Anna plopped down lazily in her chair. The hand-carved legs screeched softly against the rough floor. She tossed her canvas bag under the table.
Nick followed, smiling as he gently placed her caramel macchiato. He noted that it was the Starbucks kind—not a real macchiato.
"You know," Nick said, "I have a few friends who say this is their favorite coffee shop in the country." He watched her expectantly as he slowly lowered into his seat, maintaining a stable grip on his Ethiopian pour-over.
"No shit?" She looked up briefly and smiled with her eyebrows, before returning to her phone.
"Shit," he smirked.
"Huh?" She looked up again briefly.
"Oh, no, I was just, uh," he stammered. "Never mind."
Again she looked up absent-mindedly. "What's up?"
"Got a text?" he asked.
"Oh, no, just reading Reddit arguments about fucking transporters again. God, I need to get one of those minimalist phones or something; I'm addicted to this stupid thing." She leaned down and tossed her phone into her bag.
He let out half of a half-nervous chuckle. "I know what you mean. Even in the Valley a lot of folks are getting fuckin' flip phones, can you believe that?"
"Oh my god, do you remember that Motorola phone that was all the rage?"
Nick was mid-sip of his black coffee. He stared back at Anna blankly.
Anna blinked. "God, what was it called—the Razr!"
Nick narrowed his eyes and blinked. "Didn't that just come out like, a few years ago?"
Anna narrowed her eyes and did not blink. "What? No, the super-thin flip phone when we were kids! Everyone wanted it, rich kids had it."
Nick put his coffee down, squinting past her as if the phone in question was floating behind her. "I gotta be honest, I have no idea what you're talking about. But hey, how's work going for you?"
Only now did Anna blink. "Oh, it's... yeah, it's work. Rewarding usually, often, sometimes. I like sticking up for my employees. People can be assholes, though."
Nick gave a slow, almost shrug-like nod. "Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine. Yeah."
"Like..." Anna teetered at the edge of a work tirade, but decided against it for now. "...Anyways, yeah, it's fine, how's yours?"
"Oh, it's great. Honestly, after working remotely for so long, it's nice to work with folks in real life again." Nick glowed.
"Oh, that's cool? I remember you were so excited to go remote, that's funny."
"Yeah, I mean, it has its benefits, but the worst part was the commute and—um... yeah, it's just nice to, like, see the people I'm working with every day, to have an actual water cooler to chat at. Or rather, a kitchen."
Anna rolled her eyes with a smile. "God, yeah, it really is nice to be able to coax the chef to throw something on for me. I can't imagine going to work without that."
Nick laughed softly. "I can't imagine going to work with that."
Anna glowered a little as she sipped her drink. "Well, good luck dealing with the rest of my job."
Nick let out the second half of his half-nervous chuckle. "Yeah, for sure..."
"So, is your commute just shorter now, or did you learn to live with it, or...?"
Nick choked a bit on his coffee. "Yeah, it's, uh, a lot shorter, yeah, just right around the corner."
"Wow, how'd you swing that? The rent must be astronomical!"
"It's actually not bad at all, we moved back up to Washington. We just really missed it."
Anna's face brightened. "Ah, Nick! That's..." Anna's face darkened. "Where the heck are you living that has work just around the corner for you?"
Nick scratched his neck. "Well, we're living in Centralia; I wanted to be closer to the meditation center, I just think it's really good for me to be able to get out there more regularly, and their latest guidelines discourage, um..."
Anna paused a moment. She lowered her chin and raised her eyebrows knowingly. "And the office?"
Nick hesitated for several seconds. "The office is in Madison, Wisconsin." The hip, indie chilltronica playlist hit an uncomfortably long gap, and the din of the busy cafe seemed to quiet.
Anna sighed. "Nicholas..."
"Look," he shot back quietly, "I know where you've landed on this, can we just move on and talk about something else?"
Anna shook her head and looked down at her drink. "Dude..."
"Come on Anna, it's pretty damn common in the industry these days. Most companies have a budget for it because it's improving things so much."
She glanced halfway up at him, squinting skeptically. "Is it, though?"
Nick tried incredulously to meet her avoidant gaze. "Yeah! The company I work for gets a cheap office in the middle of nowhere and gets the best talent from around the globe, we all get to live where we want to. Win-win!"
"Oh, wow!" Anna leaned back, clasped her hands beside her head, and fluttered her eyelashes dramatically. "So you're the best talent from around the globe, how special you must be!"
"Oh, fuck off," Nick spat back. "God, I knew you'd be like this. You know, most of my friends aren't so judgmental."
Anna glared back. "Yeah, well, apparently they're not very good friends."
Nick's face softened. "What's even your problem with it? Like, I've read so many articles and no one's arguments are actually making any technologically-sound points—"
"Are you reading people's actual points, or just responses to those points so you know how to argue about it?" she interrupted.
Nick recoiled. "Anna, what is your actual beef here?"
She shrugged, scoffed, shook her head, and let her hand fall to the table. "It's... I'm not even arguing with you." She looked away as her eyes began to water.
He paused unflinchingly. "What are you talking about?"
She carefully dabbed under her eyes to prevent her makeup from running, her voice quieter now. "Oh come on, you know the whole thing, don't play dumb—"
"Anna," Nick interrupted, chuckling. "It's obviously me. I've got my memories, I didn't die— just because I'm not, like—" he paused and shook his hands "literally made up of the same matter as when we were kids. Neither are you—!"
"Yeah, yeah, every atom in our body is replaced every seven years, blah blah blah," Anna recited, rolling her eyes. "Nick, your atoms don't naturally get replaced all at once, several times a week."
"I mean, at this point it's, like, several times a day for lunch, and if I forgot something from home, but like—"
"NICK." She surprised herself with her own volume.
Nick whispered loudly in an attempt to hush the conversation. "But like! I'm fine! No bugs! Not even a mysterious mark on my skin, no tumors—"
"I would fucking hope not," Anna interrupted under her breath.
"Anna I'm fine!"
"How would you know?"
Nick's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
Anna gestured aimlessly with her hands. "Like—okay how about this, what about what happened in fucking Munich, or what if someone vandalized the transporter at the bus station—"
"Teleporter, not transporter, Anna, and Munich was four years ago, they've got literally the best safety in the world now," Nick interrupted, recalling the wording he'd practiced. "Airplanes used to be the safest method of travel. Last year there were twenty deaths caused by airplanes. Do you know how many were caused by teleporters?"
"No, but it sure sounds like you do."
"Zero. Zero deaths."
"Oh, wow, you've convinced me, all hail our corporate overlords." Anna rolled her eyes.
"Could you quit that?" Nick raised his voice.
"What?!"
"Your eyes, you always do that when—" Nick stopped and sighed. "Anna, can we please talk about something else? How's Sarah?"
Anna looked down at her drink. "Yeah, Sarah's doing great, Nick—look, it's just..." She closed her eyes and took a breath. "I've known you a long time..."
"I thought it wasn't even me?" Nick shot back.
Anna ignored that. "Look, I haven't mentioned this until now, but apparently I should have..." She looked at her bag under the table, as if maybe the right words could be found in her phone. "Ever since you moved to California... it's like every time I talk to you it's a little bit less... you. Like, your whole vibe has been shifting. And now..." She shook her head.
Nick maintained his blank stare at Anna as her eyes shifted around the room.
Anna's eyes finally met his. "Nick, why'd you even reach out to me? We have nothing in common anymore."
Nick seemed to look through her. "I just..." His eyes fell. "It's... it's nothing." He sat back, his shoulders slumping. "I just... wanted to let you know in person." He picked up his coffee and forced a smile. "Marcy's pregnant." He took a last sip.
Anna's expression didn't change at first. She gradually forced the slightest smile of her own. "Oh my god, congrats, Nick. Really, that's... that's awesome," she nodded and let herself relax a little. "When's she due?"
"Uh, in a few months." Nick's mug was empty now, but he picked it up and pretended to sip from it anyways.
Anna gave an almost imperceptible nod and forced her smile to become a little more genuine. "That's really cool. She's going to be a really good mom, I bet."
Nick nodded. Anna nodded. They both looked at their own empty mugs, and pretended to sip from them, each without noticing the other was doing the same.
Anna's phone dinged softly, barely audible over the cacophony of steaming milk, clanking dishes, and synth-pop. She eagerly snatched it from her bag and gazed into it, barely taking in the contents.
Nick stood up. "Anyways, um... I'm gonna go. I... lied when I said I was in town." He turned his head out the window towards the bus station across the street. "The bus station here has a terminal now, and... I didn't think you'd meet up otherwise..." He couldn't look now.
Anna didn't stand. She released her smile and picked up her empty drink again. "Ah. Of course."
Once he was was confident enough that she wouldn't look up at him judgingly, he glanced down at her. "Anna, it was really nice to see you. I just want you to know, you were always a really good friend." He smiled stiffly.
Anna finished her sip, her expression unchanging, turning towards the cafe kitchen, contemplating ordering a muffin. "Whatever man, alright, good to see you I guess."
Nick looked at her for longer than she was comfortable with. He turned slowly towards the door and walked out.
Only then did Anna look back towards him. Her eyes followed him out the window as he crossed the street. She wondered if she would ever see him again. She wondered if she had really seen him today.