The coffee was bad. I'm no expert at coffee, I'll happily drink the instant stuff when I'm at home but in any other circumstance, I'd have set the cup back on the chipped saucer and left the coffee for somebody with a stronger stomach than mine. Or the drain, which is honestly where it belonged.
This, however, was not a normal day. It was not even a normal week and for once, I was relieved to be doing something Different. Michael sat across the table from me, the bright green eyes that had somehow managed to hypnotise me into agreeing to have a horrible coffee with a complete stranger were still fixed on mine, so I hung on to my cup like a security blanket and enjoyed the heat emanating from its murky depths, if not the acrid taste.
"I don't do this often." he smiled again, and those green eyes crinkled at the edges ever so slightly.
"Neither do I." I replied, and returning his smile I continued to wonder how this had happened. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of dates before. There have been lovers lost over the years but I'd never picked somebody up off the street. Actually, he'd picked me up when I'd almost smashed my face into the kerb and then, after a bit of small talk, he'd persuaded me to join him in the greasy spoon cafe that was situated, somewhat ironically, three doors down from the doctor's surgery. Hence the bad coffee.
The conversation meandered along a little awkwardly for a while longer and as we made our excuses to leave I found him pressing a slip of paper into my hand.
"In case you'd like to join me for a terrible coffee again." the green eyes sparkled and he leaned in, his lips barely grazing my cheek.
"Goodbye, and thank-you." I stuttered. It was as if he had read my mind but then he looked pretty human and the coffee really did appear to have been made for somebody with the constitution of an elephant.
I wouldn't call him.
That had been just a little too strange and on any other day, I'd have brushed myself off, thanked him and headed straight for the car. It must have been the lack of sleep and the general feeling that I was headed towards some sort of disaster that had made me behave in such an uncharacteristically reckless way. I stood in the doorway of the cafe, the smell of frying bacon wafting around me and out onto the street, calling people to the temple of the fried breakfast in a way that no fancy advertising could compete with. He didn't look back once. I watched the back of his head, light brown hair, disappear into the distance as he headed towards the busier end of the street, people milled around him looking lost and soulless in the way that every city centre shopper does. Just one more bargain. Just one. And then he was gone.
I breathed out. I hadn't even realised that I had been holding my breath until then. There was something familiar about Michael. I wondered if we'd met before, maybe he'd been one of Anna's friends. There's been many over the years and he was good looking enough to have been part of her crowd. Anna didn't have ugly friends. As I started walking towards the car park, I resolved to ring her as soon as I got home. I'd brush over the trip to the doctor, I wasn't ready to explain That part of my day but at the very least it would be like old times, the both of us giggling over a boy.
And for just a moment, I forgot about the nightmares that had been chasing me. Just for a moment.
