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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:16 pm
“Are you avoiding me because you think I’m intimidating, or are you just naturally flighty?” August asked as he sat down at the table across from the blond haired young man that he occasionally crossed paths with whilst out getting coffee over the past several months. Whenever he did manage to see him after the first time of making awkward eye contact (on the other man’s part), the young man always seemed to slip out the door even before August had a chance to order his coffee.
This time was different. He didn’t bother standing in line for coffee, but rather slipped off his winter coat and placed it over the back of his chair, brushing off the snow that had fallen onto the shoulders, and then out of his naturally grey hair.
He knew he was probably going to freak the young man out because, well, it wasn’t really normal for a stranger to come and sit at someone’s table and strike up a conversation (a rather accusatory one, at that) and expect for a good reception. Still, he wanted to know what it was about him that seemed to spook this guy, or if he was just that way with everyone.
Maybe it was his face. August had been told he had a rather mean resting expression.
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Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 8:24 pm
A rather mean resting expression, indeed.
Something of a mean voice, too. Or so it seemed to Jonah. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe his paranoia was acting up and he was imagining a hostility that wasn’t there. Or maybe he was right but it wasn’t intentional. Was unintentional meanness even possible? If someone was unintentionally mean, wasn’t that simply a sign of who they were as a person? Hateful enough that it bled through in their voice and in their actions even when they didn’t mean for it to?
Of course, chances were it was all in Jonah’s head. He was good at that — assuming the worst; jumping to his own negative conclusions without much concrete proof.
Wide eyed and tense, Jonah stared at the man across from him. He hadn’t even noticed the man come into the café. It wasn’t as if Jonah went out of his way to see him around town. He wasn’t a stalker, and he didn’t expect the guy to show up everywhere. It just… happened. They frequented the same places, and something about this guy’s schedule ensured that they crossed paths a couple of times a week.
“Crossed paths” was a generous interpretation, though. They didn’t speak to one another at all. They barely even acknowledged one another beyond a few glances here and there. They never actually interacted.
Except sometimes Jonah stared because…
“I…” Jonah began to stammer as soon as he opened his mouth, unwilling to admit the truth, because the truth was awkward and embarrassing and this guy was basically a complete stranger and Jonah would never be able to look him in the eye again after this as it was. “You’re… um… I’m sorry, I… I just... “
He winced and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stop talking until his brain could function enough to offer a series of words that made sense. “I don’t know you?” he tried. “So…”
So he ran when things got too awkward.
Things were already very awkward now.Guine Sorry for the two year delay babe. sweatdrop
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:50 am
August leaned as heavily against the table as it would allow, purposefully crossing some of the safe space the table put between him and this young man. He looked like he was going to have a panic attack, the way he stared wide eyed and stammered like he’d forgotten how to speak.
Eyebrows raised in curiosity as the young man across from him said he didn’t know him, as if that was clearly the reason for his discomfort.
“Jonah. That’s your name isn’t it?” August asked without even needing to look down at the cup in front of him to see if the name was written on the side. He was observant and listened when orders had been called over the past several weeks of running into this guy.
“Do you really not know my name?”
Was it cruel of him to push this conversation? Celeste would probably say so, but she would likely also encourage it just to see this guy squirm more. Or faint. Somehow August wouldn’t be surprised if she would want to see what it took to make this guy completely break down.
Maybe if it wasn’t so easy to intimidate him, August wouldn’t bother.
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:28 pm
Jonah squirmed in his chair and scooted back a little bit, trying to put some extra space between himself and the man leaning against the table. Unfortunately, he didn’t have very far to scoot before he ran into the wall behind him. He always made sure to pick one of the tables along the wall, so he could sit with his back to it and no one could sneak up on him.
Not that he knew very many people, and the ones he did know probably wouldn’t do that, given that they should be aware of his skittish nature.
Anyway, it seemed he could be snuck up on from the front, too.
“I… y-yes,” Jonah said — because, yes, his name was Jonah. A bright red flush spread over his cheeks at the thought that this man had apparently been paying close enough attention to remember his name being called out.
“Um… n-no,” he said next — because, no, he didn’t know the man’s name. Jonah tended to scamper away once they made eye contact, never sticking around long enough to hear one of the baristas call out his drink order.
He just liked to look. That was all. He didn’t mean anything by it. He certainly didn’t expect that this man would ever actually talk to him. He always seemed busy, like he lived a full life or had a demanding job, or both. Jonah was just… no one. Definitely not worth anyone’s time, especially when it came to good looking men in random coffee shops.
“S-Sorry,” he stammered. “I… I can leave. I didn’t… didn’t mean to bother you.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:35 pm
The unfortunate thing about making sure your back was to a corner was that it was more difficult to escape when someone did confront you. August watched, unimpressed, as Jonah offered to leave, claiming he hadn’t meant to bother him.
“How are you going to do that?” August asked, sitting back in his chair just a bit, as though leaving a clear path for the young man to escape, but was obviously quite capable of blocking him from running if he really wanted.
Okay, this was maybe a little too cruel. Jonah looked like he was going to pass out at any moment, or at least have a panic attack. As much as he could imagine Celeste offering to bring popcorn and taking bets on how long this kid would take to make the attempt at running, she wasn’t there to motivate him to continue.
“No, I bothered you,” he conceded, if only because perhaps he’d misjudged this young man’s intentions. August reached into his coat pocket to pull out one of his business cards and a pen so he could scribble his personal cell phone number on the back, before sliding it across the table.
“Toss it if you want, or let me know if you’d like to get coffee when I’m not on call,” he offered before he changed his mind about the whole thing. Maybe he should have eased into introducing himself instead of startling the other so badly he could hardly speak. He could imagine Celeste’s bewilderment that August would waste his time on a kid like Jonah, but it wasn’t as though there were many others who still glanced his way after he unintentionally glared at them. Mean resting expression, after all.
He then stood so he could make his way back over to the counter to order his coffee, allowing Jonah to escape if he wished. Maybe if he didn’t run they could actually talk instead of Jonah staring at him. Somehow, he doubted this kid’s flight response would allow him to remain in one place for long.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:36 am
Jonah fumbled the business card. Before he managed to get it securely in his hands, he dropped it on the table. He picked it up again, but he trembled nervously and dropped it again, this time onto the floor. By the time he was sitting back upright after leaning over to retrieve it, the man was up and out of his chair, giving Jonah space to breathe and think and wonder what the hell he did to deserve being terrorized.
Most likely he was scared and nervous for no reason. It wasn’t like the guy had said anything truly mean. It was just… his face. And his voice. And his mannerisms. And his aura. And everything, really. But Jonah had a tendency to jump to conclusions and assume the worst, so there was a very good chance his panicking brain had exaggerated those behaviors.
Besides, the man had just given Jonah his number.
Wait…
Now that he wasn’t in danger of dropping the business card, Jonah glanced it over. On the front was the man’s name, his place of employment, and what was probably the number to his office or an equally professional setting. On the back, scrawled in nearly illegible writing, was what Jonah assumed to be his personal number.
Jonah glanced toward the counter, wondering if he should explain to this doctor that he couldn’t read his handwriting, but he took one look at the man ordering his coffee and immediately chickened out. There was no way this August person actually meant it anyway. Maybe it was a fake number. Or he’d scribbled it illegibly on purpose, to mock Jonah or something. It wasn’t like Jonah could offer him much in the way of company. Or conversation — as evidenced by the fact that they’d just had the shortest exchange known to man.
So Jonah swallowed heavily and quickly packed up his things. In his rush to scamper out the door, he forgot his coffee on the table, but held onto the business card in one of his sweaty hands.
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