Thread: Gramercy Plaza

Location Gramercy Condominium - The Split Bean Tagged Lucy Martin, Saoirse Quinn - mentioned in passing The sound of her name registered but Faith didn't immediately turn to look at Lucy. It wasn't that she didn't know she needed to acknowledge that her order was ready it was that it was almost too much, too exhausting to even want the coffee any longer. Always thin, Faith had become even thinner through the ordeal and just couldn't muster the energy to eat a lot of the time. It wasn't until she got shaky and light headed that she was able to force herself to make something and then actually eat it. Faith didn't want the coffee but she knew she needed it, well the milk in it anyway, and the caffeine would probably help too. She just couldn't be bothered to want it now that she'd spent what little will she had to actually order it. Finally though she turned, the moment long past awkward and into weird. Thank you. Thank you - Lucy, she said after reading the name tag the girl wore. It was an old-fashioned name for a girl and it made her think of the little comic about Snoopy, and the Linus and Lucy song that was so fun and catchy. Had Lucy heard it before? Or been teased about it? Probably, Faith decided, given how pretty Lucy was. Absolutely flawless skin and blue eyes that were startlingly big and striking, she'd have been the target of any boy that she rejected and more girls envious of her beauty. Had her mom been there for her, listened to her and protected her? Once she'd have paid with her phone or a credit card but now Faith held the remnants of a 20 bill in her hand, the change from buying the coffee. Some days the purse was just too heavy, too full of the memories of Chloe and everything she used to carry in there for her, that Faith usually had Charlie come up and gave him her debit card and PIN and asked him to bring her cash back from the lobby ATM. Bills rustled and change rattled when Faith put it in the tip jar on the counter in front of Lucy and then took the coffee with the same hand. You used whole milk, right? she asked then nodded. Lucy? Call your mom and tell her you love her. Faith didn't wait for a response, just turned and took a seat at a tiny table nearby. It wasn't much later, the coffee still steaming through the oval cutout in the heavy white plastic lid, that the quirky, free-spirited girl, Saoirse - another old fashioned name but in a different way, came by and gave Faith a command, a compliment, a flower, and an invitation so fast they seemed to blur together. With the same speed that all of those had been delivered she was gone again leaving Faith with the memory of her scent and the purple petaled daisy on the table next to her coffee. Faith wasn't stupid and she wasn't oblivious to the pitying stares, the diffident manners of people who knew what had happened to Chloe, and to her. Neither was she ungrateful to them for their sympathies and attempt to let Faith know it was okay to be among them, among people who were happy and vibrant and living their lives instead of living their pain. She didn't even feel resentment towards them but it was as if she'd forgotten how to be one of them, wearing her grief like thick muffling wool over her eyes and ears and packed around her heart so that nothing could be felt and nothing could be expressed. Not feeling anything but the wearying always present depression, and that's what it was she knew, was comfortable and safe. Even if she hadn't divorced Harold before Chloe died their marriage would have vanished anyway after her passing. The daisy stem felt fuzzy and clung to her fingertips when she reached out and stroked it. If she left it on the table it would wilt in hours and be gone before the end of the day, either swept into the trash or knocked onto the floor by someone's bag or hand as they used the table. Right now though, in the moment, it was pretty and Faith felt a little glimmer of it pass through her fingers into her body. Saoirse got her wish. Faith smiled, just a little bit, but she smiled. When Lucy turned back around after helping a customer the purple daisy was in her tip jar, Faith's untouched coffee was on the table, and Faith was gone.