I had to explain all this to my mom and she looked worried but said she understood and that she would not miss me at all but would sit down and watch a rerun of Grey’s Anatomy on television even though all that blood in the hospital scenes gave her nightmares sometimes. But that I should go out and have fun on my date, only not be out too long and don’t let that girl get me into any trouble.
What kind of trouble? I asked.
Trouble trouble, she said.
So I didn’t say another word, but was wondering if Coffee Coffee was going to be trouble trouble. And I didn’t know if that would be something that I liked or not. So I figured I would just
have to wait and see.
It was a dark night
but warm
with a moon
coming up
like the one
I used to watch
back
in my community
in the woods.
As I walked, I
heard the sound of the phone line
after Caitlan had hung up.
It was an empty sound
and it created a space
where I could fill
in a lot of ideas I had.
Really nice ones.
Coffee Coffee was right where it was supposed to be.
Caitlan was inside
and looked prettier
than she did in school.
She sat alone
and when I walked up to her
she stood up and hugged me
and kissed me
on the cheek.
Everyone there watched
as my cheeks turned red.
I’ll buy you something, she said.
What will it be?
I shrugged. I didn’t really drink coffee but didn’t want to sound like a dweeb. Coffee, I said.
She laughed. Two coffees it is.