A Deal With God

Chapter 24: Quinn's Whim

"Oh, the Quinn Combo is an opportunity to get a pairing recommendation from our superstar barista, Quinn," Chrissy explained cheerily. At the second mention of her name, Quinn lifted her head in acknowledgement before turning back to the lattes in front of her. "If you know what drink you'd like, she can suggest something to eat with it, or vice versa, or, if you're feeling adventurous, you can do "Quinn's Whim" and let her decide for you entirely," Chrissy continued.

Eddie was grateful to the woman for asking the question in his stead, but he lost track of the interaction after that. He only caught snippets of what the next five people in front of him ordered as well, words like "cappuccino" and "flat white" and "latte" popped up. Apparently "small", "medium", and "large" cups were too ordinary for this place but he didn't have the time to find the logic in the "tall" meaning "small" because he found himself in front of the till, a petite blonde he recognised from school on the other side of the counter.

"Hi! What can we get started for you?" Chrissy asked him warmly, her hand already in the air with a marker waiting to write up an order.

"I, uh, I'll try 'Quinn's Whim'," Eddie managed to say coherently even though he was cringing inside. He was torn down the middle about it. "Quinn's Combo" was a terrible name, "Quinn's Whim" was better, but judging by her expression when Chrissy explained the concept to the woman earlier, she didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the whole thing. The truth is, he didn't know the first thing about coffee. He was used to instant coffee at home or the filtered coffee at diners when he had breakfast out with his uncle from time to time. He was completely out of his depth here and the option of leaving his order entirely up to her felt like the safest choice.

"Quinn's Whim!" Chrissy called, getting Quinn's attention. She was in the middle of pouring steamed milk into a cup when she looked up. Her eyes met his and she blinked a couple times, visibly surprised to see him. She held his stare and for a brief moment, he worried that the milk she was pouring would overflow but, of course she had steamed just enough to fill the cup with half an inch of room left at the top. Her gaze shifted over to Chrissy and he started worrying that showing up to her place of work like this was maybe not the best idea.

"Put it on my tab," she told Chrissy, grabbing a lid and securing it to the cup that she then slid across the counter to the woman from earlier.

"You're all set, you can move down to the pickup counter," Chrissy said, pulling his attention away from Quinn.

"But I haven't paid yet," Eddie reminded her skeptically.

"We put friends and family orders on 'a tab'," Chrissy said, making quotation signs with her hands at the end. Eddie nodded awkwardly before moving along the counter and finding himself with a clear view of Quinn and her workstation.

"Hey," he greeted, trying to ignore the others that were standing around waiting for their orders.

"Hi," she acknowledged him with a neutral tone, her eyes meeting his again for a second before she turned back to the orders in front of her. He watched as she measured out milk in certain cups, did all sorts of manoeuvres with the different levers and buttons on the complicated machine in front of her. She leaned back to drop some used steamer jugs in the sink and grabbed the two clean ones that were drying on the side and started steaming the milk she'd previously measured out as four different espresso shots poured into little cups. Clearly, Eddie could not have picked a worst time for this, but he was here and she was there and he decided that there was no turning back at this point.

"I'm really sorry about last night," he started. She took her eyes off of the steaming milk to glance at him. He was briefly distracted by the the fact that she was holding the bottom of the metal jug with her bare hand. How is she not burning herself?, he wondered.