Welcome Back, Elliot Grey

The café lights glowed dimly through the rain.

Elliot stood outside for a full minute before going in.

He pushed the door open and was greeted by the familiar scent of ground beans and old wood.

Soft jazz played from the corner speaker — barely audible, like a memory someone left on repeat.

June wasn't behind the counter yet.

He walked to his usual seat in the corner and sat down.

Didn't touch the coffee already waiting for him.

Just sat there.

Hands in his lap.

Breathing like it took effort.

A few minutes passed.

Then June appeared from the back room, tying her apron, drying her hands.

She spotted him.

Paused.

Then walked over slowly, as if sensing the heaviness in the air.

"Welcome back," she said softly.

Elliot looked at her.

His voice didn't shake — but it was quiet. Controlled.

"I'm ready."

She didn't ask what he meant.

She just pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.

And waited.

He started slowly.

"When I was a kid… there was a girl."

He stared past her, at something only he could see.

"Her name was Lily.

She was the best of all of us.

Smart. Bright. Kind. The kind of girl who made school feel less like a cage."

He inhaled. Exhaled.

"We used to sit in the hallway sometimes. Eat quietly. I liked her — but I never said it.

One day I told her she was beautiful and smart, like out of a book.

She said something weird.

'What if I'm a freak pretending to be okay?'

Then she said never mind."

June listened. No interruptions.

"A week later, she stopped coming to school.

At first they said she was sick.

Then a new teacher came.

No one explained anything."

"But the whispers came fast.

About the old teacher.

About Lily.

About… abuse."

Elliot's jaw tightened.

"She was sent to a mental hospital.

And I… I never asked her what she meant that day.

I never knew.

I just laughed."

His fists clenched on his thighs.

"Since then, I've always been scared that people's pain is right in front of me and I'm too blind to see it. And I've been scared that if I love someone again, I'll miss it.

Or make it worse."

He stopped.

The silence that followed was thick, but not empty.

June's eyes didn't look away from him once.

She spoke quietly:

"That wasn't your fault."

He didn't nod. Didn't argue.

Just took it in.

Then she added, almost gently,

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

He looked at her — the girl sitting across from him like she'd always been there, even when he didn't notice.

"I… can't," he said. "Not yet. I wouldn't know what to do."

She smiled. A small one. No disappointment in it.

"That's okay."

She stood up slowly.

"Think it over. I'm not in a hurry."

"When you're ready to answer, I'll hear it."

And just like that, she returned to the counter.

Elliot sat there.

The coffee was cold now.

But something inside him had just started to thaw.

End of Chapter 8