At This Old Coffee Shop // Jearmin

1. The Maria Cafe

"...and stay out, you- you horse-faced dick!" She slammed the door.

He hung his head down low and while carrying a box of his belongings, Jean made his way down the front steps.

Goddammit, he thought to himself, that's the fourth girl this month that's broken up with me...

Out loud he yelled, "What's wrong with me?"

Bummed out, Jean recoiled the directions to his parents house in his memory. Taking two lefts, a right, and another left, Jean made it to their place. Ding dong the doorbell chimed echoing off the walls. A scrawny, teenage girl opened the door with a smile.

"Mom, Dad, Jeanie's back," she sang as she pulled him inside.

"Damnit, Gwen, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Jeanie'?"

"How many times have I told you to come out of the closet already, Jeanie?" Gwen retorted with her hand placed on her hip.

"What the-" Jean was cut off by his parents walking into the room.

"Nice of you to stop by again, dear," his mother greeted him.

"Yes nice indeed," His father sarcastically agreed. "So who dumped you this time?"

A light hue of baby pink sprinkled over Jean's face. "It's none of your damn business."

"I see," his father turned towards the kitchen. "I hope you know you're not staying for free. This time you're paying us rent."

Jean closed his eyes and exhaled calmly. "Fine by me," he said as he left to put his stuff up in his old bedroom.

He creaked open the door to find that everything was still in tact. His sister or parents didn't move anything, surprisingly. Jean grabbed his coat and walked back out to the front door. Before he could leave Gwen stopped him.

"Where you heading, Jeanie?"

"Out," he replied harshly, shutting the door softly.

As he stepped off the porch a bitter, cold gust of wind slammed into his face. Jean tugged his hood up and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Now definitely wasn't the best time to be looking for a job, but since he had to pay rent, he had no choice.

About a half an hour later, Jean stubbed upon an old, worn down coffee shop, that went by the name of The Maria Cafe. A red sign dangled from the window.

NOW HIRING!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jean rushed into the cafe. The cashier, Susan, looked up at him and smiled, "Hello sir, how may I help you?"

"Ah yes, my name's Jean, I couldn't help but notice your 'now hiring' sign out front and was wondering if you'd be interested in interviewing me."

Flabbergasted she took his hand. "You're hired, Jean!" she announced. "You see, we're drastically low on employees, and I would love give extra help!" Susan left and came back with a uniform. "If you wish, you can start right now, just change in the bathroom stall!"

Jean left for the bathroom in complete shock. He had no idea why she'd hired him on the spot like that, it was unnatural, but he had no complaints. Jean changed into his new uniform, which consisted of a white button up shirt, red dress pants, and a name tag, which had his name already sharpied on.

He walked back out, there was no customers at the moment so he took advantage of this time to figure out the register and manipulate the machines around him to work when he needed them to.

No more than 20 minutes later, the bell on the door rang and a confused, stressed blond boy came walking in.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?" Jean smiled as he greeted the distraught kid.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Can I get a hot chocolate, please?" He said dazed.

"One hot chocolate coming up. That'll be 3.99."

The blond reached into his back pocket and pulled out a five. "Keep the change," he insisted.

Jean thanked him, asked for his name, and rushed back to make his drink.

Jean wrote the boy's name down on the cup, and walked back out to the counter. He was sitting on a chair, in the corner, reading a novel he brought along.

"Armin, here's your drink," Jean offered with a smile.

Armin reached out to take it, lightly brushing against Jean's finger tips. He shivered at the sudden coldness. Then he realized how frozen this kid looked. Not only were his fingers cold to the touch, but Armin's nose and cheeks were bright red. Plus, there was no sign that he brought a coat in with him.

Realizing he was sidetracked, Jean rushed back to clean the machine. He didn't pay anymore attention to Armin, until he went to walk out the door.

"Armin," Jean called out.

"Yes?" Armin replied in a cool voice.

"Have a great day!"

Armin sighed and glanced down, "...you too," he left.