*DISCONTINUED, BEING REWRITTEN* New Year, Temporarily New Me

Chapter 17

As I sip my coffee, the small building begins getting busier - the line nearly stretching out the door and tables around us filling rapidly.

I notice my hands start shaking, so I set my coffee down in favor of pulling my headphones out from under the neck of my hoodie. I set them around the back of my neck as I slide my phone out of my pocket. I turn my phone on and make it to my Spotify, pulling up my 'People' playlist. I bring the headphones to set on the top of my head, and sigh as the blaring sound of Patrick Stump's voice fills my ears.

Jan looks over at me and sends a concerned look when she sees me wearing the headphones. I shoot her a small smile, and she nods and turns around. There are no words to describe how grateful I am for Jan. That girl has saved me from so many different situations, it would take centuries to repay her - even though she says that that's just what friends do and I don't need to do anything, and that it's honestly no problem.

After a few minutes, I slip the headphones back down to the back of my neck, seeing as I should be fine; I've calmed down enough from the initial fear from the sheer amount of people. I'm still a bit on edge, but it's whatever, I can tell that Rem is dying from not being able to talk.

The second I bring my headphones down, Jan turns back to face me, "You better now?" She asks, concern in her voice. What did I do to deserve this girl?

"Yeah, just needed a second. It's chill." I reply, just now realizing that my music's still playing through my headphones - apparently I'm way too used to my music, since I somehow didn't realize it was still playing. I look down to the phone still in my hands and hit pause on the song currently playing - "Shy Away" by Twenty Øne Piløts. (Amazing song, I love it so much and know all the lyrics despite it only being released a little over a month ago. Listen to it, it'll be worth it!)

I set my phone on the table, face down - anxiety is not bothering to handle anything other than that - and look back up at my friends.

I look up to see that Remi is no longer sitting at the table and is now standing right beside me. I jump slightly at the sudden figure looming over me, despite it only being Remi.

"You want another coffee? Theirs is super fucking good and I know you love it. Sooo~?" She chimes, holding her probably empty coffee cup (Remi wastes no coffee).

"Sure, why not," I shrug and agree, then turn to Jan, "Jan? How 'bout you?" She looks down at her half full caramel drink and shakes her head.

I turn back to Remi to see her already up at the register, ordering our drinks. I don't even have to listen in on the conversation between her and the baristi to know that she didn't even have to say our specific orders. The two of us are in here almost every day, and everyone who works there knows us by name.

She comes back almost immediately, holding our drinks.

"Babes, guess what?" Remi asks - a rhetorical question, seeing as she answers the question herself immediately afterwards. "They knew we were gonna come back for seconds, as we do, so they had them ready! Bless the angel that is Hana!" I snicker as she hands me my drink, which prompts her to start giggling, which prompts Jan to join in, although she rolls her eyes as she laughs.

After our small laughing fit, we fall back into a comfortable silence. I look around the small building while sipping my fresh coffee, despite knowing the whole place like the back of my hand - like I said, Rem and I are always here. The baby blue walls with detailed clouds on them, the circular tables neatly placed around the room - all painted a light pink with large creme polka dots -, the off-white rectangular tables with light brown/tan booth seats, the pale yellow and white checkered floor, the counter painted to match the walls; the whole thing just fits together perfectly. It's not exactly the place you'd expect someone with my aesthetic to be, but the atmosphere is just so calming and their coffee is literally amazing.

After around 30 minutes of the three of us just chilling in the cafè Remi and I have somehow had 5 coffees each. At times one of us would either start a conversation or just make a random comment, but most of the time was just spent in comfortable silence. Surprisingly enough, the vibes of the coffee shop can even calm Remi down and make her shut up for a prolonged period of time.

We finally decide to leave the coffee shop after Remi and I's 8th coffee refill, and by now it's around 5:15 and we had been there for a little over 45 minutes now. Remi stands up and grabs all three of our empty drink cups as Jan and I stand as well and file out of the booth. Remi throws them away and comes back to our table.

At this point, almost all of the people who were in the cafè are gone, and there are only two tables still occupied, not counting the one we just exited. I look out the window and see that the rain had slowed down to where it's almost completely stopped. I'd be disappointed about the rain slowing if I wasn't already calm because of the coffee shop.

Jan, Remi, and I exit the building, waving at Hana on the way out. Remi pauses at the end of the awning, seeing the rain still falling, no matter how lightly.

"Rem? You good?" I stop when I make my way to her side, and make sure she's alright. Without answering, she runs out from under the awning towards her house, screeching loudly.

At this, Jan just sighs and turns to me, "I'll go make sure she doesn't hurt herself... Or get hit by a car." She then starts jogging off in the same direction as Remi, calling after her, seemingly not bothered by the small amount of rain. I just chuckle and shake my head, walking towards Remi's house after tucking my headphones back under the neck of my hoodie.
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(1063 Words) Yooo! I actually got this done! Here you fucking go besties! I am genuinely proud of myself lol. Consider the double chapter and this extra long chapter an apology for how spaced out my past few updates have been. Are you proud of me Potato_chip33? Lol. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! See ya hopefully soon!