Green Tea Goodbye

John sipped his green tea slowly, barely registering how the steaming hot liquid was scolding his tongue. His mind was elsewhere.

Ten bucks she comes in her all smiles like nothing is wrong, he thought bitterly as he eyed the glass door the led into the cozy tea shop where he now waited with racing mind and broken heart.

He sighed and took another long draught from the cup, though this time he regretted it as the still boiling tea scalded his throat all the way down into his stomach.

John put the teacup down, closed his eyes, and let his head fall into his hands.

How could she? He asked himself for what must have been the two-hundredth time in the last week. I told that to her in confidence. She swore...she swore...she would never speak of it, never use it against me...and yet, his eyes opened like two blazing furnaces as his hands, previously flat on his face, rolled into tight balls of ire. And yet...

It was at that moment that the bell at the door rang, signaling a new visitor and his eyes, still smoldering with wrath, turned towards the object of his contempt and disappointment.

Ten bucks to me.

"John!" the woman called with a jubilance so sickly sweet that he practically gagged.

She ran over to him, her arms stretched open, but he did not even rise from his seat.

"You're fifteen minutes late, Jane," he stated coldly.

Jane's smile faltered for a moment, but was quickly reinstated with a wave of her hand.

"You know it takes me forever to get ready! I always want to look my best!" she declared before taking the seat across from him. "What are you drinking?"

"Green tea," he answered with a stone-like firmness.

"Blah! I cannot understand why you like that bitter stuff. Chai is so much better with all its delicious spices and nice aroma."

His fists tightened.

"I'm not here to discuss tea with you, Jane," he growled.

This time, the smile did not quickly bounce back, but made a hasty retreat from the woman's face.

"No...you're right, we're not here to discuss tea," she agreed as she adjusted herself in her chair before beginning again. "Listen, we both went too far with that last fight-"

"We?" he asked incredulously.

Jane shifted again.

"Okay, mostly me, but no fight is entirely one-sided," she quickly added. "Even so, I know when I've done wrong so...I'm sorry."

The teashop fell silent as the two stared at each other, one side with the most miniscule amount of humility as well as a boatload of expectation, the other with barely restrained volcanic fury.

"That's it?" John finally replied, his voice like rumbling thunder. "That's all you have to say?"

Jane blinked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

"I said I'm sorry, what more do you want?"

John leaned in, eyes ablaze and teeth bared.

"You used my weakness against me, Jane," he hissed. "You did the one thing you swore to me, you'd never do. You used it against me after you explicitly told me I was safe in telling you. You used that against me and you did it to win a...God...damn...argument. So what do I want, Jane? I want a Hell of a lot more than an 'I'm sorry'."

"I...I only said that because I was mad at you. I wasn't thinking," Jane tried to excuse.

His fiery gaze bore into her for so long she felt as if a lit fire was under her feet, forcing her to continuously shift back and forth in her chair, all while avoiding his eyes.

"We're done."

Jane's fidgeting stopped.

"What?" she asked.

"We're done. This relationship is over," John clarified, his eyes never once leaving her face.

"You...you can't be serious! Come on, stop joking around! That really isn't funny!"

"I am completely serious," he stated, each word like a knife-thrust.

"It was one argument!"

"You broke my trust," he immediately shot back, "and while others might disagree, I am firmly in the camp that there can be no love without trust. Worse yet," he pointed an accusatory finger at her, "you showed me that you're willing to weaponize the most intimate parts of myself, my vulnerabilities, against me. Worse...you did that after you assured me I could entrust those secrets to you."

"I told you I only did that because I was upset!" she cried.

"And what happens the next time you're upset with me, hm?" John asked. "You'll throw that secret in my face again? Go out with your friends to the club and jump on the first guy who shows interest? Run to your parents, telling them some sad, edited tale of what happened so that they'll bombard me with hate? Tell me, what will you do next time?"

"I..."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now as there won't be a next time," John finished. "This is goodbye. I've already packed up what stuff you had at my place and will deliver it to your apartment by the end of the week."

"Now hold on!" Jane jumped to her feet. "We had an argument! That's it! Every couple has arguments! Are you really going to throw away four years over one mistake?!"

John, like an awakening giant, slowly rose to his feet and took a step towards Jane so that he towered over her.

"Better that than to waste the next forty years facing that same 'mistake' over and over and over again," he shot back with a finality that silenced any further argument from her.

"Screw you!" Jane cried as she grabbed her things. "You're such a big baby! A real man would have been able to take a little lip without crying like a child!" she stormed over towards the door. "You know that you'll never find a woman like me again, right?!"

"Good," was his immediate reply.

Red with anger and embarrassment, Jane threw open the door and stormed out of the teashop.

John sighed and sat back down before taking his tea and taking a very long sip.

Hm, it's perfect now, he chuckled. Figures.

"Are you alright?"

John turned and found the cashier who had taken his order earlier, looking down at him with concerned eyes.

He held those worried, leaf green orbs for a moment before replying dryly, "I don't suppose there's much point in saying I'm fine?"

She shook her head.

"I mean...you could...but I wouldn't believe you."

John chuckled again.

"Then I won't bother. I will however, apologize for the disturbance."

The cashier smiled.

"You're not the first break-up we've had in here. Buy a couple Danishes and we'll call it even."

"In that case I'll take a strawberry and blueberry Danish," he replied, giving her the best smile he could muster at the moment.

"Coming right up," she replied.

Less than a minute later, John had a pair of delicious pastries in front of him on a pleasantly warm plate.

"Thank you," he said as he fished out a twenty and handed it to. "Keep the change."

The cashier nodded and turned, only to abruptly stop and turn back to him.

"You know...not all women are like that. Some of us mean it when we promise we won't use your vulnerabilities against you."

John leaned back in his chair as his shoulders slumped.

"You know...she said the exact same thing," he muttered back.

The cashier, perhaps out of shame, though he certainly didn't know, didn't reply to that, but merely turned away and quickly headed back to the counter, leaving him to his Danishes and tea.

John reached down and took a bite from each of the Danishes then grabbed the teacup to wash it all down. It was lukewarm now, but he didn't mind, and continued to slowly sip at the cup of green tea which seemed sweet now for some reason.