Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Once more... with Passion. ❯ La ragazza che ha lucidato con vita ( Chapter 3 )

He proceeded through the gate into the busy platform decks, where the train's stop like impatient children, shortly after screech out, and run off again. He checked the clock the same as he had done too often in the time he had spent in the station. He had about an hour to burn. There was a small sandwich shop and Daniel's mouth salivated. He felt his pocket to make sure his money was still safely stashed inside, then wheeled his belongings over and through the door of the crowded cafe.

 

The din hit him in his gut. He didn't think anywhere could get much louder than the crowded station but the small restaurant truly shocked him. The room was smaller than he had expected and absolutely packed with people. He had to use his elbows to get anywhere in the place. There was a melting pot of impatient travelers waiting in the line: toe tapping businessmen shouting into cell phones and parents trying to quiet rambunctious children, people sitting at the cramped tables scarfing down their food quickly, lest they risk the wrath of the other customers vying for the limited space.

 

The kitchen whistled and shouted with the cries of machinery and staff alike. Orders were transformed from English to a strange code by the wait staff. Pancakes with maple syrup became 'Roswell and amber', a ham and roast beef sandwich was a 'rabbi crux'. Beverages all had female names, Lucy, Sally, Andrea, Holly, Erika, and Stephanie were the few Daniel picked up over the span of a minute or so. Though he had stood by the doorway he quickly realized how bad of an idea this was. With the rush of people going out and the rush of people replacing them he found both he and his belonging's were continuously jostled this way and that. He moved himself out of the way as quick as he could and found himself jammed up against the wall.

 

Daniel remained in this safer, if not tremendously more uncomfortable, position for a while. People generally took much less notice of him this way and he found if he stayed over to the side he could still inch his way up through the line. using this method he slowly but surely, with much contortion, got his body up to the ordering window.

 

"Whaduyull have sonny?" the pudgy woman behind the counter asked him, fingers tapping on the edge.

 

What was he going to get? All that time in line he had been so preoccupied by getting to the front and blocking out the din he hadn't thought of what he was going to order. "Um... I'll have a tea please."

 

"Confuisous says: person who drinks too much tea, has too much time!" She shouted back to the cooks. A thumbs up came over the wall separating the main room from the kitchen. "Anything else?"

 

"A muffin. Blueberry."

 

"We're all outta blueberry."

 

"All right then, chocolate chip."

 

"'Fraid not."

 

"What do you have?"

 

The cashier stooped over and peered under the counter. After a moment she popped up and said, "Bran." Daniel hated bran muffins.

 

"Well how about a danish?

 

"Just sold the last danish to the gentleman in front of you, sorry." She snapped her gum impatiently and he could hear people rumbling behind him.

 

His tea arrived and he was getting frustrated. He'd have to get something on the train, "Okay, maybe I'll just have the tea."

 

"Smart lad. That'll come to," she punched some numbers into the register, "$4.12 with tax. Have a nice day." It was the sort of have a nice day that you knew was repeated so often it lost its authenticity. He handed her his money and grabbed his tea, now needing to find an open seat.

 

The tea was served in an open topped ceramic mug like one you would sip out of coming out of a frosty cold. It was a pleasant touch a quotation by the Roman Seneca was wrapped around the rim. 'A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.' it read. Fitting, Daniel thought. He carefully balanced the cup in his hand while lugging the rest of his things behind him. The first few empty seats were met by shaking heads from the patrons already seated. As he felt his chances fall, a voice pierced the din.

 

"Hey you, coffee boy! Have a seat over here!" Daniel swung around trying to locate the source of the voice. A pair of waving arms caught his attention and he slowly found his way to the open seat. He dropped his suitcase with a clatter, but carefully set his violin next to him and sat down. He looked across the table and found he was staring into the gleaming white teeth of a small oriental girl eating a very large omelet. Her long straight black hair fell around simple attire and an instrument case was propped up next to her.

 

"So coffee boy, where are you headed to with all that stuff?" She asked, her voice pleasantly high.

 

"Um, its tea actually and I'm going out to uh, MarrisOak, it's out in New York somewhere. Have you heard of it?"

 

She giggled "Heard of it? I'm going there too! Are you excited? Cause personally I'm really, really, excited."

 

"Yeah I'm um, definitely excited." He responded.

 

"Really?" She cocked her head. " You don't sound very enthusiastic to me. If you were really excited you'd scream it out loud like this: I'M REALLY EXCITED TO GO ON THIS AWESOME TRIP!" Daniel sunk down to the table in embarrassment. The girl simply grinned, reached over the table, and pulled his head up to meet hers by his chin. Her hands were cold but soft. She retracted her hand and took another bite of her omelet like it was no big deal. On the contrary it was a very big deal for Daniel who had no physical experience with girls outside of the occasional peck on the cheek from his mother. He blushed furiously and was glad she didn't notice.

 

"So what's your um, name?" He asked

 

"Mrgy Ndgr-," a swallow of food, "My Name is Laura. Well, technically its Xiang Li, but most everyone calls me Laura. And how about you coffee boy, what's your name?"

 

"Um, its tea actually."

 

"Coffee, tea, what the heck's the difference? Geez Louise!" She reached across the table and ruffled his hair like he was her little brother. This girl made him uncomfortable, and did she just say jeez louise?

 

He readjusted his now messy hair and finally overcame his shock enough to manage, "Daniel. My name is Daniel."

 

"So Danny what's bringing you to MarrisOak?" He winced, no one had ever called him Danny. It sounded so... condescending to him.

 

"Um... talent?" He responded caught off guard.

 

"No, no, no." She sighed impatiently. "Why are you going to MarrisOak?" She folded her hands under her chin and leveled her gaze at him inquisitively. It would be a ridiculous gesture if preformed by most people, like the line 'tell me about your father' in the thick Freud accent, but it seemed surprisingly honest from Laura.

 

"Well, I wanted to be normal. You know part of the gang, around people who share common interests."

 

"Phff! Boring! Why do you want to be normal?"

 

Who does she think she is, my psychologist, he thought annoyed; but he found himself answering her question, "wha-, Are, are, you kidding me? You can't be... Who doesn't want to be normal. That's like every single person's goal ever!"

 

"Well I don't." She said firmly. "'Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist'"

 

Emerson. She's quoting Emerson now! Who in the-, girl's her age should be talking about make-up and boys and, girl stuff, not 1800's literary figures!

 

"Whoso wishes to stay alive in high school shall conform." He retorted back.

 

She laughed, "I can't place the poet that said that one. Could you maybe refresh my memory?"

 

"Daniel Mecwitz, 'From the top of my head' " Maybe a joke can let me off the hook this time, he thought. Okay, a bad joke, but hey!

 

She threw her head back and laughed again. She was still smiling when she looked into his eyes again. "So why did you pick MarrisOak?"

 

"I don't know, it was kinda the first one I looked at." What a lame answer! You're going to bore her, God, you're so bad at this!

 

"Danny, you can't just go someplace for that reason, there had to be something that pulled you there. It was destiny!" She told him.

 

"Why not? Why are you going there?"

 

"The apple blossom trees!"

 

"The apple blossom trees?"

 

"Mhmm. I heard they're really incredibly beautiful in the spring. The perfect setting for a girl to have her heart whisked away by a dashing suitor."" She sighed, Daniel wasn't sure if it was mock or not.

 

Well, there was femininity in the girl yet, "Why makes you think apple blossoms are more important then normalcy?" He demanded

 

She chewed her lip for a moment before exclaiming, "Romance novels! They've warped my mind."

 

"Really?"

 

She thought about this longer than before, "I'm not sure." She at last responded with no finality whatsoever. "Hmm, you're cute when you're angry!"

 

You're not su- Wait, I'm cute when I'm what?!

 

"See ya on the train Danny!"

 

He looked up and she was gone. "Yeah, see ya..."

 

He remained there and sipped on his tea for a while. Does she really... or was it just another joke?

 

What a weird girl.