A Reluctant Coffee

The Burn Arc Part 5

I made some healthy friendships when I was over there. Part 1: Bromance.

I met Sara. I thought she would be a break from what I usually attracted. Then I did drugs for the first time, was roofied, gaslit, and she stole my translation book. Part 2: The First Time I Was Roofied.

I had encounters with Nazis, got my book back, and someone exposed a cycle I was stuck in. Fire From the Sun

The Burn Arc. It’s not a sequel or prequel; it’s a side quest of The Friend Web parts 1 and 2, 3, and 4. The rest will come out when I get the chance. Parts 1 and 2: The Real King and Queen of Homecoming Part 3: I Was Given a Key to Their Bedroom Part 4: The Porn Capital of the World

Other side stories related in the Webiverse. A Gay Gym, a Blush, and a Wink. I Loved You in the Darkness is a side quest as well, though it’s so happy that I don’t think of them together.

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I don’t make friends with guys very easily. I used to wonder why. Writing this, now I see.

In my time over there, I did have some healthy relationships with women.

I had a class with one lady who was quieter. She went to the school year-round and knew about the transfers. Call her Mena.

I once asked Mena how to get into a trickier country. She gave me her number to give me practical advice.

Her group assignments and projects were with this guy who appeared mild enough. I always worked with Andrea, who you may remember from Bromance. Once or twice I heard him speaking unkindly, but I didn’t hear him; I heard Mena’s silence.

Maybe I should have done something, but I was burning out of my webs.

A week or two before the exam, Mena gave me a call. She implored, “Please, meet with me now. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.” I sighed pretty slowly. “I watched you burn, but I want nothing of you. I just hoped you could give one more time.”

I met with her at the coffee shop. I was on edge. I visibly shook.

Then she appeared from the darkness into the dimly lit doorway. She nervously looked over her shoulder. She looked straight ahead without seeing me and paused. I waved. She, too, was shook, and I felt awful for my sighs.

She approached. “What can I do?” I asked.

She cried. I didn’t come into comfort. I didn’t close any distance or offer any shoulder. I just didn’t have that in me anymore after the way I was burned and the friend web broke. I watched her cry; I couldn’t get discarded again.

Mena whispered that her boyfriend, the mild guy from class, was bad. Not her boyfriend anymore. She never went to that country; she was going to go with him before he showed who he was.

I wasn’t sure what to say or where to land. “I’m sorry.” It sounded terrible. “What can I do?”

“The exam is coming up. Can I borrow your book when you’re done?” she asked. She and her ex bought one book together, but he wasn’t sharing anymore without favors. “I don’t want to have to find the bookstore again. Or pay for it twice.”

I stared a minute. I’m not sure where I went. I returned, and I reached in my backpack. For some reason. it was with me. “Here they are now. I finished already.”

”I’ll get them back to you ASAP.”

“Don’t do that. You are saving me luggage space, so thank you for taking them.”

She stopped in her Keds and asked if I was tired. I said it was late.

“What you’ve been through.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know what I mean.”

I sighed hard and put my head down. “Yes, I’m tired.”

She cried some more, and I gave her a Christian side hug. She went in for the whole thing in the gentlest of ways.

She said she was sorry to cause me more fatigue. She saw how I gave but knew she could ask that of me.

I mentally rolled my eyes. How do people always know? “How do you know me so well?”

“I’m not sure, but I do.”

I shook harder and closed my eyes. “Does everyone?”

“The ones who pay attention do.”

She went in for another hug. I thought she looked fragile. She was cracked. I had no idea what happened, but I knew one thing.

Mena wasn’t going to break in that coffee shop.

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