Welcome to Gaia! ::

Open. Close. Like a mind, the door swings open and shut, inward and outward, screeching at me like an angry cat. Closed, open. With a low sigh I stepped forward, shoving it open again to march into the crowded restaurant, the scent of fresh Chinese food lingering about. I put on my best Barbie smile, and it hurts my face to do so. My teeth are too white, my long black hair is pulled back too tight from my forehead, I'm really lonely, hey did you hear that?, and I'm just tired in general.

Serving these people chow mein day after day is not my life's calling. It's not in my dreams, not on my to-do list. I barely get tips because I give such crappy service. I don't really care though, they can get over it.

Table five, new customer. Just one, a man I've never seen before, and I would certainly remember seeing him. He's ridiculously handsome, with an angular face and chocolate eyes to match his curly hair. I subconsciously started walking in a bit more of a sexy way, knowing he was watching me.

"Hello, I'm Callie, I'll be taking your order today!" I forced out the happy sounding words, the inner me grimacing. Get me out of here, get my away from Chinese food, take me to the skies.

"Hello Callie...can I get an iced tea to start me off?" Even his voice matched his eyes and hair--a deep chocolate, delicious.

"Certainly! Anything else or do you need a few?" My face hurts.

"I'll take a few..." His eyes left mine, brown leaving blue, as he went back down to look at his menu. I didn't say anything more, instead leaving to fetch his iced tea. I stood there for a few minutes, holding the iced tea in a way that looked quite stupid. I sighed, plastered the grin back onto my face, and went back to his table. It was clearing up anyway now that it was getting late and he was my only table.

"Are you ready to order?" I asked as I set the glass on his table, blinking a few too many times.

"Sure...I'll go with beef and broccoli with a side of fried rice." He smiled charmingly and I nodded, writing it down, asking if he wanted anything else. He declined and I went to place his order. Closing was in twenty minutes but if you were eating then you got to stay, it's just that no one new got in.

I returned after a little while with his food, setting it down and turning to leave. "Wait." I turned back, raising an eyebrow. "Stay, I'd like some company."

I thought about it. Shrugged. I didn't have any more work to do besides his table. I slid into a chair across from him, my eyes are really bloodshot right now I just know it, smiling lightly. "You remember my name from when I first introduced myself?"

"I do, Callie." He smiled back. "I'm Connor." We shook hands. He ate a piece of broccoli. I stared at the weird design on the tablecloth.

"What's your favorite thing on the menu, Callie?" I looked up, blinking.

"I hate Chinese food."

He laughed, sliding a hand through his curly dark brown hair. I wondered how thick it was, what it would feel like to run my hand through it. I kicked that thought out of my brain rather quickly. "Then why do you work at a Chinese restaurant?"

"Money." I shrugged. "Maybe I'll go to college someday." I had a dream, a dream about life and love, a dream about being extraordinary.

"How old are you, Callie?"

"Twenty four."

"That's not that old."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty three."

"You want your check now?"

"That would be nice."

I nodded and got up, going to fetch the check. He sure ate fast. I brought it back--he paid in cash. I gave him a quarter and two pennies.

"Nice meeting you, Callie."

"You too, Connor."

He left.

--

He showed up many nights after that. Always my last customer, so we would talk. We would talk about anything, really. I always noticed when there was a hicky on his neck, or a bruise on his hand. I'd always noticed things. I was good at it.

He told me about his relationships, past and present. His dreams for the future, his favorite color, the movie he saw on Saturday, his profession as a lawyer The most boring thing in his life, and it took up all of it, so he had a boring life., how he would love to climb a mountain someday.

He didn't know anything about me. When I say we 'talked,' I mean that he talked and I listened and gave feedback.

One day, I fell in love with him.

It was probably the day I tripped and spilled coke all over the front of one of my customers, and I heard raucous laughter from a different table. I looked over and saw him laughing his head off at me.

I never saw him anywhere else, not when I was at the library in my reading glasses and yoga pants and a tank top that was too big for me. Not at the coffee shop I spent Sunday mornings at, sipping at a chai latte with a new novel or book of poetry. Not at the clubs I went dancing at on my nights off, or at the mall where I wandered when I had money but never actually bought anything.

Sometimes he wouldn't show up for Chinese for a week but then come every single night for the next.

Then the day came when I quit my job.

I didn't tell him about it. It'll just hurt too much when I never see him again. I had enough money for tuition at my dream college now and I was leaving to go there. I quit my job, moved out of my apartment, and took a flight two hours and eight states away to New York City.

Hello Columbia.

--

Two months passed, I lived well, getting my art degree steadily. I lived in a small apartment near the University, working at a Japanese food place on weekends.

I was reading one day, sitting in my apartment in a plush red chair I'd gotten half off. I had Civil Disobedience in my hand. A knock came on my door. It was weird--no one had called at the door. Was it a neighbor?

I got up, shuffling to the door A dream, a dream, a glorious dream., pulling it open and barely getting a glimpse of a familiar face before he threw his arms around me.

"Callie, you are a stupid woman." I blinked, my book falling from my hands to the floor behind him. He smelled like green apples and cinnamon. He didn't have an hickys on his neck. He pulled away and held me at arm's length, brown mixing with blue.

And my door stood open, like a mind.