missing several games already had taken toll on the young centre that was missing his first games since being drafted due to injury.

“Yeah sure, we play Toronto on Wednesday night,” he said holding the door open for me, I was thankful for the warmth being emitted within the shop.

“Sweet. They have the best French toast in the world here, you have to try it,” I said as the waitress walked over to us smiling.

“Hey Eliza, want the usual today?” She asked writing it down on her piece of paper.

“Make it two Beth, how is Freddy going?” I asked referring to her little two year old I sometimes babysat.

“You know how he is sweetheart, he is in Philly with his dad at the moment. I think he was just happy he brought him on a business trip,” smiling as she spoke. “Take good care of my girl hun,” she said walking away with our order and I swore I could see Jordan blushing. We made small talk until she brought our order over.

“Two Wanda’s secret recipe French toast’s, with ice cream and smothering of maple syrup. I’ll get your iced teas for you now,” she said placing the wonderful plate of awesome in front of us.

“I don’t think this is in my diet,” Jordan said laughing slightly before digging in, “Oh my god, this is like. Better then sex” he mumbled almost incoherently with his mouthful.

“Told you it was amazing,” I said smiling. Somehow by the end of the meal Jordan was telling me about him and his brothers and the games they used to play on the pond in their backyard. I loved how passionate he looked when he talked about hockey; I returned the passionate talking when he asked me how I loved tea.

“Edith, she was really got the ball rolling. She introduced me so many different flavours and taught me how to make the perfect cup of tea, and the perfect scones. She was there for me when my own parents where, I miss her.” I said after her asked how it escalated from tea parties to a full on obsession.

“Did she move?” he asked, and my smile faulted.

“She passed away last year of lung cancer, being eighty seven and a pack a day smoker for sixty years eventually caught up with her. She was ready to go though, although its sad I am glad she could get back to Edward. He was her soul mate,” I said remembering the old black and white pictures around her house. He stood up walking over to me, I looked at him questioning what he was doing before he hugged me. It wasn’t a hug that had a hidden meaning, just a genuine hug of comfort.

“Want to come back to mine and watch the game? We are playing Jersey tonight, I don’t think I can watch alone,” he said placing two fifty dollar notes on the table, before I could object to him paying.

“Okay, as long as we can stop by the store so I can get some tea, so I can make you the most amazing scones you’ve ever tasted in your life,” I said waving to Beth who sent me a wink.

“I don’t know if I can keep hanging out with you,” he said laughing, “You’ll fatten me up before I get back and I’ll wont be able to spend a couple of minutes of skating around the rink, let alone a whole game,” he said laughing again before looking down at me when I wasn’t laughing and quickly adding “it was a joke Lizzy, I really like spending with you. You’re an amazing women,” he said wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we walked back to my shop.