SUDDEN NEED

“Oh, this place looks so lame.” Adam thought as he saw the big sign saying “The Winter Farmer”. Putting his thoughts aside, Adam walked into the café and immediately saw Page, having a drink near the vases of plants by the window. The near-autumn weather had a touch of summer heat to it, with the motionlessness of the tree leaves of the fall season.

Adam sat down next to Page, who was looking out the window, observing the clear blue sky and the green grass on the park in front of the café. “Looks nice, doesn’t it?” Adam said, finally catching Page’s attention.

A little jump of reflection, a giggle then an answer came from Page, “I hope you weren’t here for long.”

The waitress approached their table, “Would you like anything, sir?” She asked Adam. A black coffee and a piece of cake were his order, besides Page’s request for another cup of tea.

“I just got here, what were you looking at anyway?” Adam asked Page, as soon as the waitress left.

There was some silence, Page seemed a bit shy of her answer. “I was just enjoying the view of the city.”

There was a small chuckle by Adam, just before his reply, “Well, don’t you see the city every day?”

The waitress brought their order, “Thank you.” Page said, with a smile on her face while

Adam thought, “What’s with the good manners?”

Before she answered Adam’s question, Page took another sip of her tea, immediately stopping after her tongue felt the boiling drink. Adam simply observing the actions of Page while waiting for his answer. “Going back to your question, no I don’t see the city every day. I have no time for it. It was hard enough to get enough time to meet up with you today.” She finally said.

There was some confusion on Adam’s part, he wondered what she could possibly do that made her so busy. “Why are you so busy? What do you work with?” He questioned Page, just before getting a taste of his horrible coffee. An expression of disgust came to his face before Page could answer, making her smile a bit.

“I’m a lawyer…” Page said, “I work for a big company. Those things are always stressful and time-consuming.” She explained, just before taking another sip of tea while contemplating the beautiful, white carnation flowers sitting by the window.

Now more than before, Adam was confused again. “How can you be a lawyer, in a band and partying on a Sunday evening?” He asked Page. He finally took his first bite of the cake, which made up for the bitter taste of the coffee cup.

Page chuckled just by thinking about it. “Well, I like to go out, doesn’t matter if I’m going to look like a zombie the morning afterwards does it?” She thought a little bit about it and corrected herself, “Well, that is not entirely true. It does matter when I have a meeting in an early Monday morning.”

“Then you probably don’t want to play in your band for success, do you?” Adam asked, with a big smile, for no reason at all.

Page was quiet for a while, just looking at Adam and preparing herself to answer. “The contrary, actually. I want to be famous, I want to be known. The best way for doing that would be because of a rock band, don’t you think?”

“Fair enough…” Adam replied. “What do you play?” He asked, as he still had no idea what instrument Page played, even though they had a few interesting encounters already.

“I’m a drummer, for over a decade already.” She told Adam, finally killing that mystery.

There was some silence, Adam was deciding if he was going to say what he wanted to and finally decided to do it. “I must say, I think drummers are extremely sexy.” A laughter follow Adam’s comment, together with laughs by Page.

“Good to know that.” She replied shortly. “Now, can you tell me if you are going to play for our band or not?” Page asked, finally going into “business”, if that could even be called business. Silence struck the table once again, Adam was thinking. His mind thought of his need for money and also of Charlie’s annoying complaints if he refused.

“To be honest, I am really in need of a job, and of course, in need of money. I’m not sure if this is the best move right now.” Adam replied, coming clean about his situation. Page was in silence for a few seconds, thinking…

“What kind of job are you looking for?” She asked Adam. “Well, something involving music. I have my degree for over four years already and in the past year I have been working in a fucking supermarket. Not really what I want in life, you know?” Adam opened up, a bit unsure if he should have.

A smile came to Page’s face. “Well, I might be able to help you with that…” She said, just before taking another sip of tea while Adam gave a short hum, as if enquiring her. “I have a few friends in a couple of universities, one of them being the dean of the Columbia University. I will see what I can do, there might be a few positions there. But I will only help if you actually play for me.”

All that information hit Adam by surprise to say the least, he was a bit numb but still had to say something. “Alright, you get me an interview or some shit like that and I’ll play for your band.” He answered with a smile on his face.

Adam got up, ready to leave. “I still don’t know your last name, Adam.” Page said, enquiring Adam to know a bit more about him.

“Adam Levi, you?” He replied, wanting to know the same about Page.

“Here is my card…” She said, handing a small piece of paper to Adam, “You can call me at my work if you need something urgent, besides finally knowing my name.” Page replied.

Adam nodded his head and left the coffee place, on his way home he checked the card. “Stephens & Johnson?” He thought when he saw the name of the biggest lawyer’s agency in New York. “Page Kay Roberts, cute.” Was the next thing that came to Adam’s mind once he saw Page’s name.

In the outside, Adam was apathetic as always, but on the inside he was excited for the new opportunity, and a bit interested in Page too. It had been a while since he felt any kind of attraction to anyone besides the urge to fuck them and leave. It was a nice feeling to have again.