Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) (9 page)

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I’m just … I’m sorry
,” she said, sheepishly looking back up at him. She didn’t know what to expect as a reaction. The sudden change in emotions probably only verified that she wasn’t mentally well. He was silent as he stared at her. It was a lingering silence that made Saphora’s nerves stand on edge.  And then he walked away. Leaving Saphora to watch him in fearful suspense. What if they really did call the police? They were already looking for her. What if they thought she was running from the crime? It would only make her look guiltier. And the fact that she wanted to run away now didn’t make things any better. Her heart rate started to pick up and she thought about calling out to the man to apologize again. But she knew how it would turn out. He would be alarmed as she pleaded to him, making her look even more unstable. They would think that she was trying to hurt him. Or that maybe she was a crazy ex-girlfriend of his. She didn’t want to make herself look like she was in need of assistance.

She looked back at her phone. Should she call Fran to come get her before things turned hectic? No. She still didn’t want to talk to Fran. Maybe she should just leave the café. But where would she go? The woods? Tebias may have still been there. The house? She was almost certain that Fran would be looking there repeatedly to see if she was hiding out there. Maybe she could find somewhere else to hide. There were plenty of stores along this road, and the streets surrounding it. She could find somewhere else to sit until she fe
lt well enough to journey home – or at least talk to Fran on the phone.

But just as she was standing up, she was surprised – startled really, to hear the man’s voice again.

“Are you leaving?” he asked, sounding a bit closer than he should have been. Saphora turned on her heel, and backed into the booth’s table due the small distance between them. One hand gripped the edge of the table, while the other squeezed her cell phone, holding it against her chest instinctively. Maverick noticed her reaction and frowned, taking a slight step back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you again,” he said, shaking his head. Saphora looked down as he stepped back, and noticed that he was carrying two glasses of water, most likely carrying them to a table he was waiting.

“
Yeah, I mean - I just thought I should.”

“Why?” he asked, somewhat bluntly. Saphora hesitated to answer. Mostly because she wasn’t expecting to be questioned for leaving. She had thought that just about everyone that had noticed her there, wanted her to leave. But here she was being asked to explain just that. Her mouth fell agape, as she struggled with how to say that explanation in a polite way. Instead, she leaned on their last conversation as a crutch.

“I just, uh … After talking to you like that. I thought, maybe-“

“I didn’t mind it
,” he interrupted, shrugging his shoulders. A bit dumbfounded, all Saphora could think to say in response was,

“What?”

Maverick chucked, moving past her to set the glasses of water down on the table of the booth. She watched as he did, wondering why he was. Maybe they were too cold for his hands for the amount of time he was holding them. They had ice in them, after all. She nodded to herself at the logic. But when he sat down at the booth, across from where she had been sitting, she was lost once again. Her brows scrunched, and she looked around the café, to see if she was the only one who was confused. A couple of people at tables around the room were looking at them. But more at Maverick, observing what he was doing. Some looked fearful, as if they were worried about what Saphora would do to him. The staff looked like children peeking behind the counter, spying on their parents, or eavesdropping on someone’s conversation.

“Are you going to sit down?” he asked, the voice piercing through her thoughts. She turned back around to look at him, and then back down at the glasses that were beginning to drip their condensation down onto the table. Her eyes slowly made their way to his.

“What?” she asked again, not really sure where her mind was. His actions had thrown her off. She thought that he had felt threatened, but here he was, sitting down at her booth.

“Stay? I just asked my manager if I could take my break.”

“Okay …?” she murmured, her brain slowly working up to a reasonable function. Maverick stared at her, reading her confusion and lowering his head as he chuckled. With a shrug, and a fold of his hands on top of the table, their gazes met again.

“I thought maybe I’d use it to talk to you. You look like you need to someone to talk to.”

Saphora sighed, her shoulders slumping as she realized what was happening – pity. She looked away from him and raised her hand to place on her forehead as her head shook. Maverick watched her in anticipation. The faint smile that he held turning into a subtle frown at her reaction.

“Okay. I see. Look, that’s nice of you.
Really. But I don’t want pity, alright? I’m not – I don’t need someone to talk to. I don’t – There’s no one to talk to about this. Okay?”

Maverick tilted his head, his expression calm yet stern.

“Well. I’m sitting here,” he said, with a motion of his shoulders. The way he did it, and the upturn in his voice suggested that he may have been offended.

But Saphora laughed at the offer. Of talking to him. This guy. He obviously wanted something from Saphora. Something that she was not willing to give. And she wasn’t about to lead him on to think that the option was even remotely possible. She shook her head, and raised her hand but
Maverick interjected again.

“
Okay, look. You don’t have to talk about whatever it is. I saw that you were doing plenty of thinking about it as it is. So just-“

“Saw – what? You were watching me?” she asked, lowering her hand. Maverick fumbled over his
next words.

“Well
no, I mean … I was – am waiting your table so I had to keep an eye out in case you wanted something. I just, you seemed to be thinking really hard about something. I just guessed it was whatever’s bothering you.” Saphora nodded slowly.

“Right …”

“Please? Will you just pity me and sit down? We can talk about something else. Anything else.”

Saphora sighed, looking up and away from him in a mixture of frustration and guilt. She wanted to leave. But to where, she didn’t know. She had nowhere else to hide that she was comfortable with. She just wanted to think without being pestered. But then again, she could use some kind of venting after what she had experienced. And since she didn’t have anything else to help her calm her mind, she actually started to consider sitting down with the stranger who offered to talk to her. He watched her in anticipation, wanting for the response he desired. To have her sit with him.
And after some time of awkward silence and considerate thoughts, Saphora huffed a soft groan and sat back down. Maverick smiled, letting her sit down. He refolded his hands on the table and looked over at her. And if possible, things got even more awkward. Saphora sat very still, her hands in her lap and her eyes on the glass of water in front of her. Almost five minutes went by before either of them said anything else. It was Maverick who finally broke the ice.

“So
, I have a question.”

Saphora looked up
at him, giving an expression that gave him the signal that he could continue. He leaned back against the booth, crossing his arms against his black, short sleeve shirt.

“You … You’re hair. And your eyes. Well, has anyone every told you that you look like an anime character?”

Saphora’s expression flattened at the question, and she made eye contact with him for the first time in the five minutes. And as soon as she did, Maverick realized the mistake in his choice of words. His mouth fell open to try to correct what he had said, but her mind had changed. Maybe she couldn’t talk to this guy. Not if he was going to point out every odd thing about her. She moved to stand up from the booth. She wasn’t about to be analyzed by strangers. She already had to figure out things about herself that she didn’t understand. She didn’t have time to explain trivial things to some guy. Maverick stood up with her, a frown on his face.

“Wait, wait-
“ he started, reaching a hand out. It was a harmless gesture, but one that still made Saphora take a step back. She put her hand out low, gesturing for him to stop, which he did. She sighed shaking her head.

“I’m sorry. I just … really want to be alone right now. Okay?” she said, turning to walk away. But Maverick spoke up in a surge of frustration and desperation.

“So why come to a café? With people?” he argued, stepping somewhat in front of her. “If you wanted to be alone.” Saphora’s eyes narrowed, as she turned slowly to look at the man who had suddenly become an enemy in her eyes. To have the nerve to question her current situation, rebuilt the one row of her wall she had allowed to come down.

“Excuse me?”

Maverick immediately regretted what he said, and sought for a way to correct it. He didn’t mean to offend her, he just didn’t want her to leave without having his chance. At what, he didn’t know. He shook his head, trying to settle his frustration, not thinking that hers would continue to escalate. But it did. She retook the step she had retreated, making him straighten up and suddenly remember his fear of a woman’s wrath.

“I don’t have to tell you anything, okay – just because you come over here and – and bring me water …” she said
, her throat constricting with the building rage. “I … You …” she strained, raising her balled hand and pointed index finger. Maverick looked down at the finger with raised brows. The atmosphere in the café changed considerably. Conversations had stopped, people had grown quiet, and the machinery purred to stop, as if to listen. It made Saphora stop her oncoming rage, and reconsider what she was about to do. She glanced around the room, seeing that she was now being watched, and lowered her hand. She didn’t want to cause a commotion, no matter the emotions she wanted to release. She looked back at Maverick with an expression that made him grimace. And without another word, she shook her head, turned on her heel, and walked away – straight out of the café.

Mav
erick, not able to do much else, watched as she walked out of the café. His shoulders slumped and the hope of getting her to stay left him. He sighed, looked back at the two full glasses of water on the table and shook his head.
Not even a name
, he thought, as he heard the chuckle from one of his coworkers.

“Nice going
,” he chuckled with a shake of his head as he went back to operating one of the coffee machines. Maverick glared in his direction, picking up the two glasses and making his way behind the front counter with him. “This all part of your elaborate plan to get in her pants? Because if you ask me, I think you could afford to skip part one and two. Maybe even-“

“Shut it, Jared,
” Maverick spat to his friend as he dumped the water in a nearby sink and sighed, turning around to lean on it once he had set the two glasses on the counter. Jared laughed and shrugged.

“Whatever you say. I would have at least gotten her name or something
,” he said, finishing his maintenance with the machine and turning around to speak to Maverick. Maverick crossed his arms defensively.

“Well it’s not like she gave me much of a chance, man. She obviously wasn’t in a good mood.”

“And yet you still went over to talk to her. You must have it bad,” Jared chuckled, giving another shake of his head. Maverick rolled his eyes.

“I do not.”

“Yeah,” A woman’s voice said from the hole in the wall above the sink that gave view into the kitchen on the other side. Both Jared and Maverick turned their attention to the blue-eyed beauty that had chimed in. Saphora’s previous waitress. “Maverick was just making sure she wasn’t crazy,” she said, looking up at him from beneath her blonde lashes. Maverick felt his body tense from her gaze. “Right?” she questioned. But Maverick shook his head, causing her to frown.

“She’s not crazy. I just-“

“She sure looked crazy to me,” Jared argued. “I mean, who walks around in a night gown and converse? And did you see her eyes? They’re red! And not even like, bloodshot red. They’re just plain red. That ain’t normal,” he went on, crossing his own arms. The blonde nodded in agreement. Maverick shook his head, looking back and forth from the two in slight annoyance. Maybe it was because he had chosen to go out of his way to talk to this girl that he found attractive, and they were putting her down. Or maybe he thought they were questioning him. Wondering why he would even attempt to talk to such a person. Whatever it was, it was getting to him. And he leapt to defend her.

“You’ve obviously never been to a comic con. There are ple
nty of people that buy contacts. Ever thought that she might be into cosplay?”

“Well she could certainly pull it off. I mean, she looks enough like an anime character.
”

“But why would she be walking aro
und like that? It’s not like its Halloween,” the girl said. Maverick turned to look at her.

“Yeah, well. Why do you wear a fox hat all the time? It’s not like you’re a fox, Liz
,” he said. Liz moved her head back, caught off guard by the sudden attack. She looked at Jared, who shrugged with raised eyebrows, and then back at Maverick.