Noelle’s eyes darted across the pages as she read from her book. She had been meaning to finish The Queen’s Sorrow for some time now, and Noelle took this time to read it while she waited. The story was about a young couple who had been together since high school, and they have been married for almost three years now. But the wife soon realizes that her husband has been cheating on her and she is torn about how to handle the situation. Noelle was reading the final pages of the book now, and she had a good idea of what the wife was going to do.
Noelle’s attention was pulled away from her book and she looked up to see her boyfriend, Jake, smiling down at her. “I hope I’m not too late. I know you hate that.”
Noelle’s voice was low, and she enunciated every word as if she was a robot disguised as a human. “Do not worry. You are uncharacteristically on time for once. I am impressed.”
“Yeah, well...I thought it was a little “uncharacteristic” of you to call me out of the blue like this. And to meet up at Bean’s of all places.”
Bean’s Café was small hangout for teenagers and college students. The color scheme of the place, which consisted of browns and greens, gave the café a sort of earthly look, especially with the various plants that were set onto each table. There were only about four tables inside with three booths sitting on the back wall, but the outside area was much bigger than the inside. Plenty of tables surrounded Bean’s and they each had an umbrella set on top of them to shield the customers from the sunlight. Noelle chose one of the outside tables to sit on because she did not like how crowded it felt inside. “Why is Bean’s a strange choice for a meeting, Jake?”
“It’s not strange, but I thought you didn’t like this place.”
“I never said that. I said I do not like their coffee. Their tea on the other hand—” Noelle grabbed the small white teacup that sat on the table and took a sip from it. When she set the cup back down, she looked back to Jake. “Is quite excellent. You should try it.”
Just as he picked up the menu to see what he wanted to order, a blonde waitress walked up to the table with a cup of Earl Grey tea and a small plate with a croissant on it. She quickly set the items onto the table and smiled briefly at Noelle and Jake before taking her leave. Noelle motioned her hand towards the tea and croissant. “I took the liberty of ordering for you. I hope that is alright.”
Jake shrugged, but he continued to smile at his girlfriend. “Yeah, no problem.” Grabbing his teacup, Jake took a sip of the drink and then set the cup back onto the table, a frown quickly replacing his smile due to the taste of the tea. Noelle arched a brow when she saw her boyfriend’s expression.
“No, no. It’s just, um...I guess tea’s an acquired taste.” Jake chuckled as he grabbed the croissant and started to eat. The taste of the buttery bread immediately overwhelmed the terrible tea flavor and that brought a smile back to Jake’s face. “Sorry, El. Tea’s just not my thing. But I....I have a feeling you didn’t call me out here to talk about tea. Am I right?”
Noelle looked down at her book that was still open on the table and closed it. She then placed the book in her leather satchel, which was hanging on the back of her chair. “Yes. I needed to speak with you about something. Something urgent.”
“I thought so. Well, what’s on your mind?”
“This.” With her hand still in the bag, Noelle grasped onto a manilla envelope and threw it on the table. “Care to explain?”
Frowning, Jake hesitantly took the envelope and opened it. He reached inside and pulled out what appeared to be photos. But his eyes widened once he realized what the photos showed. “What the ****?”
“I believe that is my line.”
Jake looked up from the photos and just by looking into her eyes, he could tell that Noelle was mad. No. “Mad” was not the right word for what Noelle was feeling right now. She was absolutely pissed, and Jake knew it. But he could not blame his girlfriend for being upset after what he saw in the envelope. Jake sighed. “Look, El—”
“Stop calling me that.” Noelle’s voice came out low and cold, which was unsettling to Jake. She was usually so calm and collected, but in this moment, Noelle was not in the “calm and collected” mood. This time, she was going to let Jake know exactly how she felt. “The only people who get to call me “El” are those I trust, and right now...you are the last person I trust.”
“Come on. Don’t be like that.”
“No, you have no right to say that. Did we not look at the same photos in that envelope? Look again, Jake. What do you see?”
“Look. At. The. Pictures.”
Not wanting to anger Noelle any further, Jake looked down at the photos that were now sprawled out on the table. Noelle then asked her question again. “What do you see, Jake?”
“I...I see me holding hands with a woman.”
“I see me walking into a hotel with a woman.”
“I... Noelle, please. I get it, okay? I get it, and I’m sorry.”
“You are sorry? That is it!?” Noelle’s began to rise and it caught the attention of a few customers that were sitting close by. Jake noticed this, and he immediately felt uncomfortable by the staring.
“Noelle, can we please go somewhere else and talk about this? We’re making a scene.”
“So, I am an embarrassment to you after all!?”
“Then what is it!? What did I do that was so bad that you felt the need to cheat on me!?”
Panicking, Jake quickly grabbed Noelle’s arm along with the pictures on the table and dragged her out of the café, the eyes of the other guests following them as they left. Jake led Noelle to his grey Saturn, which was parked in a vacant lot close to Bean’s. Jake was glad that now he and Noelle could talk privately about such a sensitive subject, but he was mad that his girlfriend, or probably ex-girlfriend, would make the matter public like that. “Why would you do that, Noelle!? I’m more than willing to talk about what’s been going on, but there was no need to make a scene like that!”
Noelle scoffed at Jake’s outburst. “What, you are worried that people will find out just how much of a ******* you are?”
“*********, Noelle, let me explain!”
“Fine, but it will not change anything! As soon as this conversation is over, I want you out of my life!”
“That’s fine by me! Because I’m done with you, Noelle!” Jake raked a hand furiously through his dark hair and glared at Noelle as he continued. “You wanna know why I cheated on you!? Just so you know, it’s your fault!”
“My fault!?” Noelle’s voice cracked as she yelled at Jake. “How is this my fault!?”
“You such a **** perfectionist, you know that!? You get mad at me for being a minute late for a date! Our dates aren’t “appointments”, Noelle! And you’re always nagging me about stupid things, and you yell at me when I forget to do some chores!”
“It is not that you forget! You simply refuse to do anything around the house! There are always clothes littering the floor, you never do the dishes, and you cannot be bothered to take out that trash!” Noelle threw her hands into the air in exasperation. “The trash, Jake! And yes, I do be annoyed when you are late for our dates. But that is because you are always over an hour late and you do not even call me to give me a heads up!” Letting her arms fall back to her sides, Noelle looked to the ground and shook her head. “For all I know...you could have been dead.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “See!? Nagging! At least Christie doesn’t criticize everything I do!”
Noelle froze. “Christie?” She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. “That is her name, huh? Well, I hope “Christie” knows that she just destroyed a relationship! You know, maybe you two are perfect for each other after all!”
“Maybe we are! I’m so sorry that I didn’t live up to your standards!”
“And I am sorry that I thought you had any to begin with!”
An awkward silence passed between Noelle and Jake, and they just glared at one another. After a moment passed, Jake took a deep breath and decided that he needed to break the silence. “Look, Noelle. For what it’s worth, I really am sorry. I know I probably should have broken up with you first, but I guess a part of me still loved you.”
“So... has that changed?”
“...Yeah. I’m sorry, Noelle. I just can’t be with you anymore.”
Noelle nodded. “Very well.” She looked down at the manilla envelope that Jake held in his hand. “You can do whatever you want with those. Not like I need them.”
Jake then looked to the envelope as well and his grip on it tightened. “Okay.” Walking to the driver’s side of his car, Jake opened the door and got inside. “Need me to drop you off anywhere?”
Noelle shook her head. “I would rather walk, thank you.”
“Yeah. Thought you’d say no. By the way—” Jake nodded his head to Noelle’s satchel. “They get back together.”
Noelle frowned, confused by Jake’s statement. “Excuse me?”
“The couple in your book. The Queen’s Sorrow. They got back together. Turns out it was all some big misunderstanding on the wife’s part. A nice, happy ending though.” Jake let out a dry laugh and turned away from Noelle. “But I guess not all stories can have such happy endings, right?”
“...I suppose not.” Noelle mumbled to herself as she watched Jake pull out his parking space and enter the busy streets, soon disappearing within the heavy traffic.