return_to_nola

Maybe this was a bad idea.

There was a beignet place down the street from Phoenix Effect. It was no Cafe Du Monde or Cafe Beignet, the two great rivals for the title of best in the city (Andy would give it to the latter, hands down, any day of the week), but it was nice and inexpensive and had decent seating, which he was currently taking advantage of. It also had chickory coffee Andy himself had not brewed, which was a treat on its own, though loyally he thought the recipe at Phoenix Effect was better.

So the location part was fine, but the social interaction to come—that was the bad part. Maybe. The nervous anticipation, of course, was terrible, but he remembered his school therapist (mandated by the district, which his dad had reluctantly agreed to but scoffed about in private) saying how breaking through shyness, making friends, only got easier with a lot of practice. And he actually had gotten better, thanks to being a barista—he could make light small talk while making a drink, answer questions and chuckle politely at bad jokes.

But face-to-face, direct interaction with a potential friend? That was way more intimidating. Especially since he couldn't help but suspect Katie was just doing this because he'd offered to mention her mural services to the manager. Which was fair! He guessed! He certainly couldn't have said anything that made him seem genuinely interesting.

Maybe it would be better if she just didn't show up. Or maybe that would be much, much worse.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

nola_jeangrey

"That's so diplomatic. I get it, though. I work in retail, clothes though, and it's like, it's fine, but I'd rather be making art than folding shirts." Work friends, though, they helped, so she understood clinging to the great people.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

He didn't know why that caught him off guard. He couldn't picture Katie handling credit cards and straightening up changing rooms, but most artists had to have a regular job, right? "Do you at least fold them into origami animals?" he asked, trying to keep things light.

From:

nola_jeangrey

"Once I made swans out of these white shirts and I got in so much trouble." Katie rolled her eyes. "They would have looked so sweet with the window display. But they really just want me to match the pictures from corporate." They weren't even really fun clothes.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"I'd rather buy a shirt that was a swan," Andy said. In fact, he really liked the idea—it was the perfect Ugly Duckling metaphor, making something graceful out of the boring and plain.

From:

nola_jeangrey

Katie smiled at Andy, so pleased. See! They could be friends! "Me too! It's like a fairy tale, right? The power of transformation. Plus, everything that can be beautiful or interesting or full of wonder should be. We don't have to do the most straightforward and dry thing all the time."

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"Don't they know people get bored with straightforward and dry?" Andy preferred the romantic and moody, at least in theory. When his life actually edged in that direction, not so much. "Maybe an indie store would be more understanding."

From:

nola_jeangrey

"I think they want people to be bored, because apathy doesn't really breed questions, you know? You don't have to think." Katie wasn't much of a bohemian, but it did come with the artistic territory. "And you're right, they probably would be. But I think I get caught by the apathy too, because I'm not sure I want to care about my job when I need to care about art, you know? Like, what if I have less to give?" It was an important thing to ponder, but as they sat down together, Katie was more preoccupied by not knocking over coffees or pastries.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"That makes sense," Andy agreed. He wasn't any sort of artist, so how was he to know how that worked? He was just someone trying to live, he supposed. "Is the pay at least okay?"

From:

nola_jeangrey

"It's not so bad. It helps, because I can't live off my art. What do you do when you're not making coffee?" People were so much more than their jobs.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

Andy looked down at his beignet, which he was picking into smaller pieces so the powdered sugar didn't get all over him. This was embarrassing—he didn't have many hobbies, which definitely wouldn't impress someone as interesting as Katie. "I like to go on long walks," he said finally. "Get lost and explore."

From:

nola_jeangrey

That was interesting. "In town, or in nature, or both? Do you daydream or just take in everything you see? Do you usually do it alone or do you go with people?"

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"Here in the city. In a place this old—" and New Orleans was old, old, old by the standards of the United States, older than the country itself "—you can always stumble over something interesting you've never seen before." He half-smiled, glancing up at Katie. "And isn't daydreaming always best when you're alone?"

From:

nola_jeangrey

Katie smiled back. That was something she knew deeply to be true. "Totally. I spend so much time daydreaming I keep forgetting to socialize! Tell me something cool you've found walking?"

From:

nola_littlemermaid

Oh, there was so, so much, but he settled on something recent. "A tiny little courtyard between two houses," he said, measuring the space with his hands. It was only as wide as perhaps two of the tables here pushed together, and a few times as long. "Just big enough for two graves. Old, old graves," he added quickly, because New Orleans had seen much more than its fair share of death in the recent past.

From:

nola_jeangrey

"Oh, wow." Andy was more interesting than Katie could have guessed. "That's the kind of thing I would keep thinking about, too. I wonder who they were."

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"I wondered too, but I didn't want to step in to try to read the stones," Andy said. "It felt too sacred. But I like the idea of them being two lovers, together through the centuries."

From:

nola_jeangrey

"That's so beautiful. Side by side forever." It was deeply romantic, and Katie loved that; she was captured, dreamily, by the thought of this eternal, beyond-death love.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"I tried not to pay attention to where they were," Andy confessed, turning his iced coffee cup idly in his hands. "I'm worried that if I tried to go back, they'd be gone—maybe one of the houses added on, or everything just bulldozed over."

From:

nola_jeangrey

"And this way they kind of do live forever, at least, with you? Right?" It was perfect.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"Right." Then, after a pause, "But if I did stumble onto it again, I'd tell you so you could see it too."

From:

nola_jeangrey

"You would really share something that special with me? Thank you so much." It was the nicest thing Katie had heard in forever.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

"Well, you'd understand." Something about Katie told him the spot wouldn't suddenly become part of her own personal ghost tour she took visiting friends, or an artfully filtered shot for Instagram.

From:

nola_jeangrey

"Yeah, I would. Magical things should only be shared like this, between real people." That's what mattered the most, sharing things with someone you knew, because it meant something.

From:

nola_littlemermaid

Andy was touched that Katie called him real, which was silly. He was! He had a birth certificate and everything! "Have you ever stumbled onto something amazing?"

From:

nola_jeangrey

"I think a lot about this dog I saw curled up next to a mailbox, watching the street? He was waiting. You could tell he was waiting for his person and he was so happy to be in the sun and waiting. It's not the same, but it felt like I could see every feeling attached to that creature."