The Coffee Shop

The Coffee Shop

I had just settled back down in my chair when I saw him amble in from the parking lot. He pulled his black leather jacket down tight around his hips and pressed his hand down the front. He caught his imagine in the glass door just as he reached for the handle and a quick approving smile touched his lips. With a slight toss of his head to muss up his hair just the right amount, he entered the coffee shop.

His eyes swept the room to make sure that he was being seen. A few heads lifted from their newspapers and the two old women sitting in the corner quit gossiping for a moment as he held his hands up to his mouth as if praying and blew loudly into them.

“Cold out there today,” he said, just loud enough to assure that those who had not noticed him, now did. He grinned and nodded as if he were the only person who had had that brilliant of a thought and waited for comments from the room. Nothing. Everyone had gone back to their lives.

He pulled on his jacket again and turned his attention to the girl behind the counter. She was short, but not too short to notice. Her shoulder length hair was the color our mothers used to call dishwater blond; not blond, not brunette, the color of a mutt; and she had the lifelong habit of forcing it behind her ears with short, stiff jerks. Her thin cheeks only added to her plainness, and when she smiled her face went from merely pleasant to perky. He began his repartee with a sideways smile that was designed to make her heart beat faster and it worked.

“If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”

I actually felt my gag reflex kick in. I watched her closely, silently begging her to walk way, or at the least ignore him. She blushed from chin to forehead in bright red blotches that looked as hot as a fever. And then she giggled. It made me think that girls should never giggle like that in public. It should be reserved for slumber parties and only after 3 AM.

He moved in closer to her and leaned one elbow on the pastry case.

“Do you have a break coming up soon? I have a half hour to kill and you’re murdering me with those eyes.”

It took everything I had to not throw my cup at him. Her eyes grew wider and she touched her lips with the tip of her tongue as she pushed into the counter, leaning slightly over the Formica.

“You don’t want to take my break with me,” she whined. She probably thought that she sounded like she was pouting, as if she had suddenly transformed into Jessica Simpson. In reality, her voice raked across the air like a saw blade, whining, begging. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know we must have met in a previous life. I’ve had a vision of you as an Egyptian Princess.” He saw in her face that he had gone too far.

“Can I get you something to drink today?” She motioned over her shoulder to the menu board.

“No, no really. I could feel something between us the second I walked in here. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it too. It’s in your eyes. Those eyes. Wow.”

I could hear her take in a quick breath. He had her. She would throw down her apron and follow him out the door to whatever cave he had crawled out of. All he had to do was ask. I’d had enough. I got up from my chair and walked over to them. I put my cup down on the counter with a harsh knock and pushed it slightly in her direction.

“Hey!” he didn’t try to hide his anger from me, “Wait your turn.” His irritation pleased me more than it should have.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” His face twisted darkly as I turned my attention to my cup and gave it another small nudge. “I’ll wait,” I told the girl with a broad smile.

Forced to pick up the pace, he ordered his latte. Some frothy thing with more sugar and milk than coffee. She rang it up and sent the order back to the barista. He reached into his pocket and took out his cheap canvas wallet, tearing the Velcro apart with a harsh rip. He pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill and snapped it tight before handing it to her. She reached for it and he snatched it away from her, causing her to giggle again. He smiled at her and held it out to her but as she reached for it again, back it came. He waited to see if she would laugh again and she did, but not as loud and not as happy. Even she could see where this was going. She took a breath and put her hands palm down on the counter and waited.

“Hey,” he lowered his voice to a soft whisper. She looked back up to him and he waited until she held one hand out, waist high, palm up before he pressed the money in it. She blushed again as she counted out his change. She glanced at me and then dropped her eyes away.

She handed him his change. Looking at me and in defiance, he pushed ten dollars back at her. She started to protest as he held his hands up and shook his head. That lopsided smile that almost carried a wink stopped her and she tucked the money into her apron pocket. He got his wallet back into his pocket just as his coffee was placed in the pick-up window. He took a deep look at her, slid his eyes over to me and asked her, “What time do you get off?”

She flustered like a bird after being caught in a rainstorm.

“Five o’clock. I’m off at five. I normally get a ride, but I can call them and tell them not to come. Will you really be here?” She didn’t know that she was rambling.

“Yeah, call ‘em. I’ll be here.” He looked at me, picked up his coffee and turned his back on her, watching his reflection return in the glass doors.

“My name is Cindi, with an ‘I’”, she called after him, “see you at five!” At the door, I could see that the girl and I were in the reflection also. He glanced at me and winked, a greasy smile pulling his face into a sneer as he let himself out. He walked into the cool of the afternoon, the wind having picked up since he’d come in.

Her face flushed as she got back around to me. “Let me fill that up for ya.” When her back was to me, she hopped. Just once. Just slightly.

Bringing me my cup with a fresh grin, she pushed at my money with a flourish. “No, it’s on me. I’m sorry you had to wait.” She couldn’t help herself when she asked me, “Wasn’t he cute?”

I smiled sadly and thanked her for the coffee. I went back to my chair and watched and listened. She asked a friend to cover for her so she could make a phone call. By the time she came back, I was gone.

************************************************************************

I watched from my car for about an hour. She had appeared at the door at exactly five minutes to five. Her hair had been combed, the apron was gone and she had on fresh lip gloss. She positioned herself in one of the metal mesh chairs, moving first this way and then that, sitting up straighter, then slumping back a bit. She settled on sitting back, legs crossed, arms cradling her chest. She had a perfect view of both entrances of the parking lot, and her head moved from side to side every minute or so. Co-workers came and went, waving good night, asking if she needed a ride. She smiled, thanked them and kept watching.

I got out of my car and walked over to her. I sat down without being asked and she accepted my presence. Her eyes were red and her nose was running a bit from the wind. I reached into my purse and brought out a tissue. I laid it on the table next to her.

“Kleenex?” She took a second to register what I’d said. She shook her head and looked down just as the wind picked it up and tossed it across the lot. Neither one of us tried to grab it. She pulled her hands up into her sleeves and wrapped her arms around herself tighter. We sat that way. Two minutes. Three minutes.

“Do you think he’s coming?” She didn’t sound sad. She just wanted to know.

“Nope.”

“After a long pause, she asked me, “How did you know he wouldn’t come back? Do ya know him?”

“A man like him once.” I sighed, remembering. “A long time ago.”

She pulled out her cell phone. “Hi, Mom. Yeah, my plans fell through. Could you come get me? I’m still at work. Thanks.” She flipped it shut and dropped it back into her pocket.

She wasn’t ready to give up just yet. “Did he come back for you?”

“Yeah. He did. “A small swirl of wind caught the Kleenex again and tossed it into the air, playing with it the way a cat plays with a mouse.

She sniffed a pushed her hair back behind her ears. Another car drove in and she sat up quickly. She sat on the edge of her seat as she watched it pass her and pull into the drive-thru.

We waited for a few more minutes until a blue van pulled up. She stood up without a word or glance in my direction and got into the van. I watched them drive away.

It wasn’t much longer before he drove up and stopped his black 1979 Trans Am, complete with the bright orange bird plastered on the hood, right in front of me. He reached over and unrolled the passenger side window. Then he sat back and draped his hand over the steering wheel and began drumming his thumb to “Metalica” blaring from the speakers.

After a minute of this, I stood up and walked over to his car and leaned into the open window.

“She went home.”

“Okay.” He kept up the drumming, his face not changing.

“She only waited about five minutes for you, then took off. She told me she had better things to do.” I don’t know why I lied to him.

“So why are you still here?” I didn’t have an answer for him.

“You getting in or are ya just gonna stand there and freeze to death?”

I stood up and wrapped my fingers around the door handle, waiting, not thinking. He gunned the engine and the car seemed to lift up off the ground, hot, ready to race, tired of sitting there. I opened the door and got in.

“Where to?” he asked. He still hadn’t looked at me.

“Wherever you’re heading I guess.” I rolled up the window with my cold hands and wasn’t surprised to see that they were shaking.

He finally turned to me. “I was just gonna get out of this one-horse town, no where for sure. How far do you wanna go?”

I tilted my head and looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

“As far as you’ll take me.”


The End