The Asphalt Cafe At 5 AM

Part Two

Beck Oliver was content with how his life had turned out. He lived in one of the nicest trailers this side of the Hollywood sign, was attending his fourth year of college, and worked at an undiscovered gem. Said gem was filled with interesting characters that passed by on a daily basis. The most intriguing of these daily visitors was Jade West, one of Beck's favorite people on the earth.

It all started with a cup of poorly made coffee. Beck had been having an off morning, and an off night before that. No matter how much he tried, he still couldn't find sleep until nearly three in the morning, making it a real drag to wake up only an hour later so that he could get dressed, gather his things for class, and leave for the Asphalt Cafe.

She'd ordered the same thing as always, black coffee with two sugars and a blueberry muffin on the side. Beck must've been delirious because he'd put ice in the coffee instead of sugar, and Jade hadn't taken it well. A normal person probably would've asked politely to exchange it, but not her. She'd yelled at him for a solid five minutes about how it didn't take a rocket scientist to make decent coffee.

They'd been best friends ever since because, for whatever sick reason, they'd both found it hilarious the day after.

Beck found her an adorably dull thunderstorm cloud, raining on everyone's parade in the most attractive way Beck had ever seen. Business was never busy in the mornings -especially with a Starbucks just two blocks away- but that was fine with Beck. More opportunity for the two of them talk nonsense to one another until one or the other had to leave.
He'd been offered better work hours after the first month he'd been working there, something more reasonable, like eight to eleven, but he'd refused. He'd thought about it, he really had, but after he'd managed to get her to start talking to him, Beck didn't want to never see her again.

Beck was fascinated by people who weren't afraid to be different, and not only did Jade fall into such a category, but she believed strongly in the very same thing. He couldn't have asked for anything more from a person, friend or not. It was the only thing that was going to make the world a more unique place.

They'd become so much more than just 'friends' after all these months. She knew more about Beck than some of his best friends knew him. She could give off the name the rapper he'd bought his trailer from in a heartbeat, and he could spew her favorite movie within a second of being asked. Ironically, they'd never even seen each other outside of the tiny little, secluded part of the world.

The Asphalt Cafe, between five and seven in the morning, wasn't part of the rest of the world. It was shut off from from the street and the city and the country and the whole damn planet. And Beck loved it so much. Beck loved her so much.

Beck had liked girls before. He'd had girlfriends before, and he'd kissed them as if he'd meant it. At the time he had been sure that he had meant it. But they were all meaningless things. He didn't feel that way about Jade.

Before, when he'd called girls his girlfriends, it hadn't felt like true emotion. It had felt like an obligation placed on him to find someone to hold hands with, occasionally pecking their cheek in the hallways as if to prove something to the rest of the world instead of to himself.

But now was different. Now was a new experience with a new person and a new feeling to accompany her and slam him right in the face like a concrete wall.