Fiction

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“Anything?” Catherine asked.
“No.” Thomas replied bitterly. “She just doesn’t seem to recognise anything between us.”
“Give her time.” Catherine looked at him through big brown eyes, ringed by large glasses. These, combined with her long almost white hair gave her the appearance of a Manga character come to life.
“I’ve given her time.” Thomas said, sighing. “She’s two years older than me, almost three. What happens if she decides to settle down, and I’m not the one she does it with?”
“If it’s meant to happen, then it will happen. If it doesn’t…”
“I can’t let her go.”
“By all means, don’t let her go. Yet. But don’t hold onto her so tightly that you can’t see anything else. You don’t know if she’s the one for you, or if there’s another person out there, and you don’t want to be so blinkered that you can’t see her when she comes along.”
“You know, Catherine, sometimes you make a lot of sense.”
“I have my moments.” Catherine said, putting down her coffee cup and looking at her watch. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to work?”
“Yes, I definitely should. Bridget will have gone home by now.”
“Then she won’t be around to distract you. Try to go more than two minutes without thinking about her.”
“I’ll try.” Thomas got up from the table and walked past the retro aluminium counter, towards the plate glass doors of the café.
As Thomas walked out, Joseph was on his way in. The two of them exchanged a brief greeting before Thomas carried on his journey. Joseph ordered a coffee and sat down opposite Catherine.
“Long time, no see.” he said.
“I’ve been busy.” she explained. “Preparing for university in two months, had to make sure everything’s set.”
“We’ll be spending months apart.” Joseph held his hands over his chest, “However will I cope?”
“Your heart’s on the other side.” Catherine noted.
“You always did know the way to it.” Joseph replied. “Did I used to go to school with that guy?”
“Yes, Thomas Granger, remember?”
“Yeah, I knew I knew him. You stayed in touch, then?”
“We went on to college together, I thought I mentioned him before.”
“I don’t remember his name coming up.”
“Anyway, I help him out occasionally, give him advice, that sort of thing.”
“Ah, your speciality- making sense.”
“One of us has to.”
“You’re a barrel of laughs, Catherine. What problems is he having that you’re making go away, then?”
“I shouldn’t really talk about it.”
“Come on, you can trust me.” Catherine raised an eyebrow, “Trust may be too strong a word,” he corrected himself, “but I haven’t seen the guy in years, when am I going to see him again and tell him you talked?”
“All right, I can’t give you specifics, but it’s relationship trouble.”
“As in being in a relationship, or trying to be?”
“Trying.”
“I find that asking the girl out usually helps. In almost all cases.”
“Not this one. If he asks her out straight, she’ll run a mile. Very shy type. That’s why I’m helping him.”
“I see. So he’s pining for her from afar?”
“Yep. It’s romantic in its way, like an old-fashioned romance novel.”
“Or a chick flick. And it’s a little creepy, I wouldn’t trust a girl doing the same thing.”
“I still say it’s romantic.”
“That’s because you see good in people. You’re the trusting sort, you always see the best side in everyone.”
“Not everyone.”
“I’m hurt.” he said, “Which side did you say my heart was on?”
“With you, I can never tell.”

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