The Tea Shop [mxm]

VII: Hot Chocolate... Coffee?

      ”I, uh…” Wren could hardly form a proper sentence, he was so shocked by what was happening. ”The regular, I guess. Whatever you… recommend?” Wren was so unsure of how to handle this situation, his answer came out as a question.

      ”That’s great! I just finished this really great pie, and I really wanted you to taste it. It’s kind of an experiment, so you’ll have to be my lab rat for this. Either way, with the pie I would totally recommend a cup of hot chocolate, to warm your frozen fingers. Sound good?” Elliot looked at him hopefully, but Wren wasn’t sure.

      ”Hot chocolate… Coffee?” He asked hopefully. Elliot just threw his head back and laughed.

      ”You and your coffee, Wren. No, unfortunately we don’t have hot chocolate coffee, although…” Elliot’s eyes went wide for a second. ”Actually, wait here!” With that, he was gone.

      Wren was completely dazed, and didn’t move a muscle. This behavior was certainly out of character for Elliot, but he did seem happier than he had the last couple of days. Despite the smile that never left his lips, Wren could tell that Elliot had been feeling a bit down. His usual graceful movements had slowed, and he had been avoiding small talk with customers.

      Hopefully, this behavior meant he was getting better. But Wren was skeptical.

      He didn’t even notice time passing, but Elliot was soon back at his table with a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

      ”Here you go, another experiment. Try it!” Elliot had a mischievous smile on his face, and Wren didn’t dare to take his eyes of the other man while slowly lifting the cup to his lips.

     After the first sip, his eyes went wide. What was in that cup? It had the amazing creamy chocolate taste, but after a couple of seconds the familiar aromas of coffee hit both his tongue and nostrils. He quickly took another big sip before putting the cup down.

      ”That’s amazing, Elliot! What is it?” Wren was extremely curious.

      ”Like I said, it’s kind of an experiment. What you said gave me an idea, so I combined the chocolate and coffee by adding a tablespoon or so of instant coffee in the chocolate, and then sprinkled some of the powder on the whipped cream instead of cocoa.” Elliot looked absolutely ecstatic, but looked disappointed when Wren frowned.

      ”What? What is it? Isn’t it any good? What’s wrong with it?”

      Wren waited a couple of seconds before answering, enjoying watching Elliot squirm. Then he raised an eyebrow.

      ”Instant coffee?” Wren added a playful smile, and Elliot laughed at him.

      ”Well, what was I supposed to do? And besides, you should be grateful. Do you have any idea how long it took to dig out that coffee powder from the cabinets? I wasn’t even sure we had any,” Elliot crossed his arms.

     ”It’s great, Elliot. Really.” Wren smiled at him, and Elliot smiled back.

      ”You seem to be in an awfully good mood today, what’s going on?” Wren asked him.

     ”Oh, nothing special really. Just Auntie Mae and Abigail stuffing my own cakes down my throat to make sure i eat. I think I’m high from all the sugar.” Elliot laughed once again, and continued tapping his foot against the ground. He probably wasn’t aware he was doing it.

     ”Well, that would explain you running around like a maniac,” Wren teased.

     ”Hey, I’m not a maniac, I just have a lot of excess energy. Wait, you never got your cake! Hold on, I’ll be back in a second.” And he was gone again, the kitchen door left swinging behind him. 

     Wren waited patiently for Elliot to come back, but he never did. The minuted ticked by, and Wren started to think Elliot had abandoned him. He sat sipping his hot chocolate coffee, and was anxiously waiting for the baker’s return.

     When ten minutes had gone by, he decided to ask Abigail what was going on. Maybe they’d had an emergency in the kitchen of something similar.

     ”Abigail,” he called when she walked past his table. She turned around, and smiled.

     ”Hi, Wren. What can I do for you that Elliot haven’t already done?” she asked teasingly.

     ”Actually, I wanted to ask about Elliot.”

     ”Really, what about him?” She seemed reluctant to share any information with him, but he asked anyway.

     ”Did something happen, just recently? He said he was going to get my cake, but he hasn’t returned. That was over ten minutes ago now, and I haven’t seen him leave the kitchen since.”

     Abigail immediately looked concerned.

     ”Really?” she asked. ”You know what? I’ll go check on him to make sure everything is okay.” She left her tray on his table, and Wren stayed seated. He couldn’t help but feel worried when he saw Abigail’s expression.

     He knew he shouldn’t follow her, but he was sitting on needles. His knees were bouncing, and he was sure something was wrong with Elliot.

     He got his confirmation when Abigail returned from the kitchen with a stiff smile on his face. Everything about her body language had changed, and now she was walking stiffly, her smile was forced, and it was obvious that something had happened. But she was trying to keep up appearances, and refused to tell Wren anything.

     ”Everything’s just fine, Wren. You don’t have to worry, but Elliot won’t be coming back out today. Actually, I think it’s about time to close the shop, isn’t it? Time sure flies by. Do you want that cake to go?”

     Wren just sat there, dumbfounded. What just happened, exactly? When he checked his watch, he saw that it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, and the tea shop was supposed to be open until eight. But he and the other customers were gently ushered out of the shop.

     As the door closed behind him and the others, everyone seemed just as confused.

     ”What happened?” one elderly man asked.

     ”Dear, don’t you remember last year? Or maybe it was two years ago… I can’t remember.” They started walking away, and Wren didn’t hear the whole conversation, but he did catch one last thing.

     ”Do you think it happened again? Poor boy, let’s hope it’s not as bad this time.”

     What he heard only made him more worried. They were talking about Elliot, he was sure about it. What he wasn’t sure about, though, is what had actually happened.

     All he knew was that something was wrong, and he felt awful. He didn’t want Elliot to be sick, or injured, or whatever it might be. He just couldn’t imagine his little ray of sunshine in a bad condition.

     All he wanted to do was storm right back into the café and figure out what was wrong. He wanted to help, but he couldn’t.

    Never in his life had he felt more helpless.

A/N: Oh no, what is going on with Elliot? Let's hope it's nothing too bad, right?

Next chapter should be up fairly soon, as I'm starting it as soon as I post this. Hope you enjoyed it  :)

(Oh and the photo is Abigail, the cute little Karen Gillan)