Experimental Magic ✔

Coffee Break: The Remix

In celebration of Meadow and Kimi's newfound friendship, Markos decided to take them on a mini shopping trip downtown. Although, Markos quickly discovered that their mini shopping trip wouldn't end up being so mini after all. He originally told them they could get one thing each, but then one turned into two and two turned into three, and he completely lost control of the situation. He didn't know where he went wrong to have two 15 year-olds running his life, but there he was. Walking out of the eighth store of the day juggling armsful of shopping bags.

"Okay," Markos said, trying to reclaim some semblance of control. "I think I'm at my limit here."

"Are you kidding? It's only 1:00," Kimi joked. "You're a light-weight, Professor Tarby."

"Kimi," Markos leveled. "We've been shopping for four hours straight. Can't we at least stop for lunch?"

"I am kind of hungry," Meadow said.

Markos was thankful that Meadow backed him up. It was bad enough that he had to ask a teenage girl wearing cat ears for permission to eat lunch in the first place. He didn't want to have to beg for it.

"I guess we could use a break..."

Kimi was somewhat reluctant at first, but then she spotted a coffee shop down the street with a sign out front advertising freshly made rainbow bagels and she was sold. Markos saw her eyes light up at the sign and knew he was in deep shit. She made a beeline for the coffee shop and then stopped in front of the sign and stared at it like it was the Messiah

The thing was, it wasn't just any coffee shop. It was the coffee shop. His only hope was that Brie wasn't working that day. He snuck a peek inside as subtly as he could. The very first thing he saw out of the corner of his eye was her blonde braids and a silver nose ring. Dammit, he swore to himself.

"Rainbow bagels," Kimi whispered to herself in awe.

Her head immediately turned to Markos with pleading puppy dog eyes. Markos did his best to stay strong and not fall for her tricks. She may have swindled him out of a couple hundred bucks with those eyes, but he wasn't going to let her drag him into an awkward encounter with Brie.

"Can we eat here, pretty please?" Kimi pleaded.

Kimi definitely knew how to tug at his heartstrings, but he was determined not to give in. He hadn't stepped foot in that coffee shop since the incident and he wasn't planning on it anytime soon. He figured he could go back in another three years after she graduated. It wasn't a sacrifice he wanted to make, but it was a sacrifice he needed to make.

"I don't know, Kimi, you barely had breakfast. We should get something more substantial. I don't want you to be hungry in another few hours."

Meadow immediately picked up on Markos's attempts to push her in a different direction. She found it strange considering he was Ted Bundy level obsessed with that coffee shop.

"What's with you? You love this place," Meadow asked.

Markos sensed the suspicion in her voice, so he did his best to keep it cool.

"I don't know, I'm not feeling it today," he said as casually as he could.

"You? Not feeling coffee? You drink like ten cups a day."

"Exactly. I'm burnt out."

Meadow gave him the eye as she tried to figure out his strange behavior. In all her life, she had never seen Markos say no to coffee. Something was definitely not right there. Markos tried to keep his composure, but the longer Meadow stared at him, the harder it became. Then, he made a fatal mistake. His eyes flickered towards Brie and a light went off in Meadow's head. She immediately put two and two together.

"Wait," she said. "Is that the girl?"

"Girl? What girl?" Kimi said. She perked up, eager to get the hot gossip on her former teacher. "Omg, Professor Tarby, do you have a girlfriend?"

"I'm not answering that."

"That's totally her," Meadow said with a huge grin on her face.

She knew she had his number.

"That's it. We're eating here. I have to meet her."

"Me too," Kimi joined in. "I want to meet her, too!"

Markos tried to stop them, but it was too late. The girls were already scurrying inside, ready to wreak havoc on his life once again. They hadn't even gotten five steps in before Markos saw Kimi pull out her phone and open Snapchat. She took a snapshot and typed out the caption "Professor Tarby's after-hours entertainment". She was about to press send, but luckily Markos grabbed her phone in the nick of time.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What? It's not like anyone is going to be surprised you have a slam-piece," Kimi said.

She sounded way too innocent for someone who had just taken a picture of someone without their permission and called them a slam-piece.

"Jesus Christ, Kimi," Markos said and rubbed his forehead in a mix of exasperation and sheer disbelief. It'd be a miracle if these girls didn't get him fired before the day was done.

"Listen to me," he said sternly. He ducked down to their level and looked at them both in the eyes to show that he was serious. "We're ordering, we're getting our food and we're leaving. You're not going to stare at her, you're not going to giggle when we get to the counter and you're certainly not going to take any more pictures of her. Do you understand me?"

Neither of the girls thought Markos had it in him to scold them like that, and it put the fear of God in them. They stared at him with wide eyes and nodded their heads in obedience.

"Okay, good," he said and then loosened back up. It made him uncomfortable being stern with the girls. He much preferred being the fun, cool authority figure that let you get away with stuff, but he felt the situation warranted some discipline. "Let's go."

He led the two girls up to the counter and they did exactly as he asked. They ordered their food completely straight-faced and immediately went to sit down. Markos stepped up to the counter to order and pay. He was still embarrassed about the whole situation, but the girls were watching and it was time he stepped up and faced it like an adult. If he had done that in the first place, the girls would have never suspected a thing and it wouldn't have blown up in his face.

"Hi," he said to Brie as politely and neutrally as possible.

"Hi," she said. "Black coffee?"

"Yes, please."

Brie nodded and added up his total. She told him what he owed, he paid and he figured that was the end of that. What he didn't know was that ever since Brie told Tyrella what happened on their date, she had been pushing Brie to give him a second chance. At first, Brie was completely against it, but Tyrella could sell ice to an Eskimo. Every day they worked together, Tyrella sang his praises and slowly chipped away at Brie's resentment. Even right then, she could feel Tyrella's eyes watching their conversation. Brie glanced over at her out of the corner of her eye and saw Tyrella give her a nudging gesture, encouraging her to talk to him more.

Markos turned to take his seat, but with another nudge from Tyrella, she called after him.

"Markos," she said.

Markos turned back, thinking maybe he forgot his card or something, but to his surprise, she wanted to talk.

"Hey, um," she said. "I'm about to go on break. Do you think we could talk?"

He was a little stunned, but happy to get the chance to apologize.

"Yeah, definitely."

"Okay," Brie said with a relieved smile as she untied her apron.

Markos smiled and followed her out the door to the picnic outback. As he was leaving, Meadow and Kimi popped their heads over their seats and watched him walk out with her. He felt their gaze and turned to give them a warning. Not a word, he mouthed to the girls and spun his finger in a circle to signal for them to turn around. Still freaked out from their scolding, the girls whipped their heads back around and quickly jumped back in their seats.