Which composer likes tea the most? Chai-kovsky.

4. and then it dawned on me

"Who says it has to be beautiful? Is nature always beautiful? Nature is beautiful because it's not always how we expect it to be." 

 - Maxim Vengerov

The sky was overcast this morning, as Eddy walked briskly to his coffee place. The weather was supposed to be bad today, so there were very few people out. That also could be on account of the time. He quickened his steps. The less time I spend walking, the more time I can spend there! Rounding the corner, he ran in to Brett at the door. Brett shrieked and jumped, dropping his keys.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" Eddy dropped to the ground to pick up the keys, handing them to a still-blinking Brett. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just expected the door to be open? I was just going to walk in? Are you alright? Did you hit your head or anything? I'm so so so sosososos--"

"M'fine, it's fine, just give me a second", Brett took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "Don't worry. It's just that I only woke up like 10 minutes ago." His shoulders wrenched open as he let out a big yawn, then he picked up Eddy's sheet music bag, and held his hand out for the shop keys. Eddy stared blankly at him. Brett took his opportunity. "I was up all last night trying to find my keys," he deadpanned, "then it dawned on me." Silence.

"Bro that's so dumb," Eddy said, shaking his head, yet unable to keep from smiling. He handed Brett the keys, and they walked together into the dark, unopened coffee shop.

Once Brett had settled in the counter, opened the till and began to steep the tea for Eddy's drink (a London Fog this time –black tea, steamed milk, and lavender syrup), Brett finally took a breath, and looked over to the table where Eddy had made himself comfortable. He turned on the shop radio, set to a local classical music station, and the soft tones of Joshua Bell's La Gitana started to waft through the dark morning air. A soft drizzle started just then, hitting the windows and diluting the outside light. Whoa, thought Brett. It's like I'm in one of those old time black-and-white movies. Noice. He imagined Eddy in a long trench coat, smoking a cigarette. Sexy. He pulled out his phone, and saw a missed call from Marta. She never called, it must be important. He listened back to it:

"Morning Brett. I hope you're not already at the shop. We'll stay closed today, it looks like there's an extreme weather warning in effect. Thunderstorms and flash flooding. Stay home and stay safe – I'll see you tomorrow." Oh no. He looked at Eddy, who was staring back at him, pointing to the speaker of the restaurant. Joshua Bell had stopped playing, and instead a voice was talking, filled with static:

"...winds of 40 kilometers an hour, and about twelve centimeters of rain... stay safe out there listeners! Close...windows and make...stay inside...."

The lights went out. Thunder clapped outside, and lightning illuminated the café. Brett dropped to the floor. "Eddy?!" he cried out.