Coffee, White Shirt and A Pair of Jeans

"hey"
"hey"
"you look good" she said as she sat down on the three seaters sofa next to me.
"thank's, you're the one who told me to wear this" I said. I can sniffed her familiar fresh scent as our knees touched briefly when she sat next to me.
'how are you" she asked.
"I'm well" I said again.
The waitress with a nice smile came bringing my order. I saw a red silicon wristband she wore on her wrist. It was the same one with what I have on my wrist. She noticed it too and we exchanged a brief solidarity smiles at each other.
"you ordered?" I asked
"yes, when I came in downstair....the usual" she answered lighting her Marlboro Light Menthol.
"kamu? seperti biasa....espresso ya?" she said pointing to the small white cup next to my laptop.
"what's that ?" she asked again looking at the plate the waitress just brought me earlier. "bagel...and creamcheese. ambil aja kalo mau" I told her to take the bagel for herself as I wasn't really hungry.
"Mmmm...looks good. I'm hungry.....boleh ya" she said.

Others came.
Bla...bla....bla....bla..................conversation started to fly around the table. The meeting has started. Sketches were examined and pictures from magazine as references are discussed and argued. ya udah nanti aja kalo di mobil deh kataku dalam hati. Dia ikut gue ngga ya? I was thinking silently in the midst of conversation and discussion about posture and hair style.

"remind me to buy a cigarette on our way home, ya" she said. Oh good, she is catching a ride home with me I thought silently again, relieved.
"oke, gue jalan dulu" one of them said.
"gue juga deh" the other one also telling us he's leaving
"oke, ampe ketemu" I said.
"gue email deh semua" one of them promised to email the sketches.
"makasih ya" she said. I always like the way she said that, I don't know why.

The table in that cafe suddenly turned quiet after they left. "wanna go?" kataku
"yuks" she said "ke toilet dulu ya" she added as she headed to the toilet.
"ok, I'll wait in the car" I said.

Walking out to the parking lot I stop by the street vendor to buy her cigarrette. She came out moments later and I gave her the pack of new Marlboro.
"lho kok udah beli?.....makasih ya" she thanked me.
I really loved the way she said thank you.

Cry me a river over the car speaker from Nina Simone.
"so, what was it all about kemaren?" I finally said.
"i was going to tell you.....but you called me first" she said
"couldn't help it.....you were distant" I said
" guess you know me that well" she said
"It's ok ....now that I know. Aku bisa ngerti" I said
"I guess it's the right thing to do, bukan? at least by the standard of everything around us" I added.
"like what?" she asked
"life, society.....whatever" I said
"I don't think that far.....I just want it to be good and right" she said.

The car stopped in front of a house on a narrow street.
"see you tomorrow" I said
"yes of course. we talked again tomorrow" she said
'bye" I said
"dadah" she said as she closed the car's door on her side.

That was then this is now. More coffees and cold beers has been drank together since then. Even a novel was completed and is edited for publishing. There were thousand of words posted as write-ups as well as there were countless minutes of phone conversations. Some were real, some were just silly, deep meaning, and confusing metaphors about what was real using icons ranging from foodie stuff like dark squid, lemon cheesecake, sweet marmalade to stuff like medieval armor suit, dog house, sport shoes, time travelling, a cliff - top home, and deep sea diving. Then was good. Now is also good, if you want it to be good I thought as I opened my closet and taking a white shirt from the hanger. I look briefly at a diving wetsuit hanged at the far side of the closet before closing the door. It hangs there like a symbol or gateway to another world. A different world parallel to this one. A world separated by open water and an oxygen tank.

Both worlds are home to me. But I live in this one. I wear my white shirt over a pair of washed out jeans and walk to the kitchen to make myself a cup of hot coffee. I then realize even my brand of coffee represent a methaphor. I look at the packaging and there it is printed on the front side, a visual of a globe and a butterfly. The tingling feeling I felt as if there are butterfly inside my belly everytime i travel to that other world in the different globe. No wonder I like this brand so much.

Both worlds are home to me. But the other one is a sweet metaphor of eating a delicious tangy fresh lemon cheesecake on an autumn rainy day.

Image source: queerstock on Getty Images