Pin/curious/pistol/disfigurement/breakable/beggar/downcast

Since hearing the news this morning that Stan would be in Glasgow, she felt breakable, fragile like those glass ornaments they used to hang on the trees, the ones that would explode at the slightest touch.

Stan used to be her boyfriend. Not just boyfriend, he had nearly been her fiancé. That felt like a long time ago, because it was, because they were back in high school then, but he had given her his varsity pin, which was an old tradition in their school from the 50s, it was like giving a girl your ring, and she thought they were going to get married.

Leah didn’t want to feel like this, though. She had a whole vacation ahead of her, it was all planned, and she wasn’t going to go back to those memories like a beggar and try to take some feelings from what wasn’t there. She knew it would only leave her feeling downcast, and she had too much to do to be depressed.

A neighboring patron’s cellphone rang and broke Leah from her reverie like a pistol shot. She yelped and covered her mouth at the sound, looking over at the offender. The boy silenced his phone quickly and arched a curious full eyebrow at her over dark blue eyes. Leah couldn’t help but notice how good his biceps looked in that t-shirt. “Yessir,” she thought, “You have the right to bare arms.”

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said.

“No worries. I’m just a little jumpy is all.” She replied.

“I’ve turned it on silent. Those auto-callers just won’t stop today.”

“Thanks. I suggest the Do Not Call list.”

“Tried it. It doesn’t work. They still get my number anyway. I gotta say, I’m pretty popular with the telemarketing community.”

“Must be your James Earl Jones-quality voice. Have you ever thought about voice acting?” Leah asked with an exaggerated tilt of her head.

“Oh, they’re after me all the time. Morgan Freeman is actually my stand-in, but I’m just so busy pursuing my career as a barista that I can’t make time to be the voice of God in every movie.”