Zyvic's Short Stories

A Little Cafe Date

Alec sent a text to Elliot. It simply read "We're still meeting up today, right? Next to the fountain?" He shivered, sitting on the snow-covered bench. Elliot was supposed to be back from work by now. Actually, half an hour ago, but so far, it didn't look like it was going to happen. Elliot said he was running a bit late, but to Alec, a bit late meant a few minutes. Alec was determined to stay and wait, no matter how cold it may be. The plan was to go to the cafe for a casual date, but that wasn't going as planned so far.

As if his last message was above the others, Elliot finally appeared in Alec's red-tinted vision. Once Elliot locked eyes with him, he started jogging towards Alec. He had a big fluffy coat, a hat, gloves, and snow boots on. He was prepared for the cold.

"Oh, baby you didn't have to sit out in the cold for that long," Elliot started, grabbing Alec's freezing cold hands, in an attempt to warm them up. The most Alec wore to protect himself from the cold was a heavy jacket. "You could've gone inside to wait for me. You might catch a cold out here," Elliot warned, moving one hand to caress Alec's cheek. Alec wasn't much for concern about his health, and Elliot knew that.

"Honey, I'm fine. What took you so long?" Alec asked, wanting an explanation for why he was so late.

Elliot sighed, extremely dramatic. "Let's go inside and warm up a bit. I'll tell you when we get situated. I don't want you to freeze to death. It's bad enough you've been out here for this long," Elliot said, letting go of Alec's hand, then readjusting the hand-holding position, so they could walk in together. Elliot opened the door for Alec, and Alec walked in with Elliot closely behind.

"Hello, welcome to our cafe, how can I help you?" asked the lady at the counter. She was dressed in a white button up, black pants, and a green apron. That seemed to be the dress code, after looking around. She had her very curly brown hair tied in a high ponytail, and she sounded extremely confident.

"Hi, we'll take two hot chocolates. One with whipped cream, and one with whipped cream and marshmallows," Elliot said with bright confidence. He was always so outgoing, and never broke his smile in public. Alec could only partially relate to that. He'd never cry in public, but he won't smile either. Alec had confidence in the sense that he knew he would be able to take anyone in a fight. They were opposites, but they were the same.

"Alright, that'll be $10.01," responded the lady. Her name tag said 'Mary' in scribbled font. "Two hot chocolates," Mary yelled over to the boy that was also working there. He was quite a bit taller than her, but still shorter than Alec.

Elliot opened his wallet and fumbled with the bills. Alec, trying to be as helpful as he could, got out a penny from his pocket. Elliot didn't have tens, but he had fives. He handed her two fives, and Alec handed her the penny.

"Okay, do you have a name for the order?" Mary said, putting the money in the register.

"Elliot," he said, smiling.

"Alright, you can go pick a seat, we'll call your name when it's ready," Mary briefly explained with a smile. It was obvious in her tone that she's said that exact sentence a billion times.

And with that taken care of, Elliot closed his wallet and put it in his pocket. Alec took Elliot's hand and led him towards a seat. A nice looking half booth next to the window. At this time of day, not a lot of people wanted coffee from this place. In fact, it was kind of a hidden gem. It focused more heavily on aesthetics and quality drinks than production time and lines of people. For morning coffee, the only ones that entered were old couples with time to waste, and the occasional young adult with things to do on their computer.

Alec and Elliot sat down across from each other, with Elliot on the chair side, and Alec on the booth side. "So, what happened that made you late? Did something happen at work, or was it traffic?" Alec took off his coat and set it on the space next to him. Elliot started to do the same with his heavy winter gear, setting it all on the chair next to him. Elliot was still wearing his uniform under the snow gear. He didn't want to keep Alec waiting any longer. Alec held Elliot's hands, rubbing the backs of them with his thumbs. He was prepared for the long vent that was going to happen.