Rrinkers

Chapter 1

"Is this my coffee?"

"That's not your coffee, ma'am. I'm almost finished with yours," Zoe said to the lady as she put the lid on the cup. "Alex, your order's ready."

An excited teenage boy ran up to the cup and claimed it as Zoe quickly finished putting the lid on the other drink and handed it over to the impatient lady standing at the counter. "Your coffee," Zoe smiled. The lady didn't even thank her. She just grabbed the cup and walked, annoyed, out the door.

Zoe didn't blame her. It was the morning rush and one of her baristas had called in sick, leaving her and Evelyn to do all the work.

After another ten minutes of the madness, the rush started to die down. "It's over!" Evelyn exclaimed, after she handed a muffin to the older gentleman.

Zoe laughed at her. "It's funny that the day Gabe isn't here, it's more busy."

"Isn't that just the irony of life?" Evelyn responded.

"You're right, Ev. As always."

Evelyn smirked and nodded her head as she went on to clean the rest of the counter that looked like a scene from a house party. Well, it was kind of hard to pay attention to being organized when customers were coming at the counter like ants to pieces of honey on the ground. Zoe also smiled knowing that the morning rush was behind them. But she spoke too soon.

"Hello, Zoe! Can I get a black coffee and a piece of raisin cake?" The loud noise interrupted Zoe's smiling and caused her to fake a smile while turning around and facing the customer.

"Well, hello Kevin!"

"What did you say?!" Kevin yelled. He was hard of hearing. Very hard of hearing.

"I said hello!" Now Zoe was yelling just like him, causing some people who were in the coffee shop to look at them. "I'll get that right to you." She smiled widely and pointed to the chair in the corner where Kevin usually sat.

Zoe turned to Evelyn and saw that she was giving her a forced smile. Kevin was a regular customer. He was the regular. He would come into the coffee shop at least once a week for the past three years, without missing a week. Except for the past month. He hadn't come in the past month so today was his grand re-entrance. Zoe and Evelyn were worried that something had happened to him, but here he was again, as healthy as could be.

It wasn't that they hated Kevin; they could never hate such an innocent eighty year old man. It was the fact that he was convoluted. He would come in every week with a different order, so it was hard to remember what he liked and didn't like. He was also hard of hearing, which meant every time he spoke, he yelled, and in order to tell him anything, Zoe had to yell as well. She knew that other customers did not mind because his talking never lasted more than a few seconds, but she also did not like to bother the other customers as they enjoyed their coffee or did their work. It helped that there were always two or three people in the coffee shop when Kevin came in. Somehow, he knew to come in when the morning rush ended.

Zoe made Kevin's coffee and walked over to his corner. She didn't say a word, just put it down and smiled causing Kevin to return the gesture. He nodded his head and tipped his flat cap before taking it off and setting it on the table. Zoe saw him reach for a book from the shelf behind him and started doing his routine of drinking his coffee and eating his cake while reading a book.

Walking away, Zoe smiled at the quietness of the shop. Despite how much she hated yelling, she really did care for Kevin. He showed her that her coffee shop was actually increasing people's happiness in some way and that was all she had ever wanted to do in life.

"He's nice, isn't he." Evelyn smiled, still cleaning the work station.

"He's a pure soul." Zoe looked again at the corner where Kevin was sitting, now immersed in his reading before saying, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom really quick."