As Eve leaves Purgatory in a huff, Lilith throws a mug of coffee against the door. The mug shatters and the coffee leaves a stain shaped like a mushroom across the door and nearby wall. An elderly black couple, in the neighborhood for the antique fair, get startled and decide not to have a cappuccino after all. As they leave, coffee drips down the door, and the rest of Purgatory goes silent except for the piano of Vienna Teng playing on the cafe's stereo. Lilith grabs a rag, says to all the patrons "Sorry. That was a slippery mug. Ha, ha. Nothing to be alarmed about", and goes to wipe up the mess. First though, she opens the door and offers a cup on the house ("not on the wall, honest") to the couple going down the stairs, who return ("watch the glass, sorry, I'll clean it up in a moment").
After Lilith has restored order, Francine leaves Jake at the table and comes to the counter. "You OK?" she says.
"Oh, Francine, yes, I'm fine," she sighs, then leans over the counter and whispers, "No, I'm not OK. Do you have a cigarette?"
Francine nods, "Great! Let's have a smoke on the patio," Lilith says, grabbing Francine by the arm and dragging her out back.
"Wait! My cigarettes are in my purse on the table," Francine says, as they exit the back door.
"Oh, never mind, I don't smoke anyway. Let's just stay here and talk quietly. I can keep my eye on the counter from here," Lilith says stopping on the back stairs.
"Why'd you want a cigarette anyway?"
"It seems like a better vice than love. At least smoking kills you slowly instead of fucking stabbing you in the heart at a moment's notice."
"Trouble in paradise?"
"Only if your idea of paradise is a bookstore. Eve's latest crazy scheme to save her bookstore is to sell her house and use the money to buy one of those print on demand book machines. She thinks that way the bookstore can stay open because people will come in to get an instant copy of any book they want. I told her that's crazy. Print is dead. Everybody's reading on their cell phones or whatever now."
"I thought she was moving the bookstore in here."
"She was, and I was supposed to go live with her, but she's freaking out about how she's not sure if it's the right move, and how she doesn't know if I'm the right person for her. 'Out of seven billion people, can I really just choose one to spend the rest of my life with?'"
Francine's had the same thought about Jake and past lovers, but wisely keeps her piehole shut, and just nods.
"I tell you what. I wish they had one of those print on demand machines for human beings. I'd order up a lover who wasn't fucking crazy."
"All lovers are fucking crazy, Lilith. To be in love is to be crazy. Eve'll settle down, I'm sure. She's probably just having trouble dealing with change."
"Thanks, Francine. You're a good egg, you know that? Jake's very lucky."
"So's Eve."
"Well, if she actually tries to sells that house, she'll be lucky if I don't kill her."
Blog Love Omega Glee is a novel by Wred Fright about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, which is being serialized on his blog. To start reading from the beginning or read another installment, please visit Blog Love Omega Glee Central on WredFright.Com. If you like what you've read, or you've read all of Blog Love Omega Glee and want more Fright, then please read his first novel, which is available in print and as an ebook.
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