July 21, 2000
Coralis returned home to her UK flat in the early afternoon. The Northerners won the semifinals against South Africa the day before and the team stayed in town for the night to celebrate. When leaving Johannesburg in the morning, her teammates flew directly to Bulgaria, where the finals would be played the following day. Coralis flew to her UK flat instead and planned on heading there later that night.
Her roommates weren't home, so she took advantage of her time alone to listen to her voicemails. Frank had left five messages. Listening to them, sitting on the foot of her bed with her legs folded beneath her, she felt as if she was escaping her world for a moment, even if he merely talked about how his day went, and she enjoyed that feeling. She wanted more of him.
Knowing some time before she had to leave for Bulgaria, she decided to call him. She looked at the time and calculated the time difference. Hoping he was home and awake, as it was 8:15 on a Friday morning for him, she dialled his number.
"Coralis?" said Frank, in a raspy voice.
"Yes, it's me… did I wake you up?"
"Yeah, but it's fine," said Frank, sitting up and pulling the cover off, "I'm just happy I didn't miss your call. How are you doing?"
Frank put his pants on and went to the bathroom.
"Busy with work, as usual. I just got home and will have to leave for Bulgaria in a few hours."
"Where were you travelling from?"
"Johannesburg, in South Africa."
"Oh wow. Maybe I should start asking you to send me postcards."
He wasn't supposed to be up for another hour, but he didn't want to mention it to her. She could be calling him in the middle of the night, he wouldn't mind.
"You could, but I might be back in Montreal before the postcard gets to you."
"What if I ask you to send me one from Bulgaria, would that be the case?"
"Yes, I will be travelling back to Montreal on Sunday. I'll arrive in the morning, want to meet for coffee? I'll then have a three-week break at one of my works, so I should have more time until mid-August."
Frank was supposed to meet his family for brunch on Sunday morning. After hanging up with Coralis, he called his mother to cancel his presence, but he didn't say why. He wanted to tell her that he met someone, but he didn't want her to ask questions that he wouldn't know how to answer, so he just told her that something had come up and that he had to get ready for work.
During the summer, Frank worked for a coffeehouse and had a shift starting at 10:00, so he wasn't lying about that part. Despite waking up earlier than he was supposed to, Frank was in a joyful mood for his entire shift at work and was thankful that he wasn't scheduled to work this Sunday.
Coralis arrived in Burgas, Bulgaria, late on Friday night. The game was at 18:00 the next day and they had an hour of practice time late afternoon. The Northerners won their game, making them the Silver Cup winners, their second one since she'd been playing for the team. She went to celebrate with her team after the game, but didn't stay out late: she had to be in London early in the morning for a meeting with the EBEE and combat training.
As soon as training was over, she went to her flat to pick up a suitcase and took off to her address in Montreal. Her friend Victoria had moved there 3 weeks prior. Victoria didn't have much to unpack, but was waiting for Coralis' flyball season to be over to decorate: she wanted to do it with her.
Coralis landed on the rooftop of their building and turned her elemental paraphernalia into keychains before shifting into her black cat form. She grabbed her suitcase handle in her jaw and jumped to their back balcony, then up to the kitchen window's ledge.
Victoria was in the kitchen making coffee and saw her friend appearing by the window. She opened it to let her in.
"Hey Cheetah! Awesome game yesterday! Ready to tackle the decoration of this place?" said Victoria as Coralis shifted back into her normal form. "Unless you want to unpack your stuff first."
Coralis had been there twice since Victoria moved in but never stayed long enough to unpack anything. She didn't bring much, but she had a few suitcases full of clothes and a box containing elemental books and accessories, which she glamoured to make it look like a small speaker.
"I'm about to go meet Frank for coffee, wanna do it when I get back? My stuff can wait."
"Ooh, so Frank, uh? I should have expected it, I supposed, I know he was looking forward to you being back in town. You know he really likes you, right?"
"Too soon for that, but honestly, I like not having to question his intentions towards me when I'm with him. He doesn't have a family scheming to turn me into a weapon. I don't think it'll last anyway because I work too much and I have too many enemies, but for now, I'm going to enjoy a coffee with him while he's oblivious to my world of mess."
They were supposed to meet at 11:00, at a different coffeehouse from the one Frank works at. At 11:30, Coralis wasn't there yet, so Frank called Victoria's landline, wondering if something had happened and if he needed to worry. He was hoping that Coralis didn't stand him up.
"Is Coralis with you?" said Frank when Victoria picked up the phone.
"No, she left about an hour ago, she said she was going to see you for coffee. She's not with you?"
"No, but if she's on her way, I guess she'll be here soon."
"She doesn't drive, and buses are on the weekend schedule. She probably miscalculated the time it would take her."
Coralis entered the coffeehouse and spotted Frank.
"She's here now, all good."
There was no line, so she quickly made it to his table with two coffees in her hands, thinking he probably would need a refill soon.
"Sorry for being late. I don't use the public transit system that often. Had I known it would have taken me so long to get here, I would have taken a taxi."
He got up to hug her. He was very happy to see her. It had been two weeks since the last time he saw her.
"Don't worry about it."
"So, what have you been up to this weekend?"
An hour later, he was getting hungry and wanted to take her for lunch elsewhere. Coralis declined because she promised Victoria that she'd help her out to decorate their apartment, but agreed to meet with him later to play pool, as a date.
She didn't want to be late again, so she took a taxi to get to their agreed meeting place. She arrived there at 19:55, 5 minutes earlier. He was there already. Frank was supposed to work the next day at 10:00, but he didn't want to think about it.
After three games of pool, which Frank all won, they sat at a round table. There were four chairs around it, and they sat next to each other, Coralis to his right. She was enjoying her time with Frank and didn't want the evening to end.
Coralis listened to all of his stories with interest. She wanted to get closer to him, even if it wasn't likely to last. She knew that not all humans were awful and had always refused to join the movement against them. Remembering things that two of her social workers had told her and the other kids, and applying once again lessons from Martha, she locked and buried her darkest memories deep within herself. She wanted to give him a fair chance, regardless of how long it'd last.
He didn't know what she was, but she figured she'd cross that bridge, to reveal herself to him, if she ever got there with him. She couldn't throw caution to the wind, so she swore to herself that she'd always have her eyeglasses on when with him to protect him from her, even if he ever found out about her.
His right hand was on her left tight, and she let him. Unbeknownst to her, he also didn't want the evening to end. At one point, he forgot where he was going with the story he started and just stared at her. She turned her face toward him, brought her right hand to his left ear and pulled his face toward hers to kiss him. He quickly responded to it and moved his right arm around her waist, his left hand holding her chin.
This time, they weren't interrupted. A few minutes later, as things began to get heated, they left the bar. They headed to his dorm, where they would have privacy. It wasn't far, but neither of them wanted to waste time waiting for a bus, so Coralis hailed the first taxi she saw and paid for it.
As soon as his door closed behind them, he pinned her against it, and their clothes quickly went off.
At 4:00, Coralis woke up to her pager beeping. She was lying naked in Frank's bed, with his right arm over her body. It was the EBEE. She rolled over, careful not to wake him up, and looked at him. She was thankful for her advanced lessons with Martha, and that she didn't have a nightmare that night.
She got up and collected her clothes to put them on before walking out of his dorm room to find a payphone.
Meanwhile, Frank's bladder woke him up. Looking around him, he wondered if he had dreamed his night with Coralis. She returned to his room as he was putting on a pair of shorts to go to the bathroom.
"Oh sorry, I was hoping I hadn't woken you up. Work paged me, so I had to go call them back."
"You didn't, nature woke me up. Do you have to leave right now?"
"Yes, so I suppose it's a good thing that you woke up after all. I have to meet Eva at metro Henri-Bourassa and uh… I don't want to look more elusive than I already am."
"So Eva is from your other work, uh?" said Frank, grabbing her face with his two hands to kiss her. "I need to go to the bathroom before I pee myself, but don't worry, I'll talk to you later."