A Minute With My Cappuccino (boyxboy)

Espress Oh (1)

Nothing like the aroma of coffee to get me started on a new day. At five o’clock in the morning. On a Sunday. In a coffee shop. Where I work. 

I’ll admit it, I showed up to work fifteen minutes late, I should have been here at four thirty. It’s that snooze button that always gets  me. When the alarm goes off, that button smiles at me and whispers “touch me and I’ll make the noise go away.” Next thing I know, after all the trust I put into that piece of plastic, I look over and see the time is 4:25AM, then it giggles and says “oops, sorry!” Story of my life. 

It takes me approximately four and a half minutes to get ready. Ten seconds to panic and gather my bearing. One minute to brush my teeth and pee, at the same time. Thirty seconds to put on a shirt, jeans, and socks. Fifteen seconds to put on hair gel- I go for the messy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look. Five seconds to slip my shoes on. Two and a half minutes to look for my keys and wallet only to realize that it was in my pockets in the entire time. Then I’m out the door. 

As I stand in front of the espresso machine waiting for my doppio espresso to pour, I saw through my peripheral vision that my coworker is waiting to say something to me. One rule of my rules as supervisor- do not talk to me until I have my caffeine. She thought I didn’t notice her lingering around the brewed coffee station nearby when that is all set up already. The shots finally poured into the ceramic cup and I brougt it up to my lips and take a sip. The rich and bold flavor. The depth of it. The smoothness as it glided along my tongue. If angels were liquid, they would taste like this. 

“You have something to tell me, Casey. Don’t you?” I asked, slightly moved my head toward her direction and set my cup on the counter.

“Yes! You won’t believe what happened to me yesterday! I saw Paul at the beach with another girl. At first, I didn’t know it was him but then I recognized the shirt.” She continued on but somehow I got lost and gave up on listening. I never understood how she can be perky at this time of day. 

I’ve known Casey for  about a year. She came into Java Jumping when I was working and ordered seven drinks for the people at the office she used to work at. She got into her car and I noticed she had left one of the lattes at the counter. Being a nice guy, I grabbed the cup and walked to her car. As soon as I got up to her door, she opened it without looking, realizing she only had six drinks. I was sent to the ground with her coworker’s sugar-free hazelnut nonfat latte. We’ve been friends since then. About two months ago, she decided to quit being an assistant and became a barista until a “better opportunity” came along.

“Wait,” I interrupted, as I walked into the lobby to pull the chairs off the tables. “Isn’t Paul your ex?”

She nodded. 

“Then what’s the problem? Aren’t you also dating someone else?” I can be blunt at times, I don’t find any point of beating around the bush. 

“I guess it’s still hard on me. I haven’t really gotten over it yet,” she said. Oh no, I know what this means. I stopped what I was doing and walked up to her and put my hands on her shoulders. 

“Listen, Case. You are normal. It’s okay to feel like this. You’ll be fine. Enjoy what you have now and soon Paul is going to be a distant memory.” The cheesy and cliche consolation was paired with my eyes locked on hers.  

“Thanks, Brayden.” She gave me a hug and went to the back room. I walked to the lobby to finish putting the down the chairs. About ninety seconds later Casey came out with the carafes of cream and milk and sets it on the counter near the door.

“Guess who else I saw at the beach yesterday,” she said. 

I set the last chair down and look at my watch- 5:14AM. We still haven’t had our first customer yet. Now I don’t feel bad for showing up late. Casey won’t tattletale to the big boss. 

“Who?” 

“Mason.”

“Oh. Did you say hi to him?” 

“No, he was jogging and had his earphones on.”

“Oh. I see.” I walk over to the espresso machine and pick up my cup. Casey follows me but stops at the register next to the machine. She’s waiting. She wants me to say something else. I lean against the counter and take a sip. 

“You know you can also talk to me about anything, right?” 

“Yeah, I know.”

She’s still waiting, not saying anything. I finish my liquid angel and look at her. This awkward silence lasts about half a minute. 

“Brayden!” she yelled. 

I’m caught off guard by her sudden change of volume and almost dropped the ceramic cup.

“What?!” 

“Did you want to tell me anything?” Casey asked in her normal inside voice.

“I don’t have anything to say,” I answered and walk to the back room to wash the cup. 

It took me twenty five seconds to wash that cup and a pair of tongs and put it into the sink full of sanitizer. It would have taken ninety seconds to clean up the mess if I dropped the cup. I went back out and caught Casey on her phone.

“Who can you be texting at this time?” I questioned.

“Don’t worry about it.” She put her phone into her pocket. At that moment, I felt my phone vibrate in my left back pocket. I pulled it out and saw that I received a text message. From Twitter. I know who it’s from. 

“Secrets don’t make friends,” I read my text aloud. I looked up at Casey and she smiled at me. “Hm, I guess we’re not friends then.”

“Hey! That’s not nice!” She gave an exaggerated pout and crossed her arms. 

I saw someone driving into the parking lot. The headlights shine brightly through the windows. Good. This should keep Casey busy.

“Now back to work, you coffee wench!” I commanded with a motion of cracking a whip.