I was working at this small cafe and all of a sudden, this girl and guy came in. The guy stood by the door and played the guitar, while the girl walked around, singing happy go-lucky Jason Mraz-y songs. As she finished, she held out a a small red bucket and people just swarmed around her, taking out their wallets to find $20 bills. Each customer gave her a $20 and her partner traded five of them for $100 bills. By the time they were done counting, they had received more than $500 in cash from one small performance.
"impressive," I commented as I leaned against my cash register platform, intently watching the duo collect their money. The girl let out a friendly smile. The guy... He smirked.
Then we flash to another scene and I find out that my house was being sold for some reason and the guy from the cafe was there. My dad tried to break the news gently to me but I couldn't bear the thought of losing our newly acquired home. I tried to breathe, telling myself it'll be alright because we'll find a new home. Then I remembered--my garage. The walls that I spent hours decorating, filling with virtues and the most important words I could think of at the moment. I ran out and there it was--being painted over with plain old white paint. Those two walls represented who I was--the words I lived by every single day--and now it was all gone. I ran outside, so nobody could see me cry and began to sob for my home ceased to exist as my home. The guy from the cafe ran out after me and stood at the threshold for a second, unsure of what he was supposed to say. Realizing his existence and hesitation, I turned away and wiped my tears.
"What do you want?" I demanded angrily.
"I just came to see if you were okay."
"I'm fine. Just leave me alone." With each word, I felt tears rushing to my eyes again and so, I turned away, hoping that my visitor would feel unwelcomed and leave. What I didn't expect was for him to wrap his arms around me and hold me until I had no more tears left. Normally, I wouldn't let a stranger hug me--let alone, touch me--but I was at my lowest point and something about him felt so familiar, so right.
"Thanks." I gently pushed out of his arms and started back inside to my father.
"Wait!"
I turn around to see him take off his lucky bracelet and offer to put it around my wrist. At that moment, my father came out and his Papa instincts forced him to step between me and the guy from the cafe. He halted all forms of communication between us, unsure of whether or not the cafe guy was the who caused me to cry. Cafe guy stood awkwardly in his spot, still holding one hand out to offer me his bracelet but instead of transferring it to me directly, asking my father to hand it to me. My father obliged and gave me the bracelet which I examined for a moment before putting it on. It was one of those typical friendship bracelets with streams of blue throughout and a bead in the center. One could tell it was worn often, if not daily.
Seeing that we were done, my father started back inside the house, but I slowly fell behind. I knew my father would turn around if he didn't hear my footsteps following his back inside our former home, but it didn't matter at that moment. As the guy from the cafe turned to walk away, I laid a kiss of gratitude on his cheek and scampered back inside the house. I never saw his reaction but c'est la vie. It's not like I would ever see him again. Or so I thought.
