Vida
New York City
“Well, happy birthday to me, I guess…” Vida thought to herself with building disdain, her face was blank and her eyes gave off a chilling deadness. She was clearly unhappy at what was going on, she felt sorrow, disdain and resentment welling up inside of her.
“Colter left without saying when he will come back or how long he will be gone…” Vida muttered to herself, starting to look slightly crazed.
It was Vida’s birthday, as she had sung to herself in her mind, she and Tessa had planned to take a day off and just celebrate her birthday. They were supposed to go to the mall, a cinema, food and also drinks at night. But plans had changed and Vida was simply too depressed to do anything ‘happy’.
“Let’s just go to work” Vida texted Tessa, who immediately reply with a barrage of angry, sad and cursing emojis. “Already on my way there” Vida replied to Tessa’s string of emojis.
Well, if that didn’t secure anything, nothing will, Vida thought wildly, knowing that this will also force Tessa to come to work with her. The birthday girl was emanating a strange aura of sorrow, of all days.
---
Tessa
Burn’s, New York City
A few minutes later, she walked into Burn’s and put on her waitress’s uniform. Tessa noticed that Vida had looked strangely blank, it was like staring into a mannequin, “Hell even a mannequin had more facial emotions” Tessa muttered, her worry for Vida building.
So, they went about their usual shift, to Tessa’s disappointment, she was hoping for an opportunity to go shopping, go flirt with people and just get stupidly drunk.
She was wiping glasses cleans when there was a sudden outburst from one of their customers:
“What the hell, I did not order this!” a man scolded Vida, who immediately apologized. She was still muttering apologies when she took away the wrong order and spilled it over another customer who was sitting right behind her.
“Jesus wept!” this man screamed, the scalding soup drenched over his scalp, he had stood up and attempted to reach for Vida, who was now apologizing even more.
Tessa was at her side immediately, “Don’t touch her.” She warned the man with her eyes in a dangerous glare, the man backed down immediately.
“I would like to apologize for how my colleague is today. She is out of it. It seems she’s caught a bug of some sorts this morning. To make up for the mess, I will gladly pay for whatever it is you will order today.” Tessa announced to the two customers who were angry, their rage burned out immediately as they agreed with Tessa’s terms.
“And you” Tessa said darkly, turning at Vida who was not even reacting, “Take a breather over there.”
She immediately served the orders of the two irate customers and crossed the aisle and found Vida sitting there, by herself.
“You going to tell me wh-“ Tessa started warningly, but it was interrupted when Vida suddenly burst into tears.
“at the hell is going on?” Tessa finished quietly, as Vida just hugged her, still crying her heart out, customers started to stare at them and Tessa was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“Wipe your snot, girl” Tessa said chastising Vida who was bawling like a child, “Calm down. Take deep breaths and tell me what the actual hell is going on with you.” But in her heart, it seemed like she knew what was going on.
“It’s…it’s Colter!” Vida said, her voice was violently shaking as she tried to calm herself down, Tessa sighed upon hearing the name, “He’s gone. He’s left me, Tessa. I spent the night with him and he just left.”
“So, a bang and boot then?” Tessa asked, and Vida shook her head wildly.
“He just said he needs to leave, but he never told me when he’ll come back”
“Uh huh?” Tessa chided, urging her to continue speaking.
“I already love him so much, Tess!” Vida whispered, “Before I knew who he was, before he even came into my life for real, I already felt my attachment to him.”
Tessa wrapped her arms around her best friend, “Oh honey…” she managed to say sadly
“I’m afraid of what might happen if he does not come back. I might go insane. I’m already losing my mind just worrying about him.”
Tessa let out another sigh and thought of love, how it manages to destroy people’s lives in an instant, how a fleeting moment of bliss can prove to be catastrophic at the slightest turn of the wheel. How radically it changes the ones involved and how over the edge it drives them. It was a pathetic sight.
Tessa never having experienced these kinds of feelings for anyone just rolled her eyes, yet the worry for her friend remained, “The things that love do to you…”
There was a sudden sound of a chair being dragged beside them, Tessa and Vida turned to look and it was Peter Burn. The owner of the bar, he was smiling at them wisely, having overheard Vida’s problems. Vida instantly got on her feet and dusted herself off, wiping the tears wildly with her hands.
“I’m sorry, Peter” she said apologetically, “I’ll get back to work right this instant”
But the portly man just smiled at her and motioned for her to sit back down.
“I want you two to listen to me, I’ve been observing you two for these past few minutes and if it’s alright, I want to give you a bit of insight and wisdom”
Tessa grinned this time, while Vida looked at him with uncertainty. He had always been their father figure, during their time in Burn’s, they were never scolded by this man, he just pointed out what was wrong and what they could do to prevent it from happening again.
“Time for some Peter Burn’s wisdom then!” Tessa said jokingly, and the old man’s smile widened at her jest.
“I have been in this world for quite a while now, 76 years and counting” he said with a grin as Tessa’s eyes narrowed, mouthing the words ‘76’.
“It may not mean much to you, young ones, but I have experience with this. As a man, as a lover and as a person. Are you willing to listen?”
Vida, still sniffling but was much calmer now, nodded silently.
“I understand that you are young, you tend to do brash decisions and you are also prone to being impatient. Impulsive as it may be, you need to accept the fact that waiting is also part of loving a person. There are things that we face along the way that will inevitably task us to do things that we wished was never passed to us.”
Vida and Tessa listened intently to Peter’s words, and he continued:
“But what choice do we have? When fate or destiny, or whatever it is that you believe asks us to wait for now, then we must. It is our duty as lovers to wait for our person to come back home. Love is bliss, yes, but love is also pain and love is patience. Love is acceptance, love is fighting and love is every little thing you never expect to have. It is a hot pot of emotions and we need to learn how to handle it.”
He smiled, as if being taken back to an old memory he had when he was younger.
“In my younger days, I was not able to choose who to love, because my family and the people around me frowned upon it. I am blessed to reach this era where everyone is free to love any one, they deem worthy, and I am happy for you Vida that you found a love that is so pure.”
Peter sighed and looked at the duo staring at him, waiting for him to say more words.
“While I do agree that the waiting part is hard, you need to endure. If you believe in him, then Colter will surely come back, won’t he? Do not allow yourself to be ruined just because of this. He will come back if he wants to, and if not, then you will still be here, will you not? Such is the joy of life and love. It is a battlefield of all emotions and you need to survive. What if you allow yourself to be such a trainwreck and he comes home to you broken?”
Vida sniffled, imagining everything that Peter was telling them.
“I waited years for my husband to come into my life, and look where we are now. The happiest couple you will ever see! Now go on, Vida. Live your life to the fullest, keep him in mind but do not allow him to take over a life that you had before him, okay? It is a gamble, but you need to live with the idea that he might come back or he might not. Do not fall into despair, okay?”
Vida nodded, muttering her thanks to Peter while the tears began to fall from her eyes again.
“Curse that gorgeous man” Peter said jokingly, describing Colter who had attracted customers of all genders because he had quite the looks, “Making you cry on your birthday. Dry those tears, my dear. Take the day off, my husband is coming to pick me up early, so I might as well close down. Go celebrate, be happy, enjoy the day with Tessa. Go on. I’ll still give you both a full pay for today’s work. Now go.” He stood up from his chair and shooed them playfully.
“See!” Tessa said triumphantly, “We even get full pay! Come on, Vida! Let’s go shopping, then let’s go watch a movie and then we can go out for drinks!”
Vida nodded and started to take off her apron, she agreed even though there was still an echo of sadness in her heart, but in her deepest and darkest desires, if she had one wish that could just be granted by whatever god was messing around with her right now, it was that Colter came back to her safely.
“Come back and be here” Vida said quietly, preparing to leave with Tessa to enjoy her birthday.