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Fuck. That wasn’t what I was hoping for.
“Allison,” I said, walking slowly walked over to the table from which she was just getting up.
“Cedric…what a surprise.”
Allison looked nervous, not at all the comforting presence I remembered from our car ride.
“I wanted to stop in and say hello…it’s been a while…find out how the Bright Horizons thing went?” I asked.
She still looked serious, nothing like the sweet, happy, Allison I left in the car that night.
“Oh, it’s going great. They paired me with a twenty-year-old in Cambridge. He’s a good kid. Thanks again for helping me with that.”
Allison stood awkwardly, leaning her arm on the counter, almost as if it were helping her balance, then she looked up at the ceiling, then down at her nails…anywhere but at me. I thought I noticed her hand tremble.
What happened to her?
“Great to hear it,” I said.
I stood frozen, perplexed at the standoffish vibe I was getting. For the first time, I realized that maybe my advances were unwelcome. Maybe I had misread her all along.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked as if I were just any other customer.
The fact that she looked more beautiful than ever was like a dagger in my heart right now. Her long dark hair was half up, half down and there was a tiny white flower in the corner of her ear. She smelled like green apples again and I wished I could taste her and see if she also tasted like green apples.
Get a grip.
“Yes. I would love a piece of that coconut cream pie,” I said, wondering how I was going to stomach the pie feeling like I was about to throw up.
“Sure. I’ll be right back. Sit wherever you like.”
Allison suddenly went into the kitchen and came out with a piece of pie, placing it on the table of the booth that I sat myself in. The goddamn pie didn’t even have whipped cream or a cherry on top. I took this as a cryptic ‘fuck off.’
“Thanks, Allison,” I said as I desperately searched her eyes for any sign of hope or recognition of our past connection. Instead, they looked pained but distant and I realized there was so much I didn’t know about her. So much I still wanted to know even in this troubling state.
“You’re welcome, Cedric.” It blew me away that she said nothing else, turned around and walked into the kitchen.
We’ve Only Just Begun by the Carpenters was playing over the speaker and depressing the crap out of me, making an already shitty situation so much worse.
I took a couple of bites of pie and stared at the kitchen door. Fifteen minutes passed before Allison came back out, proceeding to clean off tables at the other end of the diner.
I was shattered. Speechless. She was either ignoring me intentionally or genuinely had no interest at all. Feeling like a complete asshole, I took a ten-dollar-bill out of my wallet and placed it on the table.
I walked over to where she was standing. She was calculating something on a pad of paper.
I swallowed my pride and offered one last attempt to talk to her. “Allison, I better get going. Thanks for the pie. I left money on the table. I hope things continue to go well with the new job. I’d still like to hear more about it sometime?”
And then it came…
“Bye, Cedric.” She might as well have taken her pen out her pocket and stabbed me in the fucking heart.
CHAPTER 11
ALLISON
Ouch, Gemini, this is not one of your better days. It's best to steer clear of negative energy. The Moon is not happy with Mercury, your ruler. So, just for today, avoid confrontation.
When I heard the chimes sound, signaling his exit, I turned around to look at the door that had slammed behind Cedric. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it for about five minutes.
