Alright. First poem is by Nanashiko here on Fiction Press. Second poem is obviously not an original. It's Fire and Ice by R. Frost. I have written poetry but I don't want any of you people to see it.

---

Here's the four eleven. This is my first night at the coffee shop since I broke up with Elise. I wasn't in love with her or anything but it doesn't really matter no matter what I felt about her.
Emily's working tonight and I surprise her by ordering tea. I do buy my tea there but I always drink coffee when I'm there, until now. She says she'll bring it to me and I nod then walk over to my favorite table in the darkest corner. When she brings it over, I nod then turn and listen to one of the walk-ins on the stage.
“She found a corner to
“seek solace.
“Scurrying through the
“Chaotic mess
“A bullet zooms through
“the frost air.
“Noticing, she runs
“Run like the wind,
“The bullet too close only
“flying through her.
“She does not feel anything.
“It does not hit hard at all
“Then she realizes she was
“invisible to the rest.”
I came in at the beginning but didn't hear it all. One or two of the regulars nod at me or wave and I acknowledge then open my laptop and plug it in. Regulars warn new people not to sit here when it's time for me to come in. It's pretty cool being me sometimes, I think, then begin typing. I've got a report for work to finish.
I'm halfway done when Emily asks, “Can I sit here?”
I look up and gesture then close the lid of my notebook. “'Sup, gorgeous?”
She smiles and asks, “Where's Elise?”
“Kicked her out. Why?”
“Just wondering. Why tea?”
“Drank a bottle of Pepsi before I came here. Hey, you still dating that Neanderthal?”
She shakes her head and I smile. “I'm buying a new bed this weekend. Wanna help me christen it?”
Her eyes flash with a moment of anger then she smiles at me. “Maybe.” She writes her number on a napkin then slips it towards me. “Call me tomorrow?”
I watch her walk away and shake my head, grinning.
I hear a familiar voice a few minutes later and look up. Emily was up on stage, holding a sheet of paper.
“Some say the world will end in fire,
“Some say in ice.
“From what I've tasted of desire
“I hold with those who favor fire
“But if it had to perish twice,
“I think I know enough of hate
“To know that for destruction ice
“Is also great
“And would suffice.”
Her face is bright red and I snap along with the others and grin as she rushes to the back room.

---

I walk to my Aston Martin and drop my notebook on the passenger seat then do up my belt. I'm halfway home when someone revs their engine next to me. I look over and see my friend Jeff and his girlfriend in his '72 Chevelle SS clone. I roll down my window and he calls out, “Fucker, my car'll eat yours and shit it out.”
I raise an eyebrow. He's full of it and he knows it. His dual turbocharged 454 had 625 horses and 557 foot pounds of torque but mine had a quad-turbo race-prepped V12 inside an aerodynamic body. Instead of the stock 450 HP and 400 foot pounds of torque, the engine delivers a crushing 1024 HP at the wheels and almost a thousand foot pounds of torque. “You know mine will smoke yours. I'm heading home. Follow?”Jeff nods and I smoke my tires as I whip away.

---

“You kicked her out?”
I nod. “I don't keep cheating sluts around.”Jeff's girlfriend snorts then drops the controller and stands to switch the game in my X-Box.
“You know, I had the weirdest dream last night....” Jeff starts.
“Were you wearing a full bodysuit with breasts and a vagina, dancing in the middle of a clearing while midgets dressed in silken finery and carrying bowls of Li'l Smokies chanted Kumbaya as Cat-Girls flung blue mud at you?”
Jeff stares at me, speechless then shakes his head finally.
I sigh. “Why am I the only one who ever has that dream?”