The Teacup - 1. The Teacup

Andy sat on her bench by the lion fountain. Lifting her face to the rising sun, she enjoyed the tranquility and peace of the early morning, before the other joggers crowded the park. Then she heard crunching gravel, she opened her eyes and squinted. She was no longer alone.

She’d already seen the man on her second round, near the butterfly garden. Andy hoped he would pass her bench. No such luck. After hesitating a moment, he sat down at a distance with an ungainly thud.

With his head bowed, he braced his elbows on his knees. She expected him to say something now. Why would he sit on her bench if he didn’t want to talk? There were other benches. But he didn’t talk to her. After a while, she couldn’t resist taking a closer look. The man was probably around thirty. His short, blond hair looked as if he’d run his hands through it many times. His goatee was neatly trimmed. His left earlobe was pierced with a small golden hoop. He had on long, black athletic pants, but there was hardly any dust on them or his green running shoes. The heather gray hoodie was too thick for the current weather. She thought he wasn’t here for running. Then she noticed he held something in his hand.

As if he’d felt her gaze, he turned to Andy and slowly opened his left palm.

It was a teacup that looked like a flower.

He extended his arm towards her. “Beautiful, huh?” He smiled serenely.

Not knowing how to react, Andy nodded.

“But I think it’s broken.” His smile dimmed. He rubbed at something on the cup with his finger.

Maybe a crack?

“Do you think it’s still usable?”

She shrugged. How would she know? She doubted it, though. If that was a crack, it was long.

“I could test it,” he said hopefully. With that thought in mind, the man got up, almost joyously, and hurried to the fountain. He dipped the cup into the water and filled it to the brim. On his way back he walked slower and slower when he noticed the trail of water he left behind. He sat down beside Andy again. This time a little closer. “I guess it’s broken beyond repair.” He brushed some smudge away with his thumb, maybe a leaf he’d picked up with the fountain’s water.

“I looked up the roses before I gave her the cup.” He smiled. “She has such an inquisitive mind.” Lovingly, he caressed the pink blooms in different sizes and green leaves that covered delicate white china and even continued on the cup’s inside.

He drew himself up a little. “It’s moss roses,” he said importantly. Then he poured the remaining water into the shrubbery behind them. After that he placed the cup on the bench between them. The remaining water instantly formed a dark circle around it where it was soaked up by the weathered wood.

“Now it’s broken.”

After a minute of too-long silence, Andy felt she should say something. “I’m sorry.”

“It was her favorite teacup. I gave it to her on our second date. I thought it would keep longer than real flowers, forever perhaps.”

“It’s really beautiful.” Noticing her mistake, Andy waved her hand, helplessly. “I-I mean it was beautiful.”

When she caught his wounded look, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut. Which was why she didn’t ask what happened.

“And this morning, my girlfriend threw it at me.”

“Oh.” And then a question slipped out after all. “Why?”

“She overheard when I agreed with my best friend, as he pointed out a guy for being hot at the café yesterday. She said it’s unfair. She can’t compete with a guy. If it were another woman, she could, but not with a guy.”

“You could compare their asses.” Andy slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, that was uncalled for.”

A crooked smile flashed over his face. “It is kinda funny. She always had a problem with it.”

Usually Andy didn’t have heart to hearts with complete strangers early in the morning. She asked anyway. “With what? Your bisexuality?” She guessed.

“Yes. She said she saw me looking at guys.”

“What’s wrong with that? Do you look at women too?”Andy wondered.

“I do.”

Andy nodded. “Because you’re not dead.”

He snorted. “I’ve been in a committed, monogamous relationship with her for two years now, and I love her.” He frowned. “She looks at other men too,” he said defensively.

“And? Do you have a problem with that?”

“No! She asked me the same thing.” He looked at Andy with incomprehension. “Why should I? I trust her.”

“Of course you do.”

“Then all of a sudden she asked me if I really loved her.”

“Huh?”

“According to her, if I’d really loved her I would become jealous when she looks at other guys.”

Andy raised her eyebrows. “Why would you? You know she loves you, therefore she won’t cheat on you. Right?”

“That’s what I thought, but then she asks me if I would become jealous if she were a guy and then would look at other guys.”

Andy snorted. “What a stupid question. She can’t be a man. If she were, he would be an entirely other person.”

He briefly contemplated Andy’s answer, then nodded eagerly. “Yes! Maybe that is why I had no answer to that question.”

“Hmm....” Andy looked at her watch.

“You have to go; I kept you long enough.” He got up. “Thank you for listening.”

But Andy wanted to know the rest of the story, stupid as it was, and patted a spot on the bench right beside her. “Not yet, I have some time still. Go on.”

He fell into his seat on the bench again. “Perhaps I was still trying to wrap my head around the thought of her being a man, and it took me a while to picture it. So that’s why she suddenly yelled, I knew it! I’m not what you really want. You’re gay! And then she grabbed the teacup and threw it at me.”

“Did she hit you?”

“I dodged it just in time, and it fell on the floor behind me.”

Suddenly he laughed. “It was nothing!” He guffawed. ”Absolutely nothing really happened… only in her imagination.” He stared at the fountain and murmured, “Just the proverbial tempest in a teacup.” Then he grinned ruefully. “This time with a fatal outcome for the teacup.”

Then he got up and nodded at Andy. “Thank you again for listening.” Then he left, walking like a man twice his age.

Sunlight glinted off the cracked teacup, still sitting on the bench.

Thank you for reading! Any comments are very welcome.
A special thank you goes to @Parker Owens for expertly fine tuning.
@Valkyrie edited the story competent as always.