Young Writers Society

I woke up to the alarm clock at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 12th. Since my mother was working night shift at the town’s hospital as a cleaner, I was home alone. I planned to leave the apartment before my mom arrived home from work at 8:00 a.m., so I set my alarm for as early as 6:30 in the morning.

Today was probably going to be the most important day of my life. I was going out with Janet, the most beautiful girl in my first-year social science class of the community college that I was attending. It was only a casual, friendly get-together, but I had already planned how to ask her out in a way that she’d give me a solid “Yes”.

The moment I woke up to the alarm, I paced towards the bathroom to take shower and brush my teeth. I then had light snacks and tea for breakfast, and headed out just before 8:00 a.m. My meeting with Janet was to be at 10:00 a.m., and we were going to the town’s only coffee shop G&N Café, owned and operated by a local couple; a 64-year-old woman named Gloria and a 60-year-old man named Norm. I wanted to get to the coffee shop very early, just so that nothing unexpected would come up and delay my arrival.

I really liked both Gloria and Norm. Two years ago, back when I was a 19-year-old young adult, they were very supportive towards me when my father passed away.

I lost my father to a workplace accident. Having gone to the same community college that I attended, my father was employed by our little town’s forestry department, where he was responsible for cutting and preparing woods for families for our infamous freezing winter months. One day, due to the negligence of one of his co-workers who accidentally chopped my father’s hand with a chainsaw, my father lost a lot of blood and died on his way to the hospital. My mother was working at that time, and when she heard the news, she fainted and had to spend the night in the emergency room.

I walked for about eight minutes to G&N Café. When I arrived, Gloria and Norm were getting ready to open the shop at 8:30. When they saw me standing at the door staring at them through the glass door, they let me in. I smelled the coffee that was freshly being brewed, as well as the assorted desserts that were being baked in the oven. “Hi Gary”, Gloria said to me. “What brings you here so early on a Saturday morning, honey?”, she asked. I took a deep breath and answered:

“I am here this early because I will meet the prettiest girl in my social science today, and we wanted to meet here”. After I brief pause, “I hope it’s okay”, I shyly added.

“Somebody say ‘a girl’?” Norm came out from the storage room that was located at the back of the store, just beside the oven. “Good morning, Gary”, he added.

“Good morning, Norm”, I replied. “Yes, you heard it right. I am meeting a girl from my social science class here today. She’s the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my life. And I love this coffee shop, so I wanted to bring her here on our first da…meeting.”

“Meeting, huh?”, Norm said, smiling. “Call it a date, and it’ll be a date. When will she get here?”

“At 10:00”, I answered. “I got here early to make sure I am not late. And I thought I could also maybe help you out with the opening.”

“How thoughtful!”, Gloria said.

I smiled, and followed Norm behind the counter to help him with food preparation.

“So, tell me about this girl”, Norm said. “What’s her name?”

“Her name is Janet”, I replied. “She is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life, and we are pretty close. We are in the same social science class and we talk a lot. We also message each other quite often. She is very nice to me.”

“That’s good. I am glad you found the right person, Gary.”

“Well, I haven’t really ‘found’ her. Like I said, today is just a simple friendly meeting, not even a real date.”

“We will see that”, Norm said, smiling.

. . .

Norm and Gloria opened the doors at 8:30 a.m. They asked me to take a seat in the storage room where a small wooden table and two chairs were located to be used by them as a break area. Gloria offered me a cup of coffee, but I kindly rejected it, as I wished to have one with Janet.

When I took a seat on one of the chairs, I immediately started planning a conversation that I could follow when talking to Janet. The one-half hour passed quickly. I exited the storage room and seated myself in one of the tables for customers. A few minutes after 10:00 a.m., Janet appeared in the entrance with her properly combed long, straight, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and thin body covered by a pink blouse and black capris.

I stood up the moment I saw her. “Hi Janet”, I said. My voice must have come out loud, as a few customers in the café turned towards me. I calmed myself down in a few seconds, walked towards her, and shook her hand. “Hi Gary”, Janet said.

I showed her to our table and we seated ourselves.

“So, how are you?”, I asked.

“I am good, how are you?”

“Good, too, thanks for asking”.

Silence.

“Umm… You made me very, very happy by coming today. Thank you so much.”, I said.

“Oh, no worries. It’s good to meet friends outside of school.”

I felt my face taking a serious look. “Friends?” I asked, and continued. “Oh, friends! Of course.”

She looked confused.

“So, tell me a little about yourself. Your family, for example. Do you have siblings?”, I asked.

She smiled, and said: “I got one older brother, but he doesn’t live here. He is married and lives abroad with his wife.”

Gloria approached to our table, and asked: “What would you like to have today, young love birds?”

“Gloria!”, I said loudly, then I looked at Janet, fearful of how she’d react to what Gloria had just said. I smiled at her. “She’s just joking”, I said. “So, would you like a cup of coffee, Janet?”

She nodded without saying a word. When Gloria left, she turned to me and asked curiously: “What was that all about?”

“Like I said, she was joking. I’ve known Gloria and her husband Norm for so long, since I was a kid. That’s why she’s not shy to make these kinds of jokes to me.”

Janet must have been convinced by my little lie, for she didn’t further question what Gloria had meant.

I was desperate to find ways to make our conversation flow, but thanks to Gloria, I couldn’t follow the conversation I planned this morning before Janet came in. I had to come up with another plan. “How’s school? Doing well in our social science class?”, I asked. Her answer surprised me:

“I'm doing well in it. I actually took this course before, four years ago, before I changed my specialization. Of course, changing my specialization costed me a few years. But now I am retaking it as an elective course to improve my average grade.”

“Four years ago, huh? I thought you were 21 years old like me. How…old are you?”, I whispered, “Sorry, I guess I am not supposed to ask a woman’s age. You don’t have to tell me.”

I felt my face blushing. She smiled, and said: “I am 24”, she said.

Gloria came back with two cups of coffee. We talked about other things; about our families, hobbies, and books. When we left the café, I walked Janet to her home. Just before going inside, she asked: “Oh, I almost forgot. What are you doing for your father on Father’s Day? It’s next Sunday, you know. I am planning to go out to dinner with my parents somewhere nice.”

I replied:

“I… I am not sure. I don’t think I will do anything. I will visit him and…”

“Visit him where? At his work place? He works on Sundays?”, she said.

“No, he… I lost my father two years ago. He was a victim of a workplace accident. It’s been two years. I will visit him at the cemetery.”

We both fell silent for a few seconds, which Janet broke shortly.

“I am sorry, I had no idea. Well, know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I am always here for you, and I mean it. You can call me anytime, Gary.”

“Thanks Janet”, I said. “You’re a great friend, and I am so happy to have you in my life.”

We hugged. Then she went inside to her house.

. . .

The next morning, I called Janet and told her that I had a great time with her the day before. Then, I asked her to go out again to see a movie. Her answer shocked me.

“I am okay meeting my friends in coffee shops or restaurants, but as a principle, I only go to the movies with my boyfriend. I hope you understand. Sorry, Gary”, she said.

I was devastated. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked you out to have coffee. It’s just that… I really like you and I thought we could sort of, you know, become, you know… I am sorry if I’ve caused you inconvenience”, I told her.

“It’s okay.”, she said. “Thank you for your honesty. But we are friends.”

After having this brief phone conversation with her, I didn’t call her for a few days. We simply saw each other at school, talked, but never mentioned anything about hanging out outside of school. One night, around 9 p.m., when my mother was at the hospital working night shift and I was home alone studying, Janet called. “My boyfriend hit me today”, she said in a shaky voice.

She was crying.

I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to help her, because she was my friend. “I…I am sorry to hear that, Janet”, I said, then added: “Do you maybe want to meet up to talk about it?”

“No, it is okay”, she replied. “I will just go to sleep now. I need to rest and try to forget about what happened.”

“Sure”, I said. “If you need anybody to talk to, don’t hesitate to call.” Then I hung up.

I continued studying for another two hours, and I went to sleep.

At 4 a.m. in the morning, my phone rang. Since it was on silent mode, I heard it after several buzzes. It was Janet.

“Hi Janet”, I answered.

It was a stranger calling from her phone.

“Hi”, the voice said. “I assume you are Mr. Gary. You are the last person showing up on the call log of this phone. We’re calling from a bar. There’s a lady here who had so much alcohol and she’s not feeling well now”, the voice said.

I immediately got up from the bed. In a panicky voice, “Is Janet okay? Where is she now? Where’s the bar located?”, I asked.

“She’s fine. She just passed out here. We thought you’d maybe like to come and take her home.”

I got the address of the bar and immediately made my way there. When I got there, it took me a few minutes to find Janet, as the interior of the bar was dark and people’s faces were almost invisible.

Janet had fallen asleep at a table. I went up to the bartender, thanked him for calling me. I summoned a taxi, took Janet in my arms, and headed to my apartment. When we arrived, I placed her on the couch, and she woke up.

“Oh, hi Gary. Are you my new boyfriend now?”, she asked. “Ah, you look so handsome. Come on, take me to your bed and love me”, she said.

She was clearly still not sober. “It’s okay, Janet. Just relax.”, I said.

“Come on, kiss me, my love” she said, and suddenly started singing ABBA’s Disillusion with a shrill voice:

Changing, moving in the circles

I can see your face in all of my dreams

Smiling, laughing from the shadows

When I hear your voice I know what it means.

I know it doesn’t matter just how hard I try

You’re all the reason for my life.

She fell asleep again. After a long sigh, I took her in my arms again, and headed to my bedroom. I placed her on my bed, took off her shoes, covered her body with a blanket, turned on the lamp on my night stand, and left the room. I headed back to the living room and seated myself on the couch. After staring emptily at the walls for a few minutes, I lay down and closed my eyes in an attempt to fall asleep again.

At 7 a.m., I woke up to Janet’s voice calling me. When I opened my eyes, I saw her standing right beside the couch. “Hi, Gary”, she said. “I don’t really remember what happened yesterday. I only remember talking to you here, asking you to…make love to me. I think I had too much alcohol.”

“Yes, you did”, I replied. “I got a phone call from a bar and went there to take you. I brought you here. I didn’t want you to go home in that condition. Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, I am”, she said. After a few seconds of silence, she thanked me.

“No problem at all”, I replied. She cut me off:

“No, I mean, thank you for… for not taking advantage of me. I thought since you liked me, you’d…”

“No, Janet”, I replied. “I am not that kind of a person. I do like you, but I would never take advantage of you or anyone else in that matter.”

She gave me a hug. There were tears in her eyes. “Thank you”, she whispered again. “You are a great guy.”

We then sat on the couch. We fell silent and didn’t look at each other for a few minutes. “Well, would you like breakfast”, I asked. She didn’t say anything. I figured she didn’t hear me. “Janet?”, I called her name. Finally, she looked at me. “Oh, breakfast. Yes, sure. That’d be nice. Thanks”, she said.

I headed to the kitchen, brewed coffee, toasted a few slices of bread, put cream cheese on them, and went back to the living room to serve breakfast.

She took one sip from her coffee, and without looking at me, said. “He hit me again yesterday, and I broke up with him. He got very mad and this time punched my breasts and pulled my hair. He thought I was cheating on him with you. He was jealous that we hung out that day at the café. I told him that you and I were friends, but he didn’t listen. That’s why I went out drinking. I was deeply sorrowful”

I felt guilty. “It’s all my fault”, I said. “It was my idea for us to hang out. I should have known you were in a loving relationship. But I had no idea. I can’t believe I caused your relationship to end”, I said.

Janet put a hand on my shoulder, and said: “No, Gary. It’s not your fault. Yes, he is…was my boyfriend but he wasn’t supposed to decide whom I could be friends with. I wish I knew this horrible trait about him before. Ah, I was very blind for not seeing this. But I am glad I learned this about him before it was too late, because I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with someone like him.”

After we finished eating our breakfast, Janet decided to leave. I showed her to the door. When she was about to exit, she turned to me, and said: “I am so proud to have a friend like you, Gary. If it were someone else, he might’ve taken advantage of me when I was intoxicated. But you didn’t. You are different than most people. You are a good man. But I can’t really be your girlfriend. I am older than you, by three years.”

I nodded. “I understand”, I said. But I suddenly thought of something. I didn’t think it’d change anything, but I still wanted to give it a try. “I respect your choice, but you remember Norm and Gloria, right? Gloria is four years older than Norm. See, it is okay for a woman to be older than her man, although the society thinks otherwise. Age is just a number. I really like you, Janet. You are amazing and I’d love to be in love with someone like you. But like I said, I will respect whatever decision you make.”

“I’ve already told you my decision. I think it’s okay for a man to be older than his woman, but I don’t think a woman can be the older one in a relationship. I can see that Gloria and Norm are happily married, but I don’t think I agree with their age gap. I am sorry, Gary. You really are a good man. You’re nice, caring, friendly, and supportive, but I can’t be in love with you or anyone else who’s younger than me. I hope you’ll understand.”

She hugged me again, then turned around and started descending the stairs, leaving me staring after her, with warm, salty tears dropping from my eyes.

After Janet was out of sight, I closed the door, leaned against it, knelt on my knees, and started sobbing.