Jaz's was busy-- but then, everywhere in New York was busy. The bustle and glamour had never really appealed to me-- I moved because I needed a change, and New York seemed like as good a place as any to find one. For everything I disliked about the city, though, there was something that made me appreciate it. It helped me more than I gave it credit for.

Aleska was easily identifiable in the Friday night crush of people, but for me she'd always stood out from the crowd. She was sitting in a booth with four people, one sitting next to her with two opposite, and they all had waters in front of them. As I dodged the hostess and moved closer, I saw she had another glass sitting off to her right. For me, I thought.

Her eyes picked me out when I was fifteen feet away, bumping shoulders with the man next to her. Three extra pairs of eyes landed on me simultaneously and I imagined how I looked: unremarkable brown hair, bluntly cut halfway down my neck; dark eyes, probably looking worried; slight nose; skin that wasn't really pale but wasn't tan, either; and a prominent scar on my left cheek that ran parallel to my jawline. I wasn't striking-- some people looked at my scar, but they quickly averted their eyes-- so this sudden attention hit me hard, making heat flare across my skin.

Aleska and the man next to her moved down their side of the booth, creating room on his left for me to sit. As I did I felt the plastic of my ID and credit card cut into my hip, prompting me to try and adjust them, which made my elbow to jam harshly into the man's rib cage. I immediately pulled back, looking at him with alarm. I'd misjudged our proximity, seeing then that he was only three inches away from me, and my eyes washed over his features as he turned to me. I watched his eyebrows furrow in what looked like a wince.

"I'm sorry," I said, my eyes raking nervously from his chest to his eyes. "I didn't mean to-"

"Really?" This word hissed from his lips-- just one word, but what hit me was the amount of vehemence he was able to inflect. His brows were pulled taut over his eyes, a crease settling between them as he turned his body so it was angled towards me, walling me off from everyone else. "Really?" Again, one word, but with so much impact.

I was shocked. How could this stranger-- a man I had been next to for less than half a minute-- hold this kind of anger over something so small? I could feel my eyes widening, by body instinctively leaning away from his frame, which was much more substantial than my own. "I-I'm sorry," I stuttered out, my voice weak and shaking, my tone bewildered and maybe even scared. His knuckles were white, fingers tucked away in a fist. "I didn't mean..."

His expression changed in a flash as he leaned away from me, eyebrows arching and mouth falling slightly ajar, like he was the one who was shocked. "I'm sorry," This shift caught me off guard, again, as I struggled to comprehend the situation. "I was only kidding. I forget not everyone subscribes to my kind of humor. Or knows it exists."

I blinked, then blinked again, my mind always working slower than it should. He's joking, I thought, relief flooding through me and relaxing my muscles. I felt like I'd run a mile, maybe more, by the way my limbs suddenly felt heavy. He's only joking. "Oh," I said, running one hand through my hair and letting the other rest above my racing heart. "my God." I repeated twice before I was able to suck in a real breath, before I was able to really embrace the relief I felt. A hiccuping laugh bobbed out of me, filling the small space between us. I thought I might cry, I was so relieved.

He flashed an apologetic smile at me just as I saw Aleska's head pop over his shoulder, a hard smile on her face. Her eyes were tense, and she was blinking, which meant she wasn't entirely comfortable yet, but her nose crinkled slightly when she made eye contact with me.

"Did he already scare you?" I watched as one of her hands landed playfully--- but solidly-- on the side of his head, clipping his ear. He shot her a look, which she didn't acknowledge as she slid the extra glass towards me, leaving a trail of condensation across the tabletop. "Harry's got a unique sense of humor-- if you can call it that-- and it takes a while to get used to." Aleska said as she took a sip of her own water, grabbing the lime wedge off its rim and placing it in her mouth, biting down to get the juice, before placing the rind on her unused napkin.

She always had a penchant for sour things-- be it fruits or sauces or candies-- and had an emergency pack of lemonheads stashed within reach. I could tell she was itching to dig one out of her purse by the way she nervously pressed the fingernails of her right hand into the pad of her thumb-- pointer, middle, ring, pinky.

"No kidding," I said, eyeing the man again. He still had an apologetic look to him-- something in the eyes, I guess-- and I chose to focus on the people opposite of us as I took a sip from my drink. The man across from me was rather nondescript, average features and dull blue eyes, but the girl was striking. Almond shaped eyes embedded in golden skin with flat, high cheekbones and lips to kill for, along with perfectly straight black hair. Their hands were entwined between them on the table, obviously a couple-- flaunting that they were a couple. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aleska's eyes focused on this one detail, their hands clustered together, and took in the slightly triumphant curve the other girl's lips held as she assessed my friend.

"I'm Ben," He said, untangling his hand from the girls and extending it towards me, leaning over the table a bit. He seemed uncomfortable as I shook it, his eyes staying focused on mine long after I'd let go of his hand, like he was scared to look at anyone else.

The girl was next, her grip on my fingers near crushing. "Rou," She said, eyes taking me in. I could almost feel her rating me, comparing me to a checklist to see what I ticked off and what I didn't, measuring me up so some kind of standard. If I had to guess, she was trying to determine whether I'd be a risk to her and Ben.

I obviously wasn't because after I gave my name she flashed me a comfortable smile. Aleska, however, had filled more boxes than I. She put Rou on edge, something I could tell after only a few minutes around both of them. Aleska's usually bubbly, effervescent personality was gone-- she gave short explanations and opted to stir her water when her eyes weren't flitting to Rou's face. It was as if she was trying to find something there, something I couldn't understand.

I stumbled through my thoughts, struggling to place the man in front of me to memories of Aleska. She didn't talk much about school, only giving me enough to fill in her blanks, but I remembered she had a crush who never really took notice of her. She'd brushed it off with me, even when I tried to pry, but by the odd way she was acting I thought it must be him, and she must've liked him a lot more than she let on.

But I also knew it was a lot easier to minimize things when they're in the past, their point of importance long over. Here, with him before her, I could see she was having a harder time compartmentalizing.

I wished the man next to me wasn't between Aleska and I-- that I could somehow make this easier on her-- but there was little I could do.

The conversation was strained, a mix of Rou and Aleska talking but not. Ben, the man next to me (whose name I'd forgotten) and I tried to change subject to something less awkward-- something that felt less like a competition-- but our attempts failed to lighten the atmosphere. 

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