Satin

One

|Edited 01.04.2016.|

To the untrained eye, Orion's was an undiscovered gem in a run-down part of the city. The café looked very beautiful. Across the ceiling, constellation decals were stuck as accurately as possible. The intricately decorated menus that stood on all of the tables held the name of every galactic concoction and cleverly named meal available at the establishment. Photographs of famous astrologists hung all over the galaxy-painted walls. To the untrained eye, Orion's was magical.

To Aspen, Orion's was purgatory. The decals on the ceiling were peeling at the corners, the menus were faded and covered in stains, the names of their products were overrated and the astrologist pictures were slightly wonky, the café tacky and cramped.

That was just the way Aspen saw things. There wasn't a single person that agreed with her, but then again there never was. It had been just over a year that Aspen had worked at Orion's, but she'd been a regular for three years prior. She'd come across it by accident one day, on her way home from school. After her bus had broken down in a dodgy part of the city on a particularly snowy day, Aspen dived into the first place she could find, which happened to be Orion's. The quiet, mellow atmosphere contrasted the busy New York street just a couple feet behind her. It was hard to believe she was even in the same place. Leaving a puddle in her wake, Aspen headed over to the counter and with a shaky hand, picked up the menu.

"Hello, sweetheart. Welcome to Orion's, where every meal is served with stardust!" her now-boss, Geoff greeted, a bright smile plastered onto his face.
"That sounds... disturbing." Aspen had replied, not used to friendly behaviour. "I'll stick to the drinks, then." She'd picked up one of the menus; less stained back then, but still just as miserable. "Um... A... Hot Milky Way?" She realised she had no idea what she had ordered but Geoff had scribbled her order down, told her to cheer up and turned to pass it on.

"Take a seat, we'll bring it straight over." Aspen trudged over to the brown leather couch in the corner of the room and placed her coat over the radiator to dry. Pulling a book from her bag, she sat down and waited for her body to stop shaking.

A Hot Milky Way, it turned out, was hot milk mixed with purple food colouring, edible glitter and topped with whipped cream and even more edible glitter. Aspen guessed it was supposed to look like a galaxy, and it kind of did. But, she was too cold and too miserable to admit it.

Three Hot Milky Way's later, the busses were up and running again. Geoff packed her up a free drink 'for the journey' and wished her happy travels. As far as Aspen was concerned, that should have been the last time she would walk through those doors. But then, as the bus stopped in front of Orion's the next day, all she could think about was a warm drink and a quiet space. The rest was history.

No one understood why Aspen spent most of her time in Orion's. She didn't exactly try to hide her distaste of the place. The truth was, while she hated the place, Aspen loved the people. She loved Geoff and his wife, Grace. She loved the old couple that sat by the door and shared an Apollo 13 every day (a large cupcake with a sparkler in the middle). She loved the elementary school kids that came in to read the space books but never actually bought anything. She loved them all. And if that meant she would have to put up with the frankly depressing building, then so be it.

Today's service had been especially slow. The old couple ate only half of their cupcake before leaving. The elementary kids walked straight past the door, without so much as a glance. The boy that sat in the corner all-day everyday was gone. He was a little weird, but Aspen needed something to distract her. A customer at least. This was the first time she'd ever seen Orion's completely bare of customers and the emptiness unsettled her.