Strangers At The Coffee N Creme

Today, I met a stranger. He’s tall, dark, and handsome; very tall, about 6’6”. He has broad shoulders, big muscular arms that hang loosely at his sides. His smile is like milk, no more like whipping cream in the middle of a steamy cup of cocoa. His eyes are beautiful, piercing gray, the palest gray eyes I’ve ever seen on a human. They reminded me of the eyes of a Siberian husky. A girl could get lost in those eyes.

My! How my body yearns to know him – but he is only a stranger. I want to go over and introduce myself, but I’m stuck in my seat. I want to look away before he catches me staring, but my eyes are disobeying me. My mind keeps yelling, MOVE! STOP! GO! But my body refuses to listen. I’m captivated, mesmerized. I’m lost – lost within this stranger’s eyes.

My mind continues its plea, saying, Leave this place now while you still have a chance. You’re much too shy and demure for a guy like that. He probably has an arsenal of girlfriends, and you would just be one of the tribe, the lowest of the pack. He’s fine and good looking and all, but his booty stinks just like everybody else. That last argument usually convinces me to not pursue, to dismiss the physical attractiveness of a good looking guy, but this guy is exceptional. There’s something about him that seems to be drawing me to him.

Oh my God, I’ve caught his attention. He’s heading this way; that smile, Jesus. Maybe he’s meeting someone at a table somewhere behind me. He’s got the walk of a runway model. “Hi,” he says to me.

I smile and manage a small “Hello”.

“It’s pretty crowded in here, can I share your table?” he asks.

“Sure,” I say as I move my books from the table to the chair beside me. I scan the room and notice at least two vacant tables, but I’m not about to point that out to him.

“I think we have a class together,” he says in an attempt to make small talk.

“No, I don’t think so.” I say without expression.

“Yeah, I’m quite sure of it. Don’t you have Religion at noon with Professor Lucas?”

“Yes I do,” I responded.

“I thought so, you sit in the front of the class. You’re very smart. You answer a lot of questions.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” I joked.

“I thought you recognized me when I saw you staring. I thought you were trying to place where you saw me before.” He sounds so normal.

“No, I was just admiring.” Oh gosh, that wasn’t supposed to come out. My ears are burning, I can feel myself turning red. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.” I said, but the verbal word cannot be taken back once it falls from your mouth and into another person’s ears.

“You didn’t mean to say it, but you did mean it,” he teased. “It’s nice to be admired.” He laughed, “Since we’re being honest, I didn’t sit here because all the tables were taken.”

“I know, it’s apparent that there are few empty tables. So why did you choose mine? Was it because I was staring so hard?”

“No, being six foot eight with dark skin and gray eyes, I get stared at quite often. I came over because I think you’re cute and smart, and I’d like to get to know you better.”

Yeah right, I thought. You want to know what’s beyond my panties, dude, but I am not that easy. “You wanna know me better? Really?”

“Yes, I’m Iason, and you are . . .” he says as he holds his hand out for me to shake it.

“Hi Iason, I’m Derbigny. It’s nice to meet you.” I say as I shake his hand girly style.

“Derbigny, that’s a beautiful name. Is there a story behind it?”

“Yes, there is,” I smile. “My grandfather was a jockey,”

“A jockey?” he interrupted, “like a person that rides race horses?”

“Yeah,” I blushed. “He was a really good one, too. According to my mama, he won like eighty-five to ninety percent of his races. He was driven. His dream was to go to the Kentucky Derby, but for one reason or another his horses never seemed to make it. Except for one, Lucky Lady. She was entered in the Derby and her owner wanted Pops to ride her, but that’s the year he was diagnosed with lung and throat cancer. My mama said he deteriorated really quickly after his diagnosis. I was born six weeks before he died, but by that time he had lost his ability to speak. She said, when she told him that she named me Derbigny to honor him, he cried like a baby.” I hadn’t told that story in such a long time.

“Wow!” was all he could say for a minute. “That was quite a story!”

“Yeah, Mom said he was in love with me. She said he spent as much time with me as he could. As a matter of fact, when he took his last breath I was in his arms.

“So, tell me about you, what kind of name is Iason?” I asked.

“Iason is Greek. It means to heal.” He said.

“So are you from Greece?”

“I was born here in America, but my mom is a passionate Greek. She grew up in Florina. She came to America on a student Visa and met my dad in college. She said she knew from the very first moment that he was who she would marry.” He laughed.

“Hunh, I guess she knew what she was doing then.” I said.

“Yeah, they dated like six months before they got engaged, and a year and a half after that they were getting married.”

“So have you ever gone to Greece to visit?”

“Oh yeah. I spent every summer and Christmas in Greece with my grandparents until I was eight years old. That was when my grandfather died and Yaya, my grandmother, moved in with my family. She couldn’t bear to stay in Florina alone. Now we go back every five years or so,” he said.

“That’s interesting,” I said and he smiled.

“What are you smiling about? What’s going on in that head of yours?” I asked.

“I was just thinking. We will be going back in three years, it would be wonderful if you could go with us.” He said as casually as if he were giving me the weather report.

“I’m my mother’s child. We see what we like and we go for it. I guess that comes with being Greek.” He smiled.

“Well, I’m not Greek.” I said, “I can’t be that presumptuous.”

“Ok then, we can start small and more in the present. Would you like to go out with me Friday night?” he asks.

“This Friday?” I say nervously.

“Yes, this Friday. I’m the kind of man who chooses to seize opportunities as they present themselves. So what do you say about Friday?”

“Actually, I’m busy Friday night.” I smile, grateful that I really do have plans.

“Ok, then how about Saturday?” he persists.

“Sure I can go out with you on Saturday?” My smile has been plastered on my face so long it’s beginning to hurt.

“Great.” There’s his smile again. I didn’t think it could get any bigger or brighter but it did. “Where can I pick you up?” He asked sliding me his pen and notebook.

“I’ll meet you here.” I said, writing my phone number on the paper.

“Okay, I see you, taking precautions.” He says with a smile.

“Yeah there are a lot of crazies out there. Even someone as fine as you can be a psycho.” I said with a smile but in all seriousness.

Our conversation moves into idle chit chat. He’s a very interesting guy and is a gifted story-teller. We talked about everything, our families, what we’re studying, and even some past relationships.

“Do you realize we’ve been here almost three hours?” He asks.

“Yeah on these little cute, uncomfortable chairs.” I say shifting my weight trying to get comfortable.

“So Derbigny, how about we move this conversation to someplace more comfortable?” He asks.

“Like where and don’t say your apartment.”

“No,” he laughs. “Some place to get something to eat. I know this little spot that serves the best steaks in town. Unless you have other plans . . .” Iason looks at me with those big gray eyes. “If you’re a meat eater, that is?” He asks.

“Boy please, I didn’t get these curves from salads and vegetables.” I laugh.

“Good,” he says, “I love when a woman is not afraid to eat. Let’s go. You wanna ride with me or are you going to follow in your car?”

“Oh crap, I rode my bike here.”

“Well I can wait for you to go get your car or you can throw your bike into the back of my truck and roll with me. The choice is yours. I will be a perfect gentleman, I promise. I won’t bite.” He smiles. He stands and holds his hand out for mine. For some reason I feel really comfortable with him, so I decide to ride with him. He reminds me of a pair of relaxed fit Levi’s; comfortable, strong and rugged. Can be dressed up for a night on the town or dressed down for a breezy bike ride. I know that seems like a crazy way to describe a person but that’s the way I see Iason.

“Nice truck, Ram hunh?” I say as he lifts the hard cover on the bed and slides my bike in.

“Thanks. Yeah. This is my baby, we’ve been on many adventures together.” He says locking the bed and opening my door for me.

“My God, it’s roomy in here. It looks like a luxury car.” I exclaim in awe.

“Yeah it’s a mega cab. It’s supposed to seat five, but I think I’ve had about eight or nine people in here at one time. She was a graduation present from my parents and Yaya.” He said with an endearing grin.

“You really love your folks, don’t you?” I asked.

“I do,” he started, “they’ve been through a lot, you know. For years, they tried and tried to give me a sibling. My mom had like nine miscarriages. She could never get beyond the first trimester, and the one time she did was when my Poppy died. She was six and a half months pregnant, and a week after we got back home from the funeral in Florina mom started hemorrhaging. That’s when Yaya, who was only supposed to stay through the grieving period, decided to stay here permanently. She called her brother, my Uncle Sal, and had him pack up her stuff and ship it to her.

“My mom was so disappointed and depressed. I was only eight, but I remember her crying every time she looked at me. I was beginning to think she didn’t love me anymore. But as it turns out, a big part of her depression was because that was her last chance to give me a little brother. She said she was an only child and knew how lonely it was. She wanted more for me. But I told her, I’m not lonely I got y’all. They played everything I wanted to play. By the time I was thirteen, I was begging to be left alone; to be given some privacy.” He laughed. “Here we are. I talked about me the whole ride over here, once we’re inside I’d like to hear more about you.”

“Okay,” I smiled.

“This is cute,” I said after being seated and looking around the place. “Not quite what I expected for a first date though.”

“That’s because this isn’t our first date. Our first date isn’t until Saturday.” He said with a wink.

“Oh so what’s this?” I asked.

“This is our getting acquainted phone conversation, in person over dinner that I am paying for, that’s all.” He said with a smug smile.

“Oh, so this is our first telephone conversation?” I ask.

He nods, “Yeah, in person.”

“But I could have sworn my phone was in my pocket, not on my ear.” I laughed.

“You’re right, but everything we’ve talked about so far would normally be done in our first phone call, right?”

“Perhaps you’re right, I’ll give you that. But if this is only a phone call, why are you paying?” I question.

“Because right about now Pizza Dogs would be calling you to take your order and get your address.”

“What?! So you’re telling me, that if we were on the phone for these three hours you would have Pizza Dogs sent to my place?” He nodded.

“Boy you are too much.” I smiled, I’d never heard of such a thing.

“You seem shocked.”

“I am . . . more like impressed.” I admitted.

“Good, I’ve accomplished my goal. To make a good first impression.” He said. “So now tell me about you. I know you’re the youngest of four, what was it like growing up?”

“Well, like I said I have two brothers and a sister, and with my brothers you couldn’t be a girly girl. We played with lizards and snails and pulled the wings off of dragonflies, which back then we called them mosquito hogs. My oldest brother Evan would always come up with these wild experiments, I should have known he’d be some type of scientist. One of the ones we did the most was putting a lizard in an ant pile to see if it had what it took to escape. We would get a long stick and make a sizable hole in the highest peak of the ant pile, from top to bottom, and then push the lizard down into the hole. If the lizard escaped we would douse it with water to knock the ants off it and try to catch it again, but we could never recapture the lizard. We wanted to see if the lizard got the same kind of bumps we did from an ant bite. He also wondered why some lizards would claw their way out and some gave up immediately. Some of them never even tried to fight, it was as if the first bite paralyzed them, but they weren’t paralyzed cause they would jump and squirm around in the ant pile. The one thing I would never forget is how they appeared to scream. Their mouths would be open but there was never any sound to come out. I wonder if lizards have vocal cords.”

“Amazing, how old were y’all?”

“Well I was about six so Evan was eleven I suppose.”

“Six to eleven year olds doing science projects. That’s amazing.”

“No, I believe it’s because we didn’t have many toys so we had to entertain ourselves.” I laughed.

Iason and I talked until our food arrived. I cut a bite-sized piece of my steak and put it in my mouth. “Oh my God!” I said as my eyes rolled in heavenly bliss. “This steak is, . . . Oh my God . . . the most delectable, melt in your mouth piece of beef I have ever tasted!” Iason smiled. “You like it?”

“No Iason, I’m sitting here in agony. Of course I like it. I love it! How did you find this place? Better yet, why haven’t I been introduced to it sooner?” I asked. I was amazed at the flavor and texture of my medium cooked steak. “It’s my dad’s place. He’s the chef and owner of Poppy Steak House.”

“Wow! Well tell your dad he just blew my mind with this steak.” I said taking another piece.

“Tell him yourself, here he comes.” Iason says as he stands to greet the reflection or his older self. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Derbigny.” I stand expecting to be met with a handshake only to be greeted with a big hug. “Nice to finally meet you Derbigny. I hope you're enjoying your meal.”

“Yes sir! Tremendously! I was just telling Iason, this is the best steak I have ever tasted.”

“It’s all in the marinade, my dear. Thanks to my father-in-law, I have never met a cut of meat that I can’t tame.” His smile matched the one I had been looking at all day on Iason. “Well, I’ve got to get back to the kitchen now Derbigny. It’s really nice meeting you.” He turned and hugged his son who has been standing beside him this entire time. “I like her son. She’s beautiful,” he declared as he hurried back to the kitchen.

I was taken aback, and I looked at Iason with a curious smile as he repositioned himself in his chair. “Um, Iason?” I questioned, “what was all that about?”

“What do you mean? What was what about?” He asked sheepishly. “Your dad. For starters saying it was nice to finally meet me, and then announcing to the entire restaurant that he likes me? Spill Iason. Come on.” I said, only half joking, but fully curious.

“Well, I might have talked about you a time or two, or four.”

“To your dad?” I asked.

“Yes to my dad. Remember, I don’t have any siblings. My dad is my best friend. I mentioned you to him the first day I saw you in our religion class. I told him how beautiful I thought you were, and in the weeks to follow I began to notice how smart you are. And I told him how secure you seem, cause when you get an answer wrong you challenge Professor Lucas’ view. I’ve been admiring you for a long time Derbigny, telling my dad all about you. He’s the reason I approached you today. He reminded me that finals are in a couple of weeks and my window of introducing myself is closing. So when I saw you in the Coffee N Creme, I heard his voice in my head urging me to talk to you. ‘At the very least,’ he said, ‘she’ll become your friend.’”

“Wow, Iason, I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing you should say, Derbigny. The simple fact is I like you, a lot, and I hope one day you will like me just as much. And perhaps we may even fall in love. Who knows?”