This is another piece I had written back when I was in college.
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TINGALINGALING!!
“Soooooooo?”
Grace looked up to see who it was. It was Nina, her oldest friend whom she had known since she was eight.
“Well did you tell him?”, asked Nina.
Avoiding eye contact, Grace moved towards the counter and punched in some numbers on the register. Out popped its drawer and she took out some change and handed it to her customer.
“Thank you for coming. Please do visit us again”
“I sure will”, said the customer. “Nice little place you’ve got here. Next time I’ll be sure to get my wife along”
“Oh that would be lovely” replied Grace with a big smile.
Once the customer vacated the coffee shop, she turned to Nina who was still waiting for an answer.
“Tell whom what Nina? I don’t know what you mean”
“Oh you know exactly what I mean you coward! You haven’t told him yet have you?”
Grace stared at Nina, much annoyed at what she just said, sighed and sat down at one of the tables. Nina came closer and sat down beside her.
“What’s stopping you from telling him?”
“I don’t know” said Grace after a long pause.
“Well you have been postponing this for months now. At this rate you might as well not tell him!”
Grace blushed. Nina was right. She should have told him by now.
“I know, I know. The problem is that I know what I want to say, I just haven’t found the right words yet”
“Well you don’t have to be Shakespeare” Nina snapped, “just tell him”
“Tell whom what?”
Nina and grace jumped from their seats, startled by the unexpected interruption. They had not heard the bell ring as the door of the shop opened. In came Gabe, another friend of Grace.
“Oh… well…….. Grace was supposed to tell ….er….. her…..her dad that..er… that she is.. um.. moving out”
Grace turned to face Nina and then looked at Gabe and nodded.
“But haven’t you already moved out?”
“Well.. yea…. but not officially. I have a new place and all but I still do live with my parents. I decided it’s time to move out officially”
“Yep…. She’s got to leave the nest some time right?”
“Hmmm.. I suppose so”
“So what brings you here Gabe?” asked Grace, blushing.
Seeing her blush, Gabe blushed as well and ran his fingers through his hair to hide his red face.
“Well …. I was just in the neighbourhood and since it’s almost lunch time, I thought I’d come here”
“Oh”, said Grace, a bit disappointed.
“Yes but, isn’t your office on the other side of town?” asked Nina with a devilish grin.
“Well yea.. but .. er… well this place serves the best apple pie y’know?”
“Is that why we won the annual apple pie contest this summer?”
“Um…. Nina… we didn’t win” objected Grace.
“My point exactly” said Nina, grinning even more.
“Well… according to me, Grace’s apple pies are the best” said Gabe, defending his prior statement.
“Ah yes, Grace’s pies” said Nina, quite content.
Grace looked at Nina. What was she trying to do? Make Gabe look like a fool? Well she oughtn’t to have done that. “Poor Gaby” she thought.
“Grace, umm… I’d like an apple pie please” said Gabe, after recovering from the interrogation. He didn’t like Nina’s questioning him very much. He was just glad that Grace didn’t see what Nina was really trying to do. “Poor unassuming Gracie” he thought.
Two minutes later, Gabe was sitting at his favourite table in the coffee shop, from where he could clearly see Grace dance about, taking orders and serving the customers.
“I’ll take the pie to him” said Nina, offering her services. “It’s the least I could do after how I behaved”
“Ok. If you say so” said Grace hesitantly. “Just try to be nice this time”
“Ok. I’ll be nice”
She took the pie and went to where Gabe was sitting.
“Here’s your apple pie”
Gabe looked up at Nina, still annoyed.
“What do you want?”
“Oh nothing really. Just wanted to apologize for being such a pain earlier”
“Hmm”
“You should tell her”
“Tell whom what?”
“You know whom and what. Don’t play coy with me”
Gabe stared at Nina. He knew what she was talking about. He just didn’t want to admit it.
“I have no clue whatsoever about what you mean”
She sat down at the table, looked at him with questioning eyes and said,
“You should tell her how you feel about her”
Gabe blushed, his eyes grew wide, his breathing and heart rate grew faster.... just a tad bit. He shifted his gaze to the apple pie in front of him. The apple pie, he knew deep down, wasn’t the best in town. He considered them the best because they were made by the woman he loved and she made them just the way he liked it.
“You can’t just expect the fact to hit her while she’s walking down the street you know” she continued. “You have to tell her……”
He raised his head and met her eyes. He knew she was right. He knew he had to tell her. He just didn’t know how. He looked at Grace; sweet ,sweet Grace. The one person who knew him inside out, supported him throughout his career, was a shoulder he could cry on, was the dearest of all the people in his life.
He had known her for many years now. They met at the strangest place and time- the funeral of Grace’s cousin Martha. She and Martha weren’t the closest of cousins. Heck! Grace didn’t even like Martha. Gabe and Martha, however, were the best of friends. They had been classmates right from elementary and knew everything there was to know about each other. But the one thing Gabe didn’t know about Martha, a fact she kept hidden from him, was that she had a cousin who was very much like him. Martha knew that Gabe and Grace were very much alike and if they met, they would become inseparable. So she, selfish as she was, kept Grace’s existence a secret.
But as fate would have it, the two met. Since they were so similar in many ways, they hit it off. Soon, they became good friends, and then, best friends.
“Are you even listening to me or did you zone out?”
Gabe came back to the present. He was still sitting in his favourite spot , staring at Grace, who was now looking at him and smiling. He shifted his gaze to the untouched apple pie, realizing that he just gave himself away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her get back to her work, tending to the customers. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Hello?”
“Um.. sorry. Got lost in thought”
“Hmm… well… if you’re planning to tell her, you better do it soon”
“Why do you want to rush things?”
“ ‘Rush’?! How long have you known Grace? 5?....6?..7 years?... You’ve been in love with her since you met her! This isn’t rushing. It’s long overdue.”
“I’ll tell her. Just not yet.”
“Well by the time you get to it she may be gone and…”
She stopped. She had said too much. Realizing that, she got up to leave.
“Gone?... What do you mean gone?”
“Nothing” she said, “I have to go now. My children will be waiting for me to come home.”
She went over to Grace, said goodbye and went off to catch a taxi. Gabe looked at Grace. “What did Nina mean?” he thought. “Was Grace leaving town?”
“What’s the matter? You haven’t touched your pie yet. Do you not like it?”
Grace was now standing right in front of him.
“What?... er… no.. er… I was just thinking about something”
“Well you seem upset. Is something bothering you?”
“Oh no. I …er…I just realized I left my keys in the car”
“Oh! It’s quite alright. Jasper will make sure your car is there when you go out” she said, looking at her great white dane sitting just outside the door.
“I think I’d better be going now” he said as he got up.
“But you haven’t eaten your pie” exclaimed Grace.
“Oh umm…”
“Shall I pack it for you? It won’t take long”
“Oh yes please. Thank you”
She had just brought out the packed apple pie as Gabe was getting into his car.
“Here you go sweetie” said Grace with her usual broad smile. “Have a nice day”
“Thank you Grace. I’ll see you after work”
Grace watched as Gabe drove off in his car. Her heart sank as he disappeared into the concrete jungle. She went back into the shop and continued her work.
As evening drew near, Grace observed the clock. She got more and more uneasy and restless as each hour passed by. When it was 5 o’clock she got ready to close up shop. As she did so, she heard a car pull up in front of the shop. She went outside to see who it was….
Before he got into the car, Gabe bought a big bouquet of Grace’s favourite flowers- roses and lilies. He was finally going to tell her how he felt about her. It was 7 o’clock and he knew she’d still be at the shop, so he drove to her place as fast as he could. As he drove, he went over what he was going to say, over and over again. He had rehearsed everything at least six times when he finally reached the shop. He got out of the car and walked upto the shop. There were no lights on inside and the door seemed to be locked. As he drew closer he got a sick feeling in his stomach like something was wrong. He walked faster, almost running. When he reached the door he saw a note stuck to the door. It read…
“Dear Gabe,
I know this is sudden but I had to leave. I waited for you for as long as I could, but you never came. It pains me to say this but I’m afraid we will never see each other again. I should have told you sooner. I wanted to, I just didn’t know how. But I had to leave, I had no choice. I’m sorry. Goodbye.”
“So that’s what Nina meant” he thought. “but where did she go? And why?”
-ANDREA MARYLOU NORONHA