Soul Harbour

0.9|when closing a coffee shop|

0.9|when closing a coffee shop|

"And then?" Sabah asked, her eyes round with anticipation, her cramped fingers hovering over an ink-filled tissue paper, willing to know more and more of the story.

Carlotta closed a drawer beside the counter and straightened up, "And then the over-interested girl paid for all the tissues she used to scribble on and went home so that the tired coffee shop owner could close the shop."

Sabah had scribbled a couple of words before realising what Carlotta had said. When she realized, she looked up with a horrified expression, "You're not going to tell me more?"

"No, you go home now, chica," the older woman gestured out the glass door. "Its dark outside and young girls like you should not wander around late."

Sabah waved away this and smiled, "I'm not going till you tell me the whole story. What happened next? Did Tony really turn out to be a footballer? Or was it just a mistake? Did they fall in love?"

"Only Auburn called him Tony, at least at first," Carlotta smiled, her eyes seeing fragments of a memory that made her both happy and sad. She caught herself before those sweet-bitter tears could leave her eyes, "And I never make a mistake, okay?" She walked away, picking up a cloth to wipe the tables clean.

Sabah got down from her stool and followed her, "Does this mean-?"

Carlotta moved to another table, "Its a long story, I'm not very interesting. Why do you care?"

The black-haired girl stopped and said, totally, utterly, completely seriously, "I just do."

Carlotta turned around to check if she looked as serious as she sounded.

Sabah Taqvi stood in the late dusk of the cafe, half-lit by a few of the persistent rays of an orange sun that managed to peep through the buildings surrounding the cafe, half-darkened by the stubbornly incompetent light bulb set up beside the counter by Carlotta. Pink lips slightly apart, eyes earnest yet sadly understanding, fingers still clutching the pen...this girl was serious.

"Don't you have to get up early for work or something? No? Kids have its sooo easy these days. When I was your age, my Mama was after me, 'clean the house, wash the clothes, don't slouch, get married'," Carlotta outlined.

Sabah laughed, "I'm here for studying. Its a summer course."

"What are you studying? Cooking? Because cooking is important for life. Even if you don't want to get married, you have to cook for yourself, right? You can't survive on McG or whatever it is you youngsters eat these days."

Sabah was doubling with laughter now, her laughter ringing across the cafe, tears running down her rosy cheeks.

"No need to laugh, okay?" But even Carlotta was laughing now. "I'm not a clown. Shut up, you. Fine, fine, stop making me laugh. You come here tomorrow, if you're still interested, and I'll tell you Auburn's story."

Sabah squealed, "For real?" She ran to Carlotta and hugged her, "Thank youuuu. I'll be here tomorrow as soon as my classes get over. Good night, amigo."

Carlotta took a deep breath, still surprised by the impromptu hug and amigo, and relaxed in her chair, girls these days were all hurricanes it seemed.

[hey, you all.

Hope you're all doing good. I know all of you are intelligent readers (I love that about you guys <3) but in case anyone gets confused I thought I'd mention this...Coffee Shop Love has 3 levels of narrative- 1) Carlotta recounting the story of #Aubony 2) Sabah writing their story 3) 3rd person's p.o.v. telling you about the present day cafe with Sabah and Carlotta. I really want to play with conventional forms and narratives and so, this happened :) Thus, this is not just #Aubony's story but Sabah's story too. I'd like it if you keep that in mind :*

That said, I hope you guys like my experimenting around and enjoyed this chapter. vote+comment if you did and I'll send you virtual chocolate milkshakes :'D

Also, if you need like a Spanish to English appendix let me know and I'll put in the word substitutions at the end of every chapter that uses any non-English words.

thanks, ilyall <3]