Peter & Scarlett A Story by Jens and Suzye

When I was four, I went to the airport with my parents. My father was going away on a business trip to Europe, and my mother and I were going to see him off. This was back in the day when you could actually go to the airport and see someone off without having to be strip searched for weapons to get past security. We walked with him all the way to his gate. As a young boy, I was fascinated with all the planes. I even carried my own toy airplane with me, running it along walls in one hand and holding my mother’s hand in the other.

While we were waiting at the gate, I watched dozens of planes land and take off. It was a very clear, beautiful day so I could see them fly way off into the distance until they became little tiny specks of black in the bright blue sky. When the particular area I was standing in ran out of airplanes to watch, I would move further down the glass walls until I could find another one to track. Somehow, my mother lost sight of me. Maybe when she was kissing my father goodbye, I’m not sure. But I was lost. I turned around and realized I didn’t recognize a single face in the sea of bodies walking along the terminal.

I walked back to my father’s gate, but there was no sign of my mother. I sulked against the glass with both hands and my face smashed up against the window, tears streaming down my face, fogging up the glass, and I watched my father’s plane back out of the gate and fly off into the sky. I was no long fascinated by the giant birds. I was completely terrified. A few minutes later my mom wrapped her arms around me and held me until I stopped crying, soothing me with calm words and promises of ice cream, but for the minutes I had been alone, I had felt completely lost. I had never felt that same feeling until now.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this Scarlett?” Claire said as she threw her purse and apron across the couch. She had just come in from working the early morning shift the diner.

I glanced up from the paper I was reading, shrugged, and turned the page to continue reading.

“Oh, come on, Peter!” She sighed before throwing herself onto the couch next to me. “You’d tell Sean but you won’t tell me? You’ve only known him for a few days! Do you realize how much this cheapens our friendship? Or trust to one another? We’re roomies, Pete. There is no bond stronger than that.”

I had to roll my eyes at her ridiculous claims. But sadly, I knew she was completely serious.

“Claire, it’s really no big deal. She’s just some girl I met at a bus stop.” I lied. No, Scarlett was much more than that. I just wish I could find out what.

She crossed her arms and melted away from me, her feelings obviously hurt. “Right, Peter.”

“Oh, c’mon, Claire,” I sighed, wrapping up my newspaper and setting it on the floor. “Are you hungry? I went to the most fantastic café yesterday. You’d love it. And I haven’t had breakfast
yet.”

We arrived at the little café around 9:30, and surprisingly, it was relatively empty. A few people sat alone at tables, sipping coffee and eating pastries while typing quickly on laptops. A young lady in a black dress led us to a table in the front of the shop by the window.

“Here is our breakfast menu, your waitress will be with you in a moment,” She said with a polite smile as she tucked a long auburn hair behind her ear.

“This is rather cozy,” Claire commented as she looked around the café, checking it out. The walls were painted yellow with several artistic paintings along the walls in a random pattern, none of which having much to do with any of the others. The front wall of the shop was made completely of glass and lined with tables, so those sitting inside the shop could watch the people who walked by. It was particularly nice on days like this. Even though it was November, it was still remarkably sunny, although not quite warm. I was still wearing three layers, despite the sunshine.

All of the tables were made of glass and had metal chairs surrounding them. There were different colors and types of flowers on each table. The table Claire and I were sitting at had a big bouquet of pink daisies. Not my flower of choice, but they were still beautiful. Claire seemed to enjoy them quite a bit. At the back of the shop, there was a counter and a display of dozens of sorts of pastries. I’m sure anything you could think of could be found here. It was a myriad of beautiful colors and textures and shapes and flavors, I’m sure. I am one of those people who believes that sweets can make even the sourest person smile. Not that I’d really admit it to anyone, but I’m a sucker for sugar. It’s a weak spot, and weak spots are not to be vulnerable.

“—never thought too much about the leaves on those trees anyways, really. It’s mostly about being artistic, they told me.” Claire rolled on, speaking about something. I really wasn’t listening at all. Her drabbles all ran together eventually.

Our waitress emerged from a door behind the counter. She quickly took off a floury apron and tied it up on a hook by the door before glancing around the restaurant with big green eyes. She didn’t notice me, though. Her dark brown hair was tied up in curly pony tail on her head and she wore a floral halter dress of light green and blue along with light green four inch stilettos.

The waitress smiled at the hostess who approached her, handing her a notepad and motioning to her what tables were waiting.

That’s when our eyes met.

Within a few short seconds, several things happened. First, Scarlett whipped around and headed back through the door she had first emerged from, dropping the notepad she had been handed. Second, I stood up sharply, pushing my chair back into the glass table behind the one we sat at. Third, the glass table tipped, fell, and shattered against the floor. Fourth, every single pair of eyes in the café turned to me, leaving the room in deafening silence. Fifth, I ran after her.

“Excuse me! Sir! Sir, you can’t go back there!” The yells of the hostess followed me as I ran.

“Peter? What are you doing?? Peter, you’ve made a huge mess!” Claire’s screeches reached my ears as I ducked into the room.

The room itself was quite large however, most of the free ground space was covered with tall racks that held rows and rows of pastries and pies of every variety. There was a large wooden island in the middle with a few spots covered in flour. The wall on the right was covered with several large ovens. It was actually a quite colorful room because of the pastries and baskets of fruits that lined the edge of the wooden island.

“Scarlett?” I called into the large room. No response. “Scar—“

“Sir! You can’t be back here! Please!” The hostess ran in, the tap tap of her heels breaking the silence along with her yells. “What’re you looking for? Can I help you?”

I whipped around to face the young lady. “Where did she go?”

She looked rather startled, like I was a monster about to eat her head off or something. And I can see why she would feel that way, after what I had done moments ago. “Who?”

“The waitress you were just talking to!” I yelled, my heart beating faster every second.

“Scarlett?” She looked quite confused.

“Yes!”

“I’m not sure, Sir.”

“She just ran back here!” My mouth was growing dry from yelling and my heart was beating throughout every limb.

“Well she obviously doesn’t want to see you if she ran back here, right?” She replied, crossing her arms.

“Oh, please!” I begged. But she just pursed her lips and pointed towards the door.

I sighed, “One second, okay?”

She raised her eyebrows in confusion, but nodded anyways.

I turned back towards the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Scarlett. I didn’t mean to lose it, I promise. I wanted to call.” I shouted towards the back of the room, hoping she could hear. “Honestly, I can’t get you off my mind…” I ran a hand through my head, thinking of what to do or say.

“Okay, let’s go.” The hostess said softly, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Alright,” I nodded towards her before shouting back into the kitchen, “I’m going to leave my number here, okay, Scarlett? I’ll leave it up at counter. Just ask this nice lady and she’ll give it to you. You will, won’t you?” I added, turning to the hostess. She managed a small smile and a nod. “Alright good. Call me… please… if you’re still remotely interested.”

When I emerged through the door, Claire was ready to attack. She glared at me with furious eyes before rushing towards me and whispering harshly in my ear, “That was sooo embarrassing, Peter!” With that, my eyes trailed towards the mess I had made.

“Oh,” was all I could manage.

“Yeah. How’re you going to pay for that, Peter? You don’t have a job!” Claire growled.

“Actually, I got the job. I forgot to tell you yesterday.” I added in.

“Oh. Great news!” She cracked a smile. “I’m really proud of you, Petey.”

I turned and went to the counter to apologize profusely and leave my number for contact information, promising to compensate them for the table.

“Are you sure you don’t want my help cleaning up?” I asked, as Claire led me towards the door. The hostess just nodded.
“They don’t want you making any more messes here, Peter,” Claire chimed as she pushed me through the door into the street.
“Thank you! Don’t forget the number!” I shouted back through the door before we walked away.