The Mitternact Café
Where's My Coffee?! Page 1
Continuation of the Main Discussion From The Mitternacht Bank
Ao mumbled to herself as she and her friends walked into the busy café. "I can't believe ye likes coffee," she grumbled while looking around the booths to see which one was empty that they could sit at.
Gregory ignored the comment with a shrug and turned to Desya, gesturing towards the counter. "You want anything?"
Desya stammered, "uh. . . do. . do sthey haav. . . hott chocolaat. . .?"
Gregory peered at the menu, and then pointed. "Aha! There it is! Yes, they do." He put a hand on Desya's shoulder and steered him in the direction Ao had gone. "You just go join her; I'll be there in a minute." He turned to Ao, who had sat down at an empty table. "Shall I order you a chai?" Hearing grumbles for a response, he simply waved his hand flippantly and headed over to the counter, waiting in line to order the drinks.
Desya nodded in thanks and left to joined Ao.
Ao's face was twisted in disgust as she watched a young man from across the room sip a cup of coffee while reading his paper. Turning to Desya, she grumbled, "Can ye believe that they actually drink that stuff?! Et's nasty!"
slightly intimadated by Ao's angry air, Desya mumbled, "i done'tt know. . . iis it all sthat baadt?"
(ooc: um, Okami, do you realize that Greg hasn't even brought the drinks yet? XD it's ok... might wanna do some cuttin' and pastin' though)
Gregory brought over the drinks: a hot chocolate for Desya, a mocha latte for himself, a caramel latte for Angela, (who has been sitting in the corner staring out the window dreamily, not listening to the conversation) and a chai for Ao. "Just try it..." he said to Ao's mutinous countenance. "If you don't like it I swear I'll never make you try anything again. But I really think you're gonna like it..." he says encouragingly. Meanwhile, he turns to Desya, who he is right across the table from. "How's your hot chocolate?" He smiles at him over the steam from their drinks.
he sniffed his own beverage appriciatively before sipping. closing his eyes and enjoying the taste and warmth of it.
"mmm . . . is good." he opened his eyes, smiling in gratitude, ". . .thank you."
Gregory has to bite his lip to stop from beaming at him just for saying that.
Don't scare the poor guy off when you've only known him a few hours, he told himself harshly.
Back off. He took a deep breath and a swig of coffee, and then felt more like himself. He forced his voice to sound casual as he asked Desya, "So, you used to belong to a theatre troupe? That must've been really fun... I love going to shows but I can't act or sing worth a damn. What was it like, traveling across the world and getting to know so many new people?" He almost has to screw up his face into simply an expression of mild curiosity, and not anything, erm, more...
suggestive.
Desya turned slightly red, "ah. . . it waas fan. i . i didn't really meat people sthough." he laughed sheepishly at himself, "i ollways hid backstadge after shows. . ." he tried to smile but had a nagging feeling that he failed.
after a minute or two, he looked as though he had been kicked with a boot, realizing that he should follow up in Gregory's attempt at conversation, "ah. . .!! so. . ah .. hwhat didd you ddo. .. ?" he looked nervice and unsure if he had said something acceptable or not.
Gregory seemed confused for a minute, then ventured, "You mean, as a career? Well, I've bounced around a lot, you might say... I worked at a pizza parlor for about a year when I was a few years younger than you, but I gave that up-- poor wages and poorer tips. Then I decided to take a whack at being a writer... they don't call us "starving artists" for nothing... and then, I finally got a job as a teacher. A high-school english teacher. I loved the job, and the kids as well. It was such a fun experience: I felt like I was really making a difference in their lives. In fact, it was during that time that I met..." Gregory's face suddenly darkened and he trailed off, looking into his coffee. Angela, who had been listening keenly to see if he would continue on this thread of conversation, cast a glance in his direction. Seeing that he'd given up talking about it, she gave him a look of disgust and stared moodily into her own drink.
Desya stared awkwardly at the table, should he ask about what was troubling Gregory, or should he leave the subject be. . .? he didn't want to assume anything, but Gregory looked about the same as Desya felt when thinking about . . .him.
". . .i sorry. . " he said quietly, not quite sure if it was the right thing. he didn't want to offend Gregory.
Angela suddenly reached across the table and took Desya's hand. "Sweetie, you don't need to apologize at all," she said. She then sat back up and glared at Gregory, who was still staring into his drink. She leaned down next to Desya again, but left his hand alone: she didn't want to scare him. "It's
him that needs to apologize," she said, jerking her head at Gregory's still form. Gregory appeared not to have noticed, so Angela continued in a low voice, "When Gregory was a teacher at that high school, one day he met this guy in the staffroom who turned out to be a student teacher. Turns out he wanted to be an english teacher too. They hit it off right away. Soon they were grading papers and making lesson plans together, and always talking about something. And once they, you know, brought things out into the open, as you might say, they got really cheesy... finishing each other's sentences, quoting romantic bits of Shakespeare to each other, the whole bit. But it was too intense. It was Gregory's first relationship, and he threw himself into it full-force. I tried to talk to him about calming things down a bit, but he never listened... anyway, one day he went over to this guy's place and found him making out on his couch... with a
girl. Turns out he was bi. He tried to explain things, but it pretty much ended there. Gregory was devastated beyond all hope. Instead of him nursing
me out of a painful breakup, I was nursing
him... it was a miserable time, and our friendship got really rocky. Enough time has passed that he won't burst into tears randomly anymore, but he still refuses to talk about it-- any of it. Not to mention his dating life has certainly suffered..." She paused and blew her bangs out of her eyes with a long, slow sigh. "...but I'm just rambling now. You get the gist of it, I hope." She leaned back into her spot, and the faintest smile flickered across her face, as well as a small wink. It was almost as if she was giving him encouragement. Then, after a few moments of rather awkward silence, she suddenly stood up and started whisking away everyone's drinks. "C'mon, let's go, the coffee shop is only where the nerds hang out." She took hers and Desya's empty cups, Ao's untouched chai, and, with some difficulty, pried Gregory's drink out of his hands. He seemed to start, as if he had been asleep, but his face was still dark, and he suddenly looked much older. Angela led him by the arm out of the shop, and both of them stood blinking in the sunlight until Ao and Desya had joined them. "So, my two new friends, where shall we go next?" she said to Ao and Desya.
Desya was flabbergasted, he hadn't expected to learn so much about any of these people so quickly. he didn't quite know how to react as he was filled with a bitter feeling for this 'student teacher', whom hurt Gregory, as well as embarasment as he realized Angela was basically telling him Gregory's orientation. all he could do was keep silent and shrug as Ao's question, his mind in semi-chaos and face bright red.
Angela greeted the stares and silence with a smile. She thought for a moment, her eyes darting between all of them, and finally she linked arms with Ao and said, "I'm gonna show Ao
the art museum of mitternacht route... how about we meet up at my place at six for dinner? Sound good? All right then!" Leading a surprised Ao and leaving a stony-faced Gregory and an almost petrified-look
ing Desya, Angela left, heading for the museum.
Desya moved his mouth as if to protest, but nothing came out. his face turned so red that his hair begain to seem lighter as he sat in silence, fidgeting regularly.
Gregory stood there for a minute, but then suddenly caught sight of Angela and Ao leaving, and seemed to snap out of the mood he'd been in. He looked around sheepishly for a moment before saying, "Um, where did they go? I... didn't hear..." He smiled stupidly at Desya, hoping to lift the amount of tension in the air that was almost tangible.
Desya looked as though he was concentrating hard on something, "ah. . . sthey went to. . .uh. . . an. . . 'Art Museum'. . .?? and then. . " his brow creased, "we are to meet sthem at . . . at A-Angela's 'place' at . . .the stiicks??" he hoped he had gotten it right, but somehow doubted it.
Gregory chuckled, and when he spoke his voice was more normal. "Of course, the first thing she does to a new person in town is drag them to the art museum... it's like her second home." He thought about the rest of what Desya had said and continued: "I don't know what she meant by 'the sticks', but I'll just call her on her cell later. She's probably planning some big dinner or something for all of us." He reflects for a second, then adds as an afterthought: "It's been a long time since she's been this happy..." he trails off and looks at Desya. Seeing his bright red face and extremely uncomfortable expression, he asks, "What's wrong, mate?"
"uh. . " Desya faltered, "n-nosthink is wrong. ssorry??"
he smiled awkwardly, "i am glad that Angela is happy. . . ?" he didn't know if that was the right thing to say, but it was all he could think of to get off the subject of his poor social skills.
Gregory suddenly put two and two together. "Oh, God, she told you, didn't she?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, well, you'd have found out anyway, and it's best that you heard it from her..." he trails off, then looks at Desya, and suddenly his eyes are twinkling the way they were when he first saw Desya. He takes him by the hand and says, "come on, I want to show you something." He leads him at a run-walk pace down the street in the opposite direction that Angela led Ao in.
he had started to appologize again, but then before he knew it, he was being led away, timidly he asked, "w-where are we goink. . .?"
"Sssh, you'll see," Gregory said, smiling now. He tugged slightly at Desya's hand and picked up the pace, saying, "Come on!"
"a-alright . . !" Desya ran after Gregory, a bit curious and excited now.
Continue at The Versteckte Oase
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