Lilly
by Daniel Slaten

Another day of working at Java Jim's was almost over, and Monica Porter couldn't have been happier. Actually, she could have been a lot happier. It wasn't that she disliked her job - because she didn't, it was a good job - it's just that nothing big ever seemed to happen in her life. every day was the same, and at the age of 28 she'd expected a little more out of her life. She should've been married by now, and she should have been more settled on a career, and she should have been somewhere else by now. She shouldn't still be living here in Montgomery, the city where she'd been born and raised and spent her entire life. Somewhere along the way her dreams had taken a backseat to her reality, and that's all they were now - dreams.
Monica vaguely thought about these things as she took the last bag of garbage out the backdoor to drop in the dumpster in the alley, and her lack of focus on her immediate surroundings almost caused her to trip over a small orange cat standing behind the door.
"Whoa, little fella, I didn't mean to step on you."
"Meow."
Monica bent down and rubbed the cat's neck. "You look like you could use a snack. Let me put this in the dumpster and I'll go get you some milk."
Shortly after that, Monica returned with a small plate of milk she put down in front of the cat. As she continued to rub the cat's neck she thought it was kind of fitting that she was stuck here with this stray cat on a Friday night. Wasn't that what happened to all women who didn't get married? They ended up with a house full of cats?
Monica noticed a heart-shaped locket hanging from the cat's collar and she leaned closer to get a better look at it.
"Lilly," she said, reading the inscription inside the locket. "It's nice to meet you, Lilly. I'm Monica."
"Meow."
"Do you live around here?"
Before Lilly could answer with another meow, someone else answered for her.
"Actually, she lives with my grandmother in the apartments across the street."
Monica, startled by this strange new voice, jumped up and grabbed her chest. She saw a dark haired man - somewhat familiar looking - standing a few feet down the alley.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said. "Monica? Monica Porter? Is that you?"
Monica shook her head, trying to put a name with the man's face, but so far nothing came to mind. "Yeah. Do I know you? You look really familiar."
"I should. We went to high school together. Peter Bronson. I sat behind you in Algebra, although you probably don't remember that. It's been a while."
"Peter Bronson? Yeah, I remember you! You were . . . shorter back then."
"I hit a late growth spurt," Peter said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You still live around here?"
"Actually, no, I live in Atlanta now. I work for a law firm there. I'm in town for a few days, though, because my grandmother's been sick and I'm looking after her."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. She's getting better. She's also getting a little careless," Peter said, looking at Lilly. "She left the window open this afternoon and Lilly here got out. I've been looking for her all day."
Peter bent down and gave Lilly a pat on the back. "Looks like you found yourself a new friend, didn't you?"
"Meow."
Peter looked back at Monica. "Thanks for giving her some milk. I'll try to make sure she doesn't sneak over here again and beg for any more food."
"Don't worry about it. She's not a nuisance or anything."
Peter picked up Lilly and stood up. He smiled. "You look really good. I mean, you should see some of the people we went to school with. I saw Henry Vigor the other day and, wow, I didn't even recognize him. Bald, bad teeth, put on about a hundred pounds."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Monica. She still couldn't get over how Peter looked now. He'd changed quite a bit himself, but in a good way. Back in high school he'd been a skinny little . . . well, a nerd, to be honest. But now . . .
They stood there for a moment looking at each other, trying to reconcile what they saw with what they remembered of each other. It should have been an awkward moment of silence, but for some reason it wasn't. They hadn't been friends in high school, and they weren't friends now, but something was different. Back then, Monica had been out of Peter's league, and of course, he'd had a small crush on her. And now that their roles were somewhat reversed, shouldn't he be taking advantage of the situation to remind Monica how far her life had slipped since high school?
"Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" Peter finally asked her.
"What?"
"I just thought that maybe we could go out for coffee . . ." Peter looked up at the small Java Joe's sign above the door behind Monica. "Or something. Maybe not coffee."
Monica smiled. "Coffee's fine," she said, "as long as we go somewhere else."
"Are you working tomorrow?"
"I get off at 8."
"I'll come by and pick you up then."
"Okay."
Peter smiled and said goodbye as he walked off down the alley. Monica couldn't help but smile too. Maybe things weren't as bad as she thought. Maybe working here at Java Joe's wasn't that bad, either. And maybe, just maybe, her life was about to become a lot more exciting. Tonight, at least, it certainly seemed that way.