This Is The Story of a Girl...

History

"Oh it's on the other side of town. It's a cozy little cafe. I used to go there with my brother all the time. He used to teach me how to play guitar, and we would go there to do it sometimes. It's kind of like a little coffee shop more than a cafe, kind like in New York City." Nick pauses and glances over at Stella as they approach a stop sign. "But when I got good enough to play I used to perform on the little stage there. Just for the night time coffee drinkers like teachers and stuff." He exhaled as they passed their high school. Stella cringes at the sight of that awful place, empty and miserable on this Sunday afternoon.

"That's really cool. I'd to hear you play sometime." She comments as she fiddles with the pages of her beat up history text book. She steals a glance at his angelic face. She runs her eyes over the tips of his dark hair, and the dimple on his right cheek, and his bold jaw bone, and the shape his lips form when at rest.

His facial expression did not change a bit when Stella said this. He replied with a whisper, "I don't play anymore Stel." He stole a glance back at her with a flash of pain run across his blue eyes. She furrows her eyebrows in response and then he goes on with, "I just stopped playing after he passed away. I don't see the point anymore. There is no one to play for anymore." He paused and inhaled loudly, "And if my parents ever heard me playing they'd probably get really angry with me." He explains in a thoughtful way.

Stella did not respond right away. She left the silence alone, she liked the sound of the heater clunking and the slight buzz of the radio. She shifted her eyes out the passenger side window and concentrated on a speck on the glass. Soon she blocked out the clunking of the heater and the slight buzz of the radio and zeroed in on the gray speck. It sat on the window, it seemed to enjoy the silence too. It danced whenever Stella talked, probably because of the motion she was creating with the words she was speaking. She would have liked to think that the speck danced to the soft and soothing sound of her voice, but she knew that was a lie.

"Thinmint?" A melodic voice called from a close distance. Stella snapped back to the real world. She twists her neck to look at Nick sitting patiently him the driver's seat. "You there?" He asks with a crooked and teasing smile. She blushes and nods. "Well we're here." He says and nods to the door with the bell on it. She sees glass windows with people sitting with laptops and notebooks and with cell phones out. She sees the little stage that Nick was talking about earlier, and the stool standing in the middle of it, wanting desperately for someone to cozy themselves on it. She sees the scattered arm chairs and coffee tables with people rested on them with their legs crossed reading the paper or sinking their minds into a story that isn't theirs for awhile, slowly flipping the pages as their eyes scan every letter of every word on every page. Then her eyes roll up to reveal the name of this cozy cafe, Juniper.

"Berries." Stella whispers just loud enough for Nick to pick up with his sonar radar.

"Berries?" He questions, a bit confused.

Stella looks away from the blue and purple painted sign and into Nick's eyes. "Juniper are berries." She says simply.

Nick cracks a smile and asks, "And how do you know this?"

Stella shakes her head with a smile. She looks back up at the boy sitting next to her, "Long story."

Nick smiles and starts to gather his books and keys, Stella took that as a "we're going in now" gesture. She too began to gather her things. Nick opens the door and hops around to the passenger side of his truck and tugs open the door for Stella. "Madam Thinmint." He says in a British accent. Stella rolls her eyes and giggles a bit. He stuck his giant calloused hand out to help her out and onto the sidewalk.