Ad Umbras: Colloquy Over Coffee

John sat in the diner booth sipping his coffee. The black brew tasted especially bitter on his tongue, likely after having been left on the range for too long. The flavor made no difference to him. What mattered in that moment was the world through the diner window under the hazy neon. Though the evening had only just fallen, the hustle and bustle of the city outside was starting to die as quickly as the sun on the horizon. Even in a city, there were places you dared not linger after a certain hour if you had a choice in the matter.

A nervous lump gathered in his throat. He checked his wristwatch while he anxiously drummed the fingers of his right hand against the table. It had been years since he sat in that booth, drinking the same bad coffee and staring out the same dirty window. What was worse -insofar as he dreaded-, it had been years since he saw her.

As he had done all those years prior, he watched for her as night inevitably fell. He only removed his gaze from the window when the groggy waitress came over to refill his mug. His mind trailed as he waited, contemplating a million different things all at once. It was in this stupor that John heard the quiet thud of the front door swinging shut. He perked up uneasily in his seat as he heard the telltale clacking of heeled shoes against linoleum. Their gait was all too familiar.

The lump in John's throat grew as a moment later a tall woman of athletic build slid into the booth with him. She wore a black leather jacket over a dark red blouse. Her raven dark hair hung loose down to her shoulders as she cast a casually wistful grin towards John.

"Hey stranger," she said after a moment's silence.

John, unblinking, swallowed the lump in his throat. "Eve."

The woman drew her hand across her face, moving a few strands of hair behind her ear. "It's good to see you."

John finally forced himself to blink and clear his throat. "Yeah... yeah it is."

Eve cleared her throat as well. "We missed you."

John looked at her askew. "We?"

She grimaced. "I... missed you."

John took a deep breath inward. Despite his hurt, she entranced him just the same as when they first met in that very booth. He was younger then, and so was she. He was about to speak before the waitress returned with a pot of coffee.

"Here you go, sir, let's warm you up," she said, refilling John's coffee, "can I get anything for you, Miss?"

Eve shifted her unblinking gaze to the waitress. "I'll have the Evening Special, please."

The waitress halted after finishing the pour, her eyes wide. "Oh, um... yes, Ma'am."

The waitress immediately turned and fled back into the kitchen with a quickened step. John sighed deeply as Eve returned her attention to him.

Eve sat back in her booth. "You look good."

"Thanks." John took two slow deliberate breaths. "So do you." John then eased his posture into his seat as well. "It's been a long time since that night. Do you remember it?"

Eve smiled warmly. "Like it was yesterday."

John melted at that smile. It was a smile that had filled his soul, once upon a time. Tonight was different, he thought to himself. He tried to assure himself his feelings were a fit of nostalgia and nothing more. He was not convinced in the slightest.

"I have a different job, now. I hope you know." He stated soberly.

"So I have been told;" Eve replied trailingly, casting her gaze downward for the briefest moment.

The waitress came back with another mug and a grim expression, refusing to meet either John's or Eve's eyes. The cup was filled with what could passingly be called hot coffee, were it not for the thick reddish tinge. John remained seemingly unperturbed as he began talking once the waitress was back out of comfortable earshot.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this -how do I put this- well overdue meeting?"

Eve was taken aback. "Is it so hard to believe I wanted to see an old friend, to get back in touch?"

John winced at the word friend. "Evangeline, we know each other better than that."

The smile on her face faded, her mouth now twisted into a somber half-frown. The words struggled to escape her lips. "Yes, much better than that."

She took an envelope from underneath her jacket and slid it onto the table, her voice rasping dejectedly. "He asked me to give this to you. He said this was the only way you would hear him out."

John froze his arms as if the envelope were to spontaneously combust. "Of course you're here for him. His faithful errand girl, yes? Just like all those years ago?"

The wound was evident upon Eve's face. "Please, John. This is not how I wanted this to go, this is not how I wanted to see you again. Please, believe me. I didn't have a choice."

John's face hardened as his hand shook around his coffee mug. "You always had a choice."

Eve's mouth hung agape. She reached her hand over the table and laid it on his. It stopped shaking. "Please, John. I need you to believe me. You know the kind of hold he has on us."

A tear fell from the corner of his eye as he did his best to hold his stolid expression. "That never used to stop you."

Eve thought to herself a moment before withdrawing to her side of the booth. She lifted her cup to her lips and drained it in three large gulps before she stood. "If you change your mind. You know where I'll be." She considered her words for another moment before adding, "I missed you... honestly."

She turned to leave the diner, but halted at the last second. "If I don't see you again, please enjoy the sun for me."

She hesitated another moment before turning towards the exit and storming out into the bleary night. The door hadn't even thudded back into the doorway before John was casting a calculating stare at the envelope with a furrowed brow.

"Fuck," John whispered.

He exhumed a ten dollar bill from his pocket and exchanged it with the envelope on the table. Before placing it within his pocket, he noticed how the envelope had been addressed: Daywalker.

John made no delay as he ran out the door after Eve.