Idle

There is a girl who is always sitting there on a bench. She always either has a sketchbook on her lap where she forms small doodles of things that might not actually be real or in the space of the forms that are in front of her. She's been coming here for a while. She needed a place that was peaceful enough that she could focus on that and also bustling with something that could keep her attention away from any of the things that she didn't want to talk about or think about rather.

It is three weeks to the first day that she is sitting there not with her sketchbook in front of her though it is in her bag that is on the bench next to her, she has her headphones in and she is just admiring the scenery. Inspiration sometimes come to her that way. If she is to do anything worth giving a damn about it's nice to just relax for a moment or two. She has seen him multiple times since she's found this lone spot.

It is something that shouldn't exactly make her wonder. She sees the same people every time. There is two men who always play dominos under the oak tree right near the entrance. A younger boy sits across from an older girl - they have books opened and they are just silent as they focus on that material. The man is lanky and intellectual in dress. He has a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses tucked between the first few buttons of his red button down. He has a charcoal colored sweater around his shoulder. It suits him rather well but she notices that he drifts to the same place always.

It's a chess setting near the middle of the area. There are usually on a few tables reserved for that specifically. Today, he sits as he always does. He brings out a book and places it in front of him but doesn't open up the page. He glances around him as if he's waiting for something or perhaps someone. She isn't really sure. This is his daily routine each time she sees him.

She's not stalking him, she just finds him rather peculiar. He's not really like any of the others who she's seen before. Before you go thinking she doesn't really know what to think of him and what his eyes are telling her. He looks lost and lonely. He's missing something quite important to him. She knows this without even speaking to him once. She's seen this look before as she's glanced in the mirror.

Today is a different kind of day.

She turns off the music that was playing in her ear and she tucks the small device into her bag. She moves around the tables and circles around into the middle. She doesn't know any of these people but she doesn't want to be a bother to them. She has only one thing on her agenda today. She wants to talk to him for just a minute or two.

She needs her suspicions to be confirmed if only just for herself. She doesn't ever talk to anyone unless it's family. This need to uncover why he looks so sad makes her do it.

As she finds her way to his table she doesn't do much else but stand there for a moment behind him. She hesitated before opening her mouth and posing the question. "Why do you come here?" She doesn't apologize for not introducing herself. She doesn't know him and he doesn't know her. She just felt like she should ask the question.

"Excuse me." He turns slightly and looks at her and blinks in rapid succession He hadn't expected her or anyone, she imagine.

"You've been coming here for two out of the three weeks that I have. You never talk to anyone. You just sit. I was just wondering, why?" She mumbles a she sees his hand gesture for her to have a seat across from him. She notices how unease he looks as she nods in thanks at his manners and slides into the seat across from him.

"I hope you take no offense if I don't grant you with an answer. I'm not up for talking, right now."

"Then why did you tell me to sit down."

"I didn't say anything." He tells her with great assurance of his own words.

"You didn't have to. You made a gesture that said so." He is quiet then. "I didn't expect you to say anything actually. I just asked the question out of curiosity. I'm Rex."

She stands then knowing that that was all she was going to get out of him. She didn't see him as a lost cause. She just knew when she should step away from someone. It was something she wanted to try on a whim anyway.

She takes two steps away when he calls to her. "I don't have answer to your question. That's why I can't answer you, Rex. I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

"I know." She tells him as she continues walking. "When you find out, I'm here to listen. We all need someone to just listen sometimes, don't we?" Rex turns her head so that she can see him for a brief second and gives him a short smile before she continues on her way.

Losing someone is easy, but learning to move on without them is the battle. She knew this better than most people. She had lost so many people. That is why she kept to herself nowadays. She felt compelled to reach out to this man for some reason. She wouldn't really know if it did any good but she had to try.