I’m going to ask this once and I expect the complete truth, the guy who had stopped me stated matter-of-factly.

It was annoying, but I wasn’t as annoyed with him as I was with myself for letting him drag me back into the coffee shop just to avoid a scene. People sometimes do weird things when feeling the way I was feeling; and that was that I was focused on feeling rather than thinking, which is what can get people into trouble. So I can’t exactly say what got into me. Other than confronting Ava about her binge watching a boring series, I’m normally easy to get along with. But one: I hadn’t even been able to finish my macchiato which, even though it’s not my favorite, it was, after all, a morning cup of coffee. And now I didn’t have it because we had left and I’d tossed it in the trash on our way out. And two: who did these guys think they were, telling us we had to talk to them, hmm?

Slow down, bucko. I don’t even know your name.

The second guy looked at the first guy – I suppose curious regarding his response. It was good he didn’t look at Ava, who was digging through her mini backpack for her phone.

She leaned over next to me and said, Selfie!

I smiled reflexively. I also noticed she had her phone backwards. She’d actually taken a picture of the men sitting across from us. Go, Ava. But they both had their heads down, apparently looking for something on the floor. Touché.

Birch.

Birch?

My name is Birch.

And? I looked at his friend.

What’s it to you?

With a sweep of my hand, I motioned to the two of them sitting across from us and raised my eyebrows.

Aldo.

Ava and I looked at each other. That was her father’s name. And, of course, one of the gorillas in The Planet of the Apes; not that either of us would say so.

Birch remarked. We couldn’t help noticing your false. . .

False?

False lack of . . ., he searched for a word, sophistication. He cleared his throat. Are you NOCs?

Who’s there? I asked, while wondering why he actually thought our lack of sophistication was false. Can anyone say “poodle pin”?

The bell jingled on the coffee shop door and apparently it was someone Birch and Aldo had been waiting for, because they left immediately without so much as a “Sorry for interrupting your morning téte-a-téte”.

Ava was busy with her phone, so I went to the counter to get her another macchiato and (something I could actually enjoy) a green tea latte for myself.

Before I’d even sat down, she said, It means non-official cover.

What does? I asked as I pushed her coffee in front of her.

Among other things, NOC stands for non-official cover.

Of what? I sipped my latte, noticing the barista had used matcha. It was okay with me. Maybe they were out of green tea.

Ava impatiently slammed her hand on the table.

Sadie! Pay attention! Those two guys asked about NOC. I looked it up . . .

As I kindly replaced our drinks.

. . . as you kindly replaced our drinks. It has to do with espionage! She whisper-shouted it across the table.

I scrunched my eyes. The thought of either of us being spies was a bridge too far.

Finally, I replied, I mean – maybe. Sometimes you think someone is the very thing you are. They could’ve been projecting. They did look down when you took their picture.

Exactly.

Let’s go back to what to do as a pivot. After all, they left.

Ava’s gaze searched the parking lot. Mine didn’t have to, because I’d just noticed the fellow they left with – the one who jingled the coffee shop door – was standing outside smoking a cigarette.

Smoking is a dirty habit, I commented, nodding toward the man.

Ava leaned in. Is that the guy they left with?

I believe so.

I was growing impatient. This is ridiculous.

Agreed. Let’s bump him on our way out.

Ava always did have a bit of mischievousness in her.

Or we could wait in the bathroom until the coffee shop closes, I countered.

We ended up compromising. After an hour – a very long and embarrassing hour as we nodded to everyone who came and went – we peeked out of the door and found he had left. At least that’s what it looked like.

We went our separate ways, too, with Ava promising to leave her television off and me promising to text  with any new thought that came into my head. It didn’t take long, because on the drive home, I saw the guys from the coffee shop now parked a block from my apartment.

to be continued . . .

Image: pexels-paolo-sanchez-2149881372-33143522-scaled.jpg