Unchanging expressions

She only had one dress in her wardrobe and must have been a relevant reason to wear it. Elisa entered the restaurant y sat down in the first empty table close to the door. She didn´t try to find him. He was always late. She looked at her reflection over the TV surface. Some hair broke out of her braid as it did on her youth. She felt proud of being free from the tight ponytail she was getting used to in the last months.

Elisa ordered a green tea after checking that he didn´t warn about his delay too. Filled half of the cup and held it between her hands feeling its warm. She looked back to the TV surface: the make-up was thin but was so obvious for her. Elisa tried to avoid it her entire life but the wrinkles made more frequently the use of those products. Didn´t have problems to recognize her age, it was that in the face of him...

She felt his perfume before see him. It was curious how, after such a long time, he was still using the same scent. He ordered tea and sat down in front of her.

-What do you want, Manuel? - she asked directly with a serious gesture.

Elisa waited for his answer trying to collect all her patience. His eyes were examined her as never she saw him doing it. She didn´t want to pay attention to his clothes, more formal than he was used to but not too much, he changed his tracksuit to tight trousers and a t-shirt without decoration.

-I´m glad you came - he mentioned while serving the tea and left it standing in the cup.

-What do you want? - Elisa repeated.

-I have a job here. Probably indefinite contract in a few months. I don´t want to move from city to city again.

She kept her expression as if that notice didn´t mean anything.

-I thought that maybe... we could try again - he was straight for the first time in his life.

Elisa started to laugh as if that was the funniest joke she had listened in years. However, she realized how difficult it was before for him to express his feelings with her.

-To play we are falling in love? Again?

-We weren´t too bad - Manuel answered immediately.

-This is ridiculous.

She stood up. Preferred heels when meeting him, she could cut back the height difference with him. Elisa chose flats at that time.

-Wait a second! - he requested while catching her hand.

She didn´t turn around. Breath slowly feeling her heart speeding up.

-Asking for a new opportunity would be unfair, isn´t it?

-Yes, definitely. We are far away from our third time´s charm.

-Do you remember how everything started? Before you declared your love, you told me to be honest and not to avoid your glances if I didn´t feel the same or wanted to try to discover it. Now you are tearing away your eyes from me.

Elisa twisted slightly.

-I don´t understand why you want to continue with this madness - she referred looking at his eyes.

-But you are still talking with me.

The tea was going to get cold as always happened at the beginning of their relationship. They were going to stretch out that discussion with reprovals and apologizes. At the end, they were going to interlace their fingers shyly as if the skin of each one was new to each other. The grey hair demonstrated their maturity. Sometimes the foolishness took control of that game over their experience. Maybe, only maybe, that time was the charm one.