Black and White Ch. 01

He was sitting outside the coffee shop, sipping a hot drink and people watching. It wasn't the greatest place for that, being basically a concrete patio across from a gas station at a strip mall development, but it was better than nothing. There was reading for school, and a few other things, but right now he just wanted a cleared mind and to just watch. It was a lovely night, perfect, not too windy, not too cool, and not buggy at all. It was beautiful out.

Cars pulled in and out of the small parking lot, some for the coffee shop, some for the chain pseudo-hip takeout place next door. It seemed to split by sex: women at the coffee shop, men to the restaurant. He idly watched some of the women going to the coffee shop; some of them were really nice. The weather helped with a decent show of skin.

His coffee was about gone, and he made the decision to refill it despite the late-ish time, risking sleep problems for the quiet enjoyment he was having. He had school tomorrow, and the first class was some remedial thing filled with kids, not the returning adults like himself, and it wasn't usually anything intense. He got up and walked in to chat with the musician kid at the counter and get his refill.

The cup was refilled and the casual conversation was over, and he was headed back out, when a woman wearing a startling pink hoodie came in. Actually, she more stormed in than anything, looking frustrated and annoyed, banging the door as she came in. He made eye contact in passing, and recognized her as someone he knew fairly well. She was in several of his classes, and he'd had her in small groups and in a study group. He racked his brain quickly for a name, (he was bad with names) and then remembered:

"Aviva."

She stopped, turned, looked him square in the face, and said his name instantly: "Lee?"

He sort of raised his coffee cup and made a gesture of greeting, then continued outside. He watched her make a purchase of a cup of something and a cookie, and noted she looked totally irritated. She paid and stomped back toward the door, banging it open again on exiting. She stopped suddenly when she reached open air, looked around and located him, and strode over to his table.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" she asked.

He waved at the other chair, and she plopped down with a huffing sound. She unwrapped the cookie and ate it in three or four bites while crumpling the crinkly paper with her free hand. He studied her a little more, and mentally compared her to his ex-wife. His wife had been slender and tall, almost skinny sometimes, and had long, dark hair. Aviva was short, had short brown hair with some swoopy cut that swung in front of her eyes all the time, and was of nearly completely average appearance. Average. She was overweight by about an average amount, had an average figure, kind of average height; she wasn't really attractive, but not horrible-looking either, just... average. He remembered her better now, and she was usually nice and pleasant, if a bit loud. He'd had several conversations with her of a completely friendly nature, and that, he guessed, was average too.

He remembered something else, too, and decided on a conversation topic. "How's your son?" She had a boy from some other relationship, but he knew she was single now.

She made a face. "He's off at my aunt's for a weekend sleepover with a bunch of other kids. He's having a ball. He hasn't called or anything."

The ice broken, Lee made small talk, about school, the weather, etcetera, while Aviva made noncommittal, almost grunting responses, mixed with short comments of a crabby nature. At one point she closed her eyes and rested her head on an open palm, elbow propped on the table, sipping her drink straw out of the corner of her mouth. He was starting to get a little annoyed with the pathetic state of the company, and turned to people watch some more, preparing to ignore her, but before he wrote it off he asked, "What's up that you're in such a bad mood?"

She placed her cup carefully away from her, folded her arms and leaned forward on them, cradling her average-sized breasts in her forearms, and sighed in a deeply frustrated manner. She followed that with the statement, "I'm horny and frustrated."

Lee wasn't quite sure what to make of that, so he turned sideways a little, involuntarily wondering if anyone else had heard her say that, and when he turned back she was waiting, face to him, almost glaring.

"And it's PISSING ME OFF," she said.

He paused, then responded, "Oh," and instantly felt stupid.

Aviva kept glaring at him. After a while, she went on. "I made one booty call and that guy's hooked up now, or I can go home, which isn't the same thing, or I could go out to the bars and hope for the best with some dummy for a one-nighter, which I think is fucking irresponsible." She ground her teeth. "My son is safe and at his aunt's, I got the whole frigging weekend, and I'm horny and it's pissing me off!" She turned on Lee again, glaring.

They sat in loaded silence for a while, watching people go by, in and out, clutching sacks, some alone, some coupled, some with kids.

Aviva finally said, "What about you? You seeing anybody?" She thought for a minute, rolling her eyes up, thinking. "You're divorced, or separated, or something, right? You're single?"

Surprised, Lee said, "Well, yeah, I'm single, pretty much."

"Pretty much what? You are or you aren't."

"Well, we're legally separated, but we can't get divorced for another three months. State law. So..."

Aviva said, "Who left? Her or you?"

He sat back, a little disturbed. "She did."

His newly-found companion stated bluntly, "Give it up. She's not coming back. When a guy leaves there's a chance, but when the chick walks out, that's it. Give it up." She swiveled her head back and forth, and her hair swished around her face. "What are you up to tonight? Don't tell me you're busy."

He shook his head. "I'm not."

"Then let's get it on. Let's go. You seem nice enough."

He was genuinely taken aback. "Are you serious? Just like that?"

Aviva said, "Sure, why not? You're clean, right? So let's go, I've got condoms. My place is close."

He stared.

She huffed in frustration. "Come on, you're not going to pass up a free fuck!"

Lee sat silently, thinking, honestly, about his separated wife, feeling conflicted. Aviva moved her chair back and made an expression of incredulity. "You're kidding!" She waited, then said, "You're a dumbass."

He got offended. "That's pretty rude."

Aviva got up, and he thought she was walking away, but she stood in one spot, fished in a front pocket and produced a phone. "I'm going to make a call," she said, and pointed an average finger at his chest. "Stay put." She walked slightly outside of hearing range, near the parking lot, and talked animatedly for a minute or two. She returned, snapping the device shut and reinserting it in her pocket. "Okay," she said, "Here it is. I'll sweeten the deal. I called my sister, she'll come over, and you can do us both." The frustrated single mother propped a hand on a hip. "Don't tell me you're going to pass that up."

Lee leaned forward, unprepared for the new offer, mouth open.

Aviva looked down at him and said, "Well? You in?"

He tried to think, maybe he should ask what her sister looked like, or something, but thought in that same split-second she was likely average too, and gave it up. Trying to be cool he made his decision and said, "Yeah."

Except he couldn't help it, and his cool-guy 'Yeah' came out more like, "Dyuh-huh."