Life by the Page 8
8
Leon sat by one of the windows in the quaint little old building that was Gabe's Café. The window pane was old and misty so you couldn't see much through it, but he liked to sit by it anyway because it let more light into the place. Gabe stood behind the counter grinning as he whipped some milk into a nice foam for cappuccino. The clock behind the counter struck 9:23 when Gabe eventually whistled to Leon that his coffee was ready. Leon smiled as he took the tall mug in hand and went back to his seat by the window. There were only two other people in the café apart from Leon and Gabe, an old couple that sat at the other end of the place mostly keeping to themselves. It bothered Leon that Nathan was a late, but it didn't bother him as much as his inability to think of anything to talk to him about. He had looked up at the door every now and again and imagined how it would go as he walked in through the door and out of the cold. It was a very cold day, the air frigid and unforgiving. He took a sip of his coffee and a moment later the door opened. The first person who entered he didn't recognize but the second was Nathan. The fox came in apparently in a hurry realizing he was a bit late. Nathan quickly looked around the café and saw Leon. Leon smiled which made Nathan feel a little bit better. He rattled off his order to Gabe very quickly and walked to the table and sat down. He wore a blue wool coat that looked a little big on him with a tan crew cut sweater and blue jeans. He smiled as he took off his coat and laid it over the back of his chair. He had a very warm smile, an honest one that Leon found appreciable. Leon wondered what Nathan thought of his smile. "Im sorry I'm late" the fox blurted out quickly "I got caught up with something".
"Oh don't worry about it, its fine" Leon smiled again, only there was an obvious hint of apprehension in it due to his self consciousness. Just before Nathan could notice, Gabe grabbed his attention by calling him over. Leon suddenly realized how nervous he actually was. What most worried him was that he still didn't have anything to talk about. He straightened up a little in his chair and tried to relax as the fox came back to the table with his coffee. Leon noticed his hand was a bit big compared to the rest of him. He seemed like he might have been the artistic type, maybe he played an instrument. Leon wondered whether that was good to start with but he quickly dismissed it as silly to talk about the vulpine's hands. They both smiled and then fell silent for a moment, both trying to think of something to say. Nathan briefly surveyed Leon in this silence as Leon turned his attention to his coffee not desiring to meet Nathan's gaze for too long. Nathan thought he looked handsome with nice blue eyes that seemed soft and kind. Leon's big perky ears were also fairly cute. Nathan's tail swished, happy to study his date more closely if only for a moment. He seemed to dress nicely too. But no matter how Nathan studied him there was something about him that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It had something to do with how he held himself, in the way that he spoke and lifted the cup to his lips. After what seemed far to long a silence to Leon, the wolf finally found words. "Do you always take your coffee black?"
If only coffee were the key to any good conversation starter, then no one would have ever gone on a boring date. Maybe Leon was just lucky that Nathan was a good conversationalist, or maybe this seemingly pathetic comment was just a fortunate stab in the dark, either way it had made the fox chuckle which must have meant something. Nathan was an articulate young man in his early twenties, and as the conversation began to pick up after his warming laugh, Leon saw him almost as sort of an enigma, a strange occurrence in the universe which only happens to fools who stay in their own little bubble far too long only to have it shattered by a smile and a cup of coffee. Still the vulpine's age had come as a bit of a surprise to Leon. Naturally they ended up talking about books as they both loved to read, Nathan in more ways than one. He had a quick and keen gaze that gave away nothing while he examined someone, deducing who they were and what they were about. They spoke of ideas and desires they had, ambitions like stories long forgotten, never quite reaching the page in time as they floated out of their skulls and into the atmosphere. They allowed for silence when needed, a silence that felt awkward but wasn't, time enough to gather thoughts as other things were said through gestures and subtle nuances. A smile or a shifting of gaze was more than plenty. It was Nathan's gaze that most captivated Leon, while at the same time was the thing which bothered him the most. Not in the traditional sense of how one gets bothered when being looked at, but a different kind of bothered. One that was present in the back of his mind which made him feel a bit nervous but at the same time drew his attention like a melody long forgotten. The eyes were strangely fixating, it was not a gaze that made him want to turn away but meet them instead. Leon wanted to study them, not to understand them but to write about them, and every time he looked at those eyes he suddenly remembered where he was and who he was talking to and why. It was strange to him. He was ever so gradually coming to the realization that he wasn't bothered that the eyes he was looking into were the eyes of a young man and not of a lady. It wasn't just his eyes which demanded such attention but other features as well. The young fox's cheeks were soft and defined, his lips moved gently almost with care as he spoke. His fur was well kept almost to the point where it embarrassed Leon in comparison, his ears stood tall upon his head as they twitched now and again catching sounds. On his right cheek just slightly under his eye was the smallest bit of brown fur which stood out against the white fur which surrounded it. Epiphany had struck the wolf when he found it hard to stop looking, and as he took another sip of his coffee Leon came to terms with something he either must have buried deep inside himself when he was younger or was simply to ignorant to realize. He thought the fox was handsome, but even more strangely he knew he was attracted to him. Leon's chest burned and his head felt light. Fear had swelled up inside him as he battled with a seemingly new demon.
When Nathan stood to get another cup of coffee, an investment of further conversation, Leon reflected on how he felt, though not necessarily wanting to devote too much time to them. His conviction was not to hurt him, nor give him any wrong impression, as he faced his own conflict. But was that assuming too much? Everything was going well, so well he felt nervous that he would blunder at some point. He thought of Martha for a moment and almost immediately felt pathetic. Had it been so long since he had probed a mind so much like his own that he felt more than just being cordial in his conversation? That was difference he liked so much, they spoke naturally to each other without much inkling to what they would say next, only taking a moment to think when they were silent, pondering and speaking through gesture. They sat there for hours, losing track of time, but before long Nathan had to leave for work. They parted with a smile, Nathan asking if they could meet up again sometime soon which lifted Leon's spirits tremendously as he replied that they would assuredly. Nathan pressed to Leon in a long warm hug, the fox's chin gently resting for a brief moment on his shoulder. The wolf hadn't quite expected the embrace and it and he flushed a little as he returned it not being able to help but smile. After Nathan left, Leon went to the counter to get his third (fourth?) cup of coffee. Gabe was there grinning ear to ear as he leaned against the counter as he smugly examined the expression on Leon's face. From that expression Gabe could tell that it went well. Leon's smile gave all too much away. But after a moment and before either the otter or the wolf spoke to each other, Gabe's smug grin faded to a frown when he noticed something was wrong. Leon was smiling, but still, something wasn't quite right.