Summer Tunes

It was a Wednesday. A rather unmemorable day. Considering it started to sprinkle, just a bit before it let up again. As expected in a landlocked desert. Through the tainted glasses, everything she saw was in permanent sunset. Even the gray skies were a shade of orange.

Just past 7:30 p.m., she was running late as usual. She couldn't find files for her office. Now, two and a half hours after closing, she was finally on the way to the train. Passing by people that were on their way to the theater, dressed up to impress their dates, their parents, their friends, and anyone that would glance their way. Jeanne was no different.

Skirts fluttering about, gentlemen holding on to their ladies' hand as they ran across the red traffic light. Just for a moment, Jeanne removed the ear buds from her ears to listen. The local restaurants were bustling with laughter and the clinking of silverware. A pianist has set up in hopes to catch a few curious passerby and spare change. At the sound of the trains, she continued her way to the train station. Her train wasn't coming for another twelve minutes, meaning that she had just missed her train.

Sitting on a bench, she watched as people came and go. She couldn't hear them, all she heard were the stories of a wistful man wishing for time to turn back in a language that she doesn't understand. But she did. For some reason she looked up just in time to see a stranger approached her.

He had a gentle smile that stood out under a trimmed beard. Luckily, his dark sunglasses were on his head so that she could catch bright blue eyes. He motion as if to ask if he could share the bench. A smile was returned with a nod.

Does that make him an acquaintance?

Another train passed. It wasn't his. Instead, he took out his book, flip though it for a moment before opening it to the end of the introduction. Jeanne couldn't help but noticed the book had rounded corners and the first chapter was called “Architecture in the Ecology Age”.

The next one was hers. It was also his.

Getting on the same car, she sat down, trying to cast a glance at where the handsome acquaintance was. He took the seat behind her. From the reflection, she can see him bent over the book, the way that the song says he's quiet but great company over a mellow summer. She caught his eyes as his mouth was saying something, she removed the ear bud.

“...what are you smiling...?”

A hand went to her mouth. She was smiling.

“If you're good company over mellow summer.”

“I hope so.”

“There's a coffee shop I adore at the next stop.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you always invite strangers on coffee dates?”

“No, we're acquaintances.”

“I don't recall an introduction.”

“I recall an agreement to sharing a bench. I don't see why we can't share a table with coffee.”

“....You're so strange. But I do enjoy the local music at RM.”

Her lips part again, she started to laugh. “Does that mean you'll join me at the RM?”

“Yes.”

At the right stop, the pair of acquaintances walked to the RM coffee shop. It's smaller than the large franchises around the town. The place was filled with two people in addition to them and a girl with a guitar. A cup of steamer and lemon tea was on a table between.

Jeanne later learn that his name was Adrian. He was a graduate student in the same building she works at. He was in school for three years longer than her and hopes to work in Hong Kong. He learned she was still trying to get a steady job in an engineering firm. They left the RM as friends. No numbers were exchange, no email nor social networks.

The next day they took the same train.