Betray The Ill

The next day was warm and pleasant. Right after work, Roma left the office and headed straight to a small coffee shop that sat only a short walking distance away. She had found out about the spot because it was a common thing for employees of her company to be there on break. The cafe had much better coffee than could be found in their offices.

Roma had made the foolish mistake of letting Kassy know of the date and her friend could hardly focus on her work all day. Kassy would be staring at Roma with a goofy smile on her face for several minutes at a time before explaining a new piece of fantasy romance she had thought up for the date. More than once Hadiya had come in to try and get Kassy to work, but the boss too shared a curiosity when the information was blabbed. It had been an embarrassing day in the office.

There was a fair amount of people at the cafe that late afternoon. Hadiya had shooed Roma out of the office an hour early so there would be breathing room. Roma had set the time only just after her regular shift, leaving very little time for the unforeseen. It was an unexpected moment of rest that Roma found herself in. Unexpected but welcome.

There were a couple women in suits that could have been from her workplace. They sat at an outside table as she did, laughing and talking very enthusiastically about some television show. Only four tables sat outside of the cafe. Given the shop was a small hole in the wall surrounded by giant business, they had very seating at all and were most popular with takeout crowds.

Roma's table had her sitting next to the front windows of the cafe to the right of the door. She watched people exit with their coffee and quietly enjoyed a guessing game about their lives. The cars racing by on the street and the talking of the people at the tables and the sidewalk created welcome noise. Roma felt that she could easily remain invisible in the chaos.

It had been a half hour in front of the cafe, but it wasn't unpleasant. Roma's coffee still held an acceptable temperature in the throwaway cup, although she had almost forgotten to drink it as she let her mind wander.

"Well, well," a familiar voice said. "What are you doing here?"

Before Roma could find the owner of the voice, Anaiese sat down on the opposite and only chair to her table. She smiled big at Roma and leaned in, showing cleavage from an unbuttoned jacket and shirt. What a terrible risk the little coffee shop had been.

"I've never seen you here before," Anaiese said, looking as sly as ever. "What's the occasion?"

"I just wanted coffee," Roma answered, trying to sound genuine. "I knew people from the office came here so I was curious."

"Yeah, this is a pretty good little place," Anaiese said, eyeballing Roma obviously. "I come here most days and see if there's any bombshells in the crowd. Speaking of which, if you're still here after I order I'll sit and bother you. Don't drink too fast, babe."

"Oh, but-" Roma said, but she wasn't heard as Anaiese quickly left her.

Roma was in a panic. There was still thirty minutes left before the date was scheduled, but if Anaiese was around when Colleen came it would be nothing but trouble. The second Anaiese disappeared into the cafe, Roma nearly leapt from her seat and began walking briskly down the sidewalk. With a few swipes of her phone she called Colleen and every ring that passed was torturous.

'Please, pick up. Don't make it to the cafe yet.'

Over and over the phone rang as she hurried along the busy sidewalk. The fear of her date and aggressive work acquaintance meeting was like knives in her c.h.e.s.t. Anaiese was a predator and poor Colleen felt like easy prey. Roma silently cursed at herself for being so idiotic and dragging a girl into her hectic life. Why had she been so foolish? She didn't need to go on dates!

'Why won't she answer!'

With no attention given to where she was going, Roma walked right into someone. The sting of the person's head hitting the right of her jaw stunned Roma and she lost her phone as she staggered backward. As she regained her wits she felt overwhelming joy wash over her as she saw who she collided with.

Standing there with a cute blue cardigan over a white dress of yellow flowers, was Colleen. She looked gorgeous from her long ponytail all the way down to her black slip-ons.

"I hope this outfit looks all right," Colleen nervously said, rubbing her forehead. "Oh, and I caught your phone. I was digging through my mess of a purse and couldn't find mine to answer your call, sorry."

Roma rubbed her jaw and smiled warmly at her date.

"Is everything okay?" Colleen asked.

"You look perfect," Roma replied with a little laugh.

Colleen's freckled face became consumed with red and she tried hard to not stammer and blurt out something stupid.

'This girl makes me talk without thinking!'