Letters to the Author -Larry Stylinson

chapter one

"This is the worst coffee I have ever tasted."

Louis glared at the scowling teenage girl sitting on a rotating bar stool, sunglasses tucked back into her blonde hair and a look of distaste on her face. The coffee sat lonely between the two of them, steam rising into the air as Louis had just made it. 

"Our coffee is the best in this whole town," Louis snapped, grabbing the cup and taking a sip just to prove a point. "You're just picky. All you want is Starbucks, all day, all night. Most ridiculous thing I've ever seen."

The girl looked taken aback, raising her eyebrows in surprise as Louis snatched the coffee cup and dumped it in the sink, the whole time mumbling profanities and shaking his head. 

"Someone must've had a bad day," she commented, swivelling back and forth in her chair and resting her chin in her hands. 

Louis whipped around. "Screw off," he growled, slapping a rag on the counter to wipe off the tiny bit of liquid he had spilt.

"Dude, what's your problem?" She drummed her blue fingernails on the counter in front of the boy. The rest of the small cafe was empty, only a few students from the uni nearby sitting at an occasional table or two. Louis was usually relaxed at his job; being a barista was great when all of the customers weren't nosy like this girl and didn't remind him of his sour mood. And his supervisor always let him drink as much tea as he wanted. 

"I don't see why I should be telling you anything. You spit the coffee I put my heart and soul into all over the place and I had to clean up your mess."

She scoffed. "I guarantee you didn't put a horse's leg into the crappy cup of coffee. It tasted like water and creamer. Awful."

"Do you want me to shove a cactus up your-"

"Louis."

Louis closed his eyes, sighing deeply and turning around to face one of his co-workers, Liam. He had a deep, worried frown on his face, his eyebrows furrowed and warm eyes full of confusion. "Lou, what's wrong? Did this girl say something to you?"

Louis shook his head. "No, she's fine. Liam, I have a favor to ask. You get off an hour earlier than me, right?"

Liam nodded, clearly not understand where the older boy was going with this.

"Can you cover my shift so I can leave early?" He ran a hand over his face, hoping Liam would say yes. 

The boy sighed, closing his eyes before agreeing, defeated. "Fine. I was just gonna go home and read anyway."

The thought of reading made Louis' heart stutter. Ever since he closed his book last night, he had been so confused.

***

The time passed slowly, although half of it Louis and the girl he never knew the name of shot stupid insults and clever comments back and forth at each other, until the hour hand reached five and Louis' shift was over. He let out a breath, untying his purple apron with white polka dots. After hanging it up and gathering his satchel and dark plum beanie, he strolled outside into the cool summer air of Doncaster. The walk back to his dorm was quite short; that's one of the main reasons he chose his job at Donnie Cafe, that and because it smelled good and left his clothes scented like coffee beans.

He pulled the beanie over his fringe that had grew tangled and messy throughout his long day at work. It wasn't cold enough to wear the sweatshirt he had brought, so he stuck with his thin black shirt and khakis he had to wear on the job. The city smelled of food and gasoline, a smell he had grown quite used to, it being his second year of uni.