Coffee Shop Crossroads

Before, my world crumbled all around me because my ex-girlfriend betrayed me for a middle aged corporate hussy. Now, just when things seemed completely hopeless, a bright light cut through the gloom of my life and helped to fix my bruised and broken heart. I have risen again like a phoenix and there is only one reason for that. A beautiful stranger named Nami stopped to help someone that she had never seen before. I don't know what would motivate such an act of kindness from a stranger, but I intend to find out what that reason is. It is because of this angel that I have not hid myself in a hole somewhere.

That is why I am sitting in this simple coffee shop with a short haired blonde beauty. The tables are round and there is a red table cloth over each one. Each table has two chairs and I can hear soothing music coming from an unknown place. I am sipping tea from a cup made out of bone china and there is a saucer holding some kind of cake on the table. I look at Nami sitting in front of me and I just know that she is going to ask me to unburden my soul. I know that it is going to hurt to open myself up right now.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nami asks which causes me to blink painfully. "It might help to get your problem out into the open."

I do not know why I needed to tell Nami all of my problems so badly even though she was a complete stranger. Maybe it was so easy to talk to her because she was so pretty. It could have been the friendly look in the blonde's eyes that made me open up to her. It could have been the elegant way she was dressed. Maybe it was so much easier to talk to the girl because I had never seen her before. For whatever reason, I felt that I absolutely had to share my problem with Nami. I felt that I would explode if I didn't tell my story to someone.

I started with the stupid way that I became so attracted to someone I didn't even know. As I continued my story, I could tell by the way my new friend was looking at me that she was completely interested in what I had to say. I even told the girl about the sexual things that I did with Rei. That is something I usually would not do since I think that sex is an extremely personal thing. I think that it is extremely vulgar when someone brags about their sexual exploits to their friends just to get attention. Despite all of these things, I couldn't stop myself. It is as if someone turned a valve on my heart causing every single one of my feelings to come gushing out. I became wistful about the way she had fallen asleep on my shoulder at the movie theater. A tear escaped my eyes when I got to the painful part of my story where Rei had cheated on me. Nami squeezed my hand in hers to make me feel better which probably stopped a whole deluge of tears from coming. The warmth of her hand made me pause my story for a moment.

"I am so sorry," Nami said with sympathetic eyes. "It really hurts when someone who you think is genuine turns out to be fake."

"It happens, I guess," I let out with a sigh while slurping some of my tea. "I guess I have only myself to blame for this mess."

"Why would you say that?" Nami wondered.

"I let myself get involved with someone before finding out anything about her," I explained while glancing down at my cake. "I let myself become sexually involved with Rei much too soon. It was really stupid of me."

"Overanxious maybe, but I wouldn't say it was stupid," Nami debated. "Sometimes love hits and you can't do anything about it."

"Talking about this with you has helped me to feel better," I said. "I was actually thinking about leaving school, but I think that I will go back tomorrow thanks to you."

Nami patted my shoulder and gave me part of her motivation for helping me.

"No problem since I am off work today. My job keeps me busy so I don't always get to socialize as much as I want."

I was really starting to get happy, but something happened to knock the wind right out of my body. I unfortunately picked that precise second to look out of the front window of the coffee shop. It was unfortunate because I saw that same corporate clown that Rei had cheated on me with walking by outside. A mixture of anger and depression made me go numb for a second which Nami must have noticed.

"What's wrong?" Nami pressed.

"It's... It's h-her," I stuttered in disbelief. Why did that tramp have to show up now of all times?

"Huh?" Nami questioned while she turned around to see what the problem was.

"That is the woman Rei was with!" I gasped while pointing with my right arm.

"Wait, you were dating Rei Yukimura?" Nami asked with a demanding tone.

"Do you know Rei?" I asked in shock.

"Yes, I know Rei and unfortunately I also know that woman outside. I shouldn't talk about this, but let me tell you about her. To begin with, Rei is homeless. Her parents abused her so ran away two years ago. That is how Yuri Ito was able to suck her into her web of lies. Yuri is a sex addict who uses troubled girls for her pleasures. She calls on one of them when she needs a fix. If they don't answer then they don't get paid. Yuri abuses the girls mentally so they don't think that they can exist away from her. I know this because I used to be one of that awful woman's playthings until I got tired of being treated like garbage. That is when I left to join a modeling company."

I was so shocked by Nami's revelation that I could do nothing but sit back in my seat with a glazed expression on my face. It took quite a while before I was finally able to speak.

"Is this what Rei really wants?" I had to know.

"Absolutely not!" Nami insisted. "That woman is an absolute beast. I think Rei is too embarrassed to let you know what is really going on."

I could tell that this conversation was about to end by the way Nami was looking at her watch. I found out I was right when the blonde handed me an index card with her phone number on it.

"I have to go someplace, but you can me anytime if you need anything," Nami offered while standing up. "Everything is on me. I really think that you should give Rei another chance and straighten things out."