Out of the Ordinary (Ezralora and shanthi_priya)

[Ezralora]

Winter was always a good month. Over the passed few days snow had been falling, making the city look as if it belonged in the middle of a Christmas card. The streets had an ample covering of snow about them leaving divots on it where people had been walking and animals had been crossing in the snow. People had begun to question when the snow was going to begin to let up, but there had been no signs of it doing snow as the flakes merely seemed to be getting bigger as time went on. Not that people were complaining, the cool air and darker skies were heaven for kids as they were out playing, building snowmen and throwing snowballs and just keeping up a large amount of mischief. The city was an interesting place, whilst it had a fair amount of the large work offices that are stereotypical of cities, and warehouses, rivers, docks anything you'd expect to find in a city. It had a few nicer sights, a large garden where people would go for walks, that now looked like a Winter Wonderland. Though the further one went away from the city the more country side the person would begin to see, and a few nice cozy looking cottages stood by with larger plots of land for those that could afford, or wanted to be away from the city.

This was little bother to Stephanie as she walked along the path, her long boots crunching into the snow as the setting sun set a nice dark blue hue on the snow. Stephanie was a woman of 27 years old. She had a pale complexion with dark eyes and wavy black hair. She was broad shouldered, but had a strong look about her form how she carried herself. She definitely appeared to be pretty. She was wearing tight black trousers that tucked neatly into her black boots, with a white baggy shirt underneath her three quarter black coat which was fastened tightly around her frame to keep the warmth in. Around her neck was a tacky dark green woollen scarf that matched her fingerless gloves, that kept a majority of her hands snug and warm. The cold temperature had brought a little bit of a rose red colour to her cheeks and nose. The only other thing of interest around her was a satchel. It wasn't the satchel that was important though, it was the laptop inside that held most of her life's work... not that she had been living for a long time compared to others. Stephanie was making her way to a certain cafe, Victoria's Cafe.

Once she made her way into it she was greeted by the strong smell of coffee and the low murmur of chatter and talking, the cafe was dimply lit but had a homely atmosphere about it. There were cakes on display for people to pick and eat, ranging from banana cakes to rather pleasant looking Victoria Sponge cake. Stephanie glanced around at the quiet inside and the few people that were seated at their tables before making her way to her regular table, that was near the window and allowed a nice view of the outside world. She ordered a cup of coffee and pulled out her laptop whilst she waited. She was writing her next book, and was one hundred and twenty seven pages into the book, and on the fifteenth chapter and the ninth paragraph down. With a quick scan of what she had written previously she began to type whilst she waited for her friend to arrive.

 

[shanthi_priya]

It's quite strange about how friendships and relationships work. They can get people from different part of the worlds closer to each other and make them feel like they were incomplete so far without knowing the other person from other part of the world. What seemed so normal without knowing the person for that past few years, suddenly starts to feel like a void as if the other person was there with us through out our life. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are from, what culture you belong to and how you have been raised so far, the moment you meet the other person and the moment that you start understanding the value of the person and how much they could mean to you, you realize nothing else matters about the world. Shanthi Priya, the 23 year old Indian girl living away from her started to have similar feelings towards Stephanie.

It seems more melodramatic and more 'happening in the movie or books' style that she had met her for the first time. Being away from her home and not many people to talk to, she got into the habit of passing her time by lending some books from her colleagues where she was working at. She had no particular interest in the books before that. It was the first time she was reading all kinds of genre and getting herself acquainted with the world of books. There was one book that made her curiosity and excitement raising to a different level. She spent two days straight reading the book, even without sleeping at nights and even skipping her dinner. It made her too attached to the book as the romance between the non-existence characters and the chemistry between them and the drama and emotion that was surrounded between them made her totally impressed by the author. She then went to the library and tried to track all the other books written by the author. That was when she got to know about a small summit that was arranged with the author.

There weren't too many people at the summit, as the book was still gaining the popularity and the author wasn't so popular, yet. This gave her a chance to interact one to one with her. She was surprised to learn that Stephanie was living in the same city. She dared to ask her to meet for a coffee. It later was even dragged to another meet and then another, making them rather good friends. The coffee shop has become their usual meeting place.

Shanthi was little bit over dressed. She was wearing a thick leather jacket along with another jacket inside. There was a scarf around her neck and a hood over her head along with the winter black boots. The winter was looking rather exciting, but being a girl belonging to a tropical country, the winter was rather hard for her to get accustomed to. Shanthi walked in the cafe, shivering with both her hands covered in gloves trying to warm each other. She saw Stepahanie already sitting at the table next to the window and greeting her excitedly by waving her hand at her, she walked to her friend and greeted in a shivering voice, "Hi, I hope I didn't leave you alone too long..!"

 

[Ezralora]

Stephanie continued to type onto her laptop as she waited, before coming to a stop. There was a steaming mug of coffee at her side in the table. Staring at the page on the laptop she slowly reached her left thumb to her mouth and chewed the skin a little as she tried to think of the way to phrase the idea that was forming in her head. It was then that her eyes flicked towards the door as Shanthi came walking inside, bringing a slight smile to her face as she bowed her head. "Hmm oh no, don't worry about it i haven't been waiting long at all... I think." She gave a nervous laugh at the end of her sentence, as she was a little bit lost when she was writing, tending to lose track of time.

She had settled into the cafe, her coat strewn over the back of her chair, and her gloves and scarf in a neat little pile at the other side of the room resting on a metal railing that was warmed by the crackling fire, giving the room a nice orange hue. Her long black hair had been tied back into a scruffy bun, showing on the right a few streaks of silver/white hair that would normally be hidden by the rest of her hair. She explained it was in her family, that her mum got white hair rather young, and seemed the genetics hadn't ditched her at all. "So! how are you Shanthi?" She saved her work and closed the laptop in a hurry so she couldn't get a sneak peak at her work. "Been up to much in the work place? Or friends? Got any plans for the holidays?" She came to a stop realising she was doing it again.... It being failing horribly at small talk. For an author she wasn't too great on starting the conversation.

Taking in a deep breath she laid her hands on the table and took a sip of coffee. "Sorry i'll try again. How have you been?" She nodded, satisfied that that should be a good enough attempt to start the conversation. She had grown to like these meetings, and just have a girls night out, chatting drinking coffee, and if it lead there going for walks and visiting a few other places of interest in the city. The aroma of coffee continued to spread along the room which gave it a rather homely feeling, this was met by the squashy arm chairs that were the primary seats at the tables.

 

[shanthi_priya]

Shanthi smiled at Stephanie as she told her unconfidently about the time she was waiting for. Although they had a few years of age gap between them, with Shanthi being the younger one, she loved sometimes, how cutely her friend behaved. Shanthi tried to curiously look at the laptop, about how far she was able to make it in the new novel and if she had been working on it while she was waiting for her. As she looked into the laptop, she smiled and said, "So, you are still working on the new book? How is it coming so far?" Shanthi asked as she tried to contain her shiver with herself. The heavy jacket and all the dress she was wearing was still not enough for her to be normal.

Shanthi slowly walked to the seat opposite to Stephanie and let herself take a couple of minutes before she finally started to get off the thick jacket and hung it to her chair. She then removed her winter cap and unclipped her hair that let her dark wavy hair fall freely on her back and shoulders. "Getting used to the winter. It is rather too cold in here", she said as she took off her gloves as well and rubbed her soft hands together to make them feel warm. She was wearing a purple colored t-shirt that hugged her body tightly with blue jeans. It seemed as if the fire and the heating device slowly made her feel much comfortable inside. "I am getting bored with the work. It's getting rather too much for me to handle or it would end up as sitting idle. I am tired of seeing it always at extremes", she explained about her work chuckling. "I wanted to explore the place a lot more and turns out that all my colleagues had their own plans and I am alone at office. I badly wanted to see different places in here. What about you? You would be busy working on the book?" She asked.

Shanthi wondered if Stephanie would propose the idea of being her guide to take her around. They had been friends with each other for a while now and they seemed to gel well with each other. But, Shanthi had a feeling somewhere, if this friendship would just remain as something that would just end up in meeting at the coffee shops or if it would elevate to a different level. "And by the way, did you order something for me already?" Shanthi asked Stephanie as she looked at the menu card. "If not, I would get myself some hot coffee", she said looking at the line at the counter and wondering how long it would take for her to get a coffee.

 

[Ezralora]

Stephanie chewed the inside of her cheek as she waited for the questions to come from her. She wouldn't be able to make much sense of what was written on the laptop, as it was the middle of a paragraph and she had closed it pretty sharpish, not wanting anyone to see what she had written just yet at least. "Mhm well they take a while to write something that will work well!" She added, and slipped her laptop into her bag as she gave a smile. "No wonder you're cold you're wearing a t-shirt." She explained and gave a little chuckle, "You'll need some winter clothes, otherwise you're going to catch a cold and get ill, and i wouldn't want that." She quickly said and smiled. A hot chocolate was already being delivered to her table. "I asked for them to hold it until another woman sat at this table. Thankfully it was you and not a random stranger." She gave a laugh before covering her mouth with a few of her fingers on her right hand, as she regained herself.

"Oh yes, the book i have been working on. It's just taking a bit of time to get together, as well as a few other hobbies." She said with a shrug. "You can be sure though, it'll be on the shelves at some point next year." Leaning back in her chair, she hooked her fingers through the handle of her mug and lifted it to her lips before taking a sip of coffee. "Work might be boring but it's needed to get money to pay for things. "Don't you have leave yet for the winter? I mean all the time i've known you, you haven't taken a day off willingly. Why not use some of that time you've gathered and treat yourself to a long holiday?" She gave a happy smile, before reaching forward, a concerned look flashing over her face. "Okay you do look cold." She went to close her hands around Shanthi's.

If she did, Stephanie's hands would be warm to the touch, and mostly soft with a few rough patches on the skin. "If i had just met you, i'd be thinking you lived outside." She joked as a strand of white hair fell into her face, followed by a few of her black wavy hair.