a gypsy in the night

“Fuck, I’m getting married in a month,” the realization hitting Owen as he sat at the bar, nursing a beer. June 23rd was approaching rapidly and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it, not without getting Gwen in trouble. “I never thought I was gonna get married. Am I supposed to feel kinda nervous about it?”

“Depends if you feel good nervous...Or bad nervous.” Stella shrugged. “Wedding jitters are normal but if you’re feeling like you’re about to run away then maybe there’s an issue.” And Stella was well versed in running away.

“Good plan. Very logical.” He returned her smile, heading into the coffee shop with the brunette. Isaac stood aside as she took the reigns for ordering their drinks, quickly tagging on a toasted bagel for himself when he was given the option. “Oh, that’s just what I do every morning,” he started to answer with faux seriousness. Making a vague gesture back to the street, he continued, “I wander around Boston and give really bad directions to tourists. It’s pretty entertaining, especially when you see the same person twice in one day.” A smile had started to give Isaac away and he let out a quick chuckle. “No, but, ah, my parents are on vacation somewhere in Europe and called me, so I was up early. Figured I’d just start my day.”

“Europe, wow. My family went when I was younger. Something about getting in touch with our roots but any family we had in Italy had already passed away by that time. So actually it was kinda sad from what I remembered.” Stella was only 5 when her family had gone back to Italy, but she could still vividly remember it all. “Are they travelling all around or staying in one spot?”

He nodded, not saying a word till she mentioned how happy Tony was as he played with the others. “Yeah he does,” Tristan said quietly. Just looking at how happy their son made his heart swell with pride, glad that he was happy and making sure Tony had everything he wanted while being both the father and mother. “Maybe…you have him for a day, just the two of you? I know he keeps talking about that perfect day with you…” he asked slowly.

Stella finally brought herself to look at Tristan, really look at him. He still had the same look in his eyes for her that would make her heart skip a beat. She didn’t think he’d be okay with her taking Tony without him being there. “Is that not gonna...Be a lot for you?” She really wanted him but seeing him whether Tristan was there or not didn’t matter to her. There were probably some boundaries that he would lay out for her, and that she would understand because all she wanted was her son.

“Very much so, or you could’ve been a tourist.” Either way, Luke figured out she was new to the city since anyone native to the place would know where North End and the other neighborhoods were. “Just a month? You’ve got some time before you get to know the place quick. It’s like starting high school as a freshman and having to figure out where every classroom is.”

“Yeah, I really do feel like the new kid. Good thing we aren’t picking lab partners today, or else I’d really be freaking out.” She really did feel like a new kid to school. The fact that she didn’t know anyone in the city didn’t help anything either. “Maybe I’ll just get a gym membership and pay to run on a treadmill.”

“I’m right there with you.” If he couldn’t get a caffeine fix to start off his day, Isaac may as well have been a walking zombie. Taking his phone back, he shrugged in return. “Ah, well, that’s probably the safest bet anyway. My sense of direction is really… crap.” He chuckled and shook his head. “– Now who could turn down an offer like that? I am always down for free coffee. Or a bagel. I’m not keeping you from your run or anything?” Isaac asked just to be sure, already taking a starting step towards the coffee shop’s entrance.

“No, I think I’m done running for now. I don’t wanna be lost all day.” She smiled at him and they walked in to the coffee shop, the warm scent of the bean filled her nostrils and she felt awake again. Stella ordered them each an iced coffee and let him order his pick for food. “So, is there a special reason you’re up this early? Besides letting strangers use your phone.”

“Hey it’s okay-my family knows how you are too. They keep asking about you too,” he told her. “In fact, mom wants to know when you’re coming back over.” Cheryl always asked about Stella every single change she got, and always wondered when they were going to see each other again. “No we couldn’t…” he said, sitting right back down, offering her the seat next to him. “Not even if we were warned about it or anything.”

His family was the perfect one you’d want to marry in to, and she almost had that chance. Stella had many long calls with Cheryl about everything. First they were angry, almost mean. But with the way Stella had been feeling after Tony was born and after the had explained it numerous times, both her family and Tristan’s understood. But she thought Tristan couldn’t. She sat beside him, keeping her distance with her eyes fixed on their son. “It was going to happen though.” She responded, only half paying attention to Tristan now. “Look at him, he’s so...Happy.” Stella said about Tony. The guilt she carried for leaving was tremendous but Tristan took on both roles flawlessly, she could tell. But she was here now, and ready to be the mother she knew she could be.

“Okay,” he said as he ran off, leaving the two there. Tristan nodded when she said that she’d been in town for a few weeks. “Um…actually your brother Matteo told me that you were coming to town and…” And what? Just seeing her again made those old feelings stir up again, but then he remembered his girlfriend Alice, someone who made him happy now. “I have so many questions to ask you, Stell, but….I can’t even form a question, not even think of one.”

Were they gonna dance around it? For now, yes, but there were so many questions on the tip of his tounge-how has she been? What has she been doing since they broke up? So many questions, and yet none of them couldn’t even come out.

Stella knew her family was close with Tristan, another reason of many that it killed her to leave. But she had to do it then. For her own sanity. It took a bit of weight off her shoulders when he admitted he could hardly speak because she felt the same. “Yeah, Matteo isn’t really one for keeping secrets I guess cause he tells me everything you tell him. Actually, the whole family does. Sorry about that, you know how they are.” That was a whole other topic, her family. The way they reacted when she left Tristan was like someone died. She never wanted them to stop relationships with Tristan and especially with Tony and they were her only connection to them both. “Neither of us could have prepared for this...” She muttered.

Hi. That word made him quiet for a moment, while Tony looked back and forth between them. God she was still beautiful like the day they met. Not knowing what else to say, Tristan opened his mouth to say something, instead of standing there like a deer in a headlights when their son broke it, rambling on about his birthday party last week and how he wished she was there. “Um…it’s….” fuck, it’s what? “How long have you been to Boston?” Tristan finally blurted, cutting Tony off. “Hey, buddy, you think me and mommy can talk for a while?” he asked him, who nodded and ran off, but not before he hugged her again. 

She was grateful that their son knew how to read a situation and interject. Tony started on about his birthday and she listened on with him, smiling and laughing with him. They had really made one cute kid. But part of her wanted to hit her for ever leaving them. Stella looked back to Tristan, thinking he had said something but she must have imagined it. Her hands were shaking and Tristan asked Tony to go play again and her heart sank. “I’m gonna be right here baby, okay?” She said to him before kissing his cheek, leaving a slight pink coloured lip mark.

Stella took a deep breath. “Boston. Only a few weeks. Just got everything settled...” She didn’t know how to act around him. Was she supposed to tell him everything that happened since they broke up? Or were they going to dance around it. Knowing Tristan, it was something that they’d talk about eventually. He had questions that he deserved answers too but Stella just didn’t know if she could give them to him.

Even with a day off, Luke took advantage of his time and was up early for a morning run. Normally he would sleep in but with the recent case at work, his mind was constantly on one particular patient of his. The run was helping with those thoughts and clearing them a little bit. After running non-stop for a couple of miles, he slowed down his pace to more of a walk to get his heart rate steady then coming to a full stop when someone approached him. “North End would be north,” he said with a note of humor in his tone. “It’s that way.” He then said pointing east from where they were standing. “So you’re new to the city?” 

“It’s that painfully obvious?” She groaned. She hated being new to a place and having to rely on others to help her. Independence was what she missed most since she got here and she was starting to crave it again. “Yeah, I moved here the start of the month and I finally settled in enough to have time to go for a run and well, look at how that worked out for me.”

“Don’t worry, I was all over the place when I first moved here, too.” Emily offered a gentle smile to the stranger. It had been a little over six years since she had arrived, but it took her quite some time to get used walking around. “Some streets make it look like you’re in a completely different city. Welcome to Boston, though. I hope that getting lost aside, you’re actually enjoying the city.”

“I haven’t even been here long enough to enjoy anything. Honestly, and it’s kind of embarrassing, I don’t even have any friends in the city. The only person I know is my ex and we don’t exactly hang out.” She rubbed her temple, she hadn’t even thought about what would happen if she ran in to Tristan or what she would even say to him.

He wasn’t surprised by her bitter curse, but Isaac had to admit that she made a pretty smooth recovery. “Here,” he started to answer with a chuckle, smiling at her quip. He pulled his phone from his pocket before handing over the device. “You can even delete the history yourself. I trust you.” There was a decent chance that this was just some kind of ploy to steal his iPhone, but Isaac was still too tired to care. If she took off now, he wouldn’t even try to chase after her. “My order…?” His eyebrows raised, a look of confusion clouding his features before he realized how close they were to the Starbucks. “Oh, do you mean coffee? Because I’m pretty into ice coffee, which isn’t great in the winter.” He chuckled and shrugged. “You?”

“Any form of caffeine really. Hook me up to an IV of it.” She smiled at him before looking down at the phone again, trying to memorize where she needed to go. “I think just taking a cab back is gonna be more convenient.” With a sigh, she handed back his phone. “At least let me buy you some sort of pastry for being a decent human. Unless that’s not your thing, then I guess a crisp high-five?”

She shook her head once her drink came and took a sip of it. “Not…really…” Cassidy answered slowly as she thought about it, running a frustrated hand through her hair. She didn’t know if she should tell her about it or not, but after thinking about it…”What do you when your auntie wants to sing at your own club, and she can’t sing worth a shit?”

Stella smiled slightly, relieved it wasn’t a more personal issue. “You give her a dead mic and play something pre recorded. And just pray she doesn’t pull an Ashlee Simpson I guess.” Stella pursed her lips, wondering how bad at singing this woman was. “Is it nails on a chalk board bad?”

“Mommy, mommy!”

That word made Tristan look up from his spot on the park bench when Tony got off the playground and ran towards her. The words were caught up in his throat when he saw Stella again after the last time they saw each other, something he didn’t want to remember. But he stood up anyway, not knowing what to say-maybe a hello would do?-but the word couldn’t even come out as he watched his son hug his mother and pulled her to him. 

“Daddy, look, it’s mommy!” Tony cried happily as they got closer. 

Rubbing the back of his head, he chuckled and tried to smile, but the only thing he could do is stare dumbfounded for a while before he just said, “Stella….hey…”

@stellaxmarzolla

This was it. The reason she had even come to Boston in the first place. She could see the back of Tristan’s head and past him, saw her Tony playing. Her heart ached, she should be sitting beside him, watching their son play together. Stella took a deep breath, making eye contact with Tony and smiling at him. He looked like a mini Tristan with just a sprinkle of her added in. Tony ran towards her and when she hugged him, her heart felt whole again. She squeezed him tight, not wanting to let him go but he broke from her, still smiling and giggling, and bringing her towards Tristan. He looked like he had seen a ghost and to be fair, she’d probably have the same expression on her face. Stella’s words were trapped in her throat and she could only hold on to Tony’s hand for a moment.

“Hi...” She whispered nervously.

It was way too early to be awake, but Isaac still found himself conscious and just barely functioning, unfortunately schlepping his way to the nearest Starbucks. It was within walking distance at least, so he wouldn’t have to endure insane fares from cabs or an Uber, but he still cursed the international phone call from his parents that had him awake at the crack of dawn. Normally, he would’ve rolled over and went right back to sleep, but something about this morning had him up and out, choosing to stretch his legs and hunt down his first caffeine fix. And, without any coffee in his system, the sudden question from the out of breath woman threw Isaac for a loop. “Oh, uh, North End?” He squinted behind the tint of his sunglasses. “I think… If you take Freemont and go far enough you’ll wind up there eventually, but I’m not sure.” Isaac rubbed at his chin, scratching unshaved stubble as he glanced down the street and then back again. He couldn’t even remember the last time he visited North End. Forcing an apologetic smile, he looked back to the runner and offered, “Do you want to use my phone? Google Maps would probably be a better guide than me.”

Once she got a good look at him, she thought it looked like he hadn’t slept much. Maybe his night had been more eventful than hers. Drinking wine and watching Top Chef. When did she turn in to such a boring person? “Fuck.” She muttered. She couldn’t assume that everyone knew where everything was, after all Boston is a huge city. “Alright. Well, if you clear the history after so you don’t keep my address.” She smiled at him, trying to make light of her frustration of not knowing where she is. “I’d use mine but it’s just about dead. Thank you though.” She started typing the address in his phone. “So, what’s your order?” She asked him, attempting small talk.

With a cup of coffee in his hand (he was starting to think that a cup of coffee was permanently attached to him), James glanced at his watch for a second, annoyed that he had to commute to work thanks to his car deciding not to work. He made a mental note to call someone to pick it up and get it checked out but for now, James needed to get to work to finish reviewing for his case. “Fucking hell,” he muttered to himself, picking up his pace. He stopped though when a woman approached him and asked for directions. “Um,” James said, before looking around for a second and pointing to the opposite direction he was headed. “That way. It’s quite a run by the way. Are you from around here?”

She looked in the direction the man pointed. “Fuck, of course.” She’d use her phone GPS to guide her if she didn’t drain it from the music driving her to run harder. “No, I’m not. Is it that obvious? I just moved here not too long ago so everything is still new and looks all the same to me.” Even everything surrounding her now looked like the neighbourhood she had lived in but she knew there was no way she was close to her apartment. “It would probably be easier to cab back and stick to a treadmill for now, huh?”

Emily enjoyed morning runs as much as the next person, but it had been a while since they had turned into a necessity, so she could function throughout the rest of the day. So, every morning, she woke up earlier than the rest of people, threw on her jogging gear and hit the streets. Things had been stressful lately, with the end of the school year and the nearing of her grandmother’s wedding, who had suffered a small accident but now was feeling fine and ready to get married. Even if things had seemed to be falling into place, it also seemed as though she was going to lose her mind with everything she needed to do, but hey, at least she got to spend some good amount of time with her grandmother watching the royal wedding on Saturday and that was fun. She took her earbuds from her ears as she noticed someone approaching her and with a smile, she nodded. “You’ve come quite a long way with your run,” she noted, pointing to the direction behind the brunette, “North End would be that way. You just need to follow a straight line and you’ll get there.”

Just a simple straight line? Stella almost rolled her eyes at herself. Maybe she should start to leave the house with a map or leave a trail of bread crumbs. “Oh. Of course it is.” She shook her head. “First few days in the city, everything looks the same.”