The GEEKs

3. every good kid deserves money, food, and love

"Oh, sorry!" I utter an apology after almost murdering someone with a door when I barge in like a hurricane.

"Don't stand in the way, Jeff." My victim's friend reproaches him giving me a cheeky grin. To be honest, both guys look exactly like I'd imagine people who shop at a thrift store – both are wearing hats that I can't decide which one is more ridiculous, their necks and wrists are weighed down with a bunch of necklaces and bracelets, and the one who spoke, the remarkably scrawny one, is wearing a little tiger print vest.

"Don't cripple my clients, Eva." Kat smiles at me from the counter in the depth of the relatively tiny store and then exchanges smiles with the scrawny guy. "So how was the interview?" She asks me when I get close enough so that she doesn't need to raise her voice.

"Not great." I answer honestly. I think I'm generally pretty good at job interviews; I don't get too nervous so that I couldn't open my mouth or something, but I tried my luck at Five Point this time and I know I really don't stand many chances because I've never worked with alcohol; I can make the greatest cup of cappuccino in two seconds but I've never had to make cocktails and during the interview I felt like that's not going to lend itself to me getting the job. "There were people who actually have experience with bartending, so even if I'd have no problem learning every cocktail on the menu by heart I feel like no one would hire me over someone who already knows how to do it."

"Well just try regular cafes, you probably have enough coffee pulling experience to open your own place by now."

"Yeah, but I need to find a place that's hiring first."

"Hi, sorry um..." The skinny guy with a cowboy hat squeezes past a few crates with all sorts of glory from the seventies and awkwardly gives us a brief wave of his hand. "I couldn't help overhearing you... They're actually looking for a barista at Jeff's café, Raison d'Etre." He points back at his friend who's digging through a box of ribbons with a girl with curly dirty blonde hair that I only now realise is there with them.

"Thanks, man." Kat beams at the guy and looks at me with a stern kind of squint that reminds me of my mother. "See, go there, right now... Are they open today?" Kat glances at her wristwatch, which she wears on her right wrist for some reason, as if expecting it to tell her that it's Saturday, and then shifts her gaze to the guy's face.

"Yeah, they're open until like seven, so listen to Kat and go today."

"What are we talking about?" The other guy, Jeff, walks up to us following the girl who's holding a few rolls of different coloured ribbons.

"Nothing." The skinny guy quickly answers which I can't help but find a little weird; but what do I care, I desperately need a job and not a lot of places are willing to offer flexible working hours, which I need since I'm working on my Master's degree, so I just hope Raison d'Etre will be the place for me. I must have sent out my CV to twenty places already and only one answered so far; that's how much I don't care why this guy doesn't want his fried to know he just told me about the job vacancy.

Kat enters the price into the cash register by hand, since nothing in this place has a barcode, puts the ribbons in a small bag while making small talk, counts the coins, they all exchange 'see ya later's and the two guys and a girl leave.

"You know them?" I follow the trio with my eyes through a dusty window.

"Kinda. They're like my regulars, I see them at least once a week. Jeff and Stone are in a band—"

"Stone?"

"Yeah! Isn't that the coolest name you've ever heard?"

"Not really..."