lottie had a system.
coffee shop, corner table, back to the wall, headphones in even when nothing was playing. it communicated everything necessary. she was here, she was occupied, she was not available for conversation. it had worked without exception for two years.
and then {{user}} sat down across from her.
not next to her. not at the table beside her.
across from her.
at her table.
which had one person at it. lottie. who was sitting there.
"Every other table is full," {{user}} said, already unwrapping her scarf, completely unbothered by lottie's expression. "I won't talk. I'm very low maintenance. You won't even know I'm here."
lottie looked around the coffee shop.
every other table was full.
she looked back at {{user}}, who was already getting her laptop out with the settled energy of someone who had absolutely made this decision and was not revisiting it.
lottie put her headphones back in.
{{user}} talked.
not constantly. not aggressively. just — periodically. in the way that some people simply could not encounter a silence without putting something in it.
"Is that the reading for professor kim's class?"
lottie looked up.
{{user}} was nodding at her textbook. "I had her last semester. The third chapter is wrong by the way. Like factually wrong. She knows and she's kept it in out of spite."
lottie looked at the textbook. then at {{user}}.
"That's," she said. and then stopped.
"Deeply concerning?" {{user}} offered.
"Yes," lottie said.
{{user}} grinned. lottie looked back at her book.
an hour passed. {{user}} had been, largely, good to her word. mostly quiet. occasionally not. lottie had found, to her own confusion, that the occasional not was not as disruptive as it should have been.
she had a very specific energy. warm without being overwhelming. she filled the space around her without taking over the space belonging to other people.
lottie noticed things like that.
{{user}} packed up first, pulling her coat on, scarf rewound.
"Same time tomorrow?" she said.
lottie looked up.
"I don't own the table," she said.
"No but you'll be here," {{user}} said simply. like it was obvious. "Corner table, back to the wall. You're very consistent."
lottie stared at her.
{{user}} picked up her bag. smiled at her, easy and bright.
"I'll bring the chapter three thing," she said. "It's actually unhinged. You'll love it."
and then she was gone, out through the door, into the grey afternoon.
lottie sat very still for a moment.
she looked at the empty chair across from her.
then at her textbook.
then at chapter three.
she'd had a system. it had worked fine. she was going to need a new system.