peppermint to be // bronnie

i

Dave and I were just barely out of college when we decided, "fuck it, let's open a coffeeshop."

At first, Dave was like, "no, dude, that's gay," and I was like, "yeah, dude, everything in relation to me is gay."

Coming out to someone while trying to convince them to make a business commitment is probably a terrible idea -- or maybe it's not. After all, the shop's been open almost 15 years now.

It's not like we're any special. We're convenient, if anything. Plenty of schools and businesses around us. We get mostly greasy college students and uptight business people.

You start to notice people who are a little out of the ordinary. For example, there's this guy named Brandon who comes in everyday. He looks too happy to be a college student or businessman. I mean, sometimes he walks in and he's glowing. On top of that, he always orders our seasonal drinks. Typically our regulars never order our seasonal drinks, in fact some of them would rather inject their daily caffeine via syringe. Not Brandon, he drinks for the taste.

Dave likes to make fun of me and claim I have a "crush" on Brandon. That's pure bullcrap. Grown men don't have crushes. That, and I just enjoy messing with Brandon because it's entertaining, not because it's cute.

He has a simple name, but sometimes I write it wrong on the cup. "Candon","Langdon" and my personal favorite, "generic brand name." He never gets mad, he just giggles to himself at his table and sometimes takes a picture of it.

It's entertaining, not cute.

The worst moments are when the shop is empty except for me and him. See, that's another weird thing about Brandon, he stays in the shop to have his coffee instead of scurrying out like everyone else. He just sits at the same two-chair table 10 feet from me and scrolls through his phone.

It's so uncomfortable standing behind the counter with nothing to look at but him. I mean, yes okay, I can look at the objects surrounding him and the objects behind the counter with me, but when someone as -- weird as Brandon steps in your presence you have to look at them.

****

We added hot chocolate to the menu when we decided the pumpkin spice drinks weren't selling well enough. Dave decided we'd have different kinds of hot chocolate. He claimed that the regular was boring, so he pulled the idea of Nutella hot chocolate and white-chocolate-hot-chocolate out of his ass.

I told him the only person who'll buy "Nutella hot chocolate" was Brandon and he grinned like the Joker snorted every drug on the market.

"It's just like you to know your crush's likes and dislikes," he chuckled.

"Shut up, I don't have a crush on him, I'm not four!" I argued.

"Ronald, stop running away from your emotions, you obviously like this dude, why don't you just ask for his number or something?"

"David, you can't just ask a dude for his number, it doesn't work like that, I don't even know if he's not straight."

"What? Are you just going to wait until a rainbow flag falls out of his back pocket? He's obviously not straight, he's the only dude who drinks our seasonal shit."

"Oh what, just 'cause you like pumpkin spice, you like sucking cock? I don't even like our seasonal shit."

"You're such a pussy, you know that?"

"I am not a pussy, I don't even like him."

"Every time we talk about this, I want to make a special brew of coffee that's mostly bleach for myself."

I scowled at him before returning to the register, where there was a line of people waiting.

At the end of the line was Brandon and in the moment he was glancing up at the menu, I was trying to guess what he was going to order. "Finally got rid of the pumpkin stuff, huh?" He murmured, stroking his chin.

"Uh-huh," I grumbled back. The Nutella chocolate, I just know it, I thought.

"Nutella hot chocolate? That's interesting. I'll have that."

Nailed it. "Alright, Brandon. Is that all?"

"Yeah -- you know my name?"

My heart stuttered. Years of pretending to forget his name just to mess up like this. "Of course I know your name, you come in every day."

I didn't look up, but I knew he was smirking. "Funny because you always write a different name on my cup."

I gulped, I already started writing "Hondon" on the cup. I slowly drew an X over it.

"I knew you were messing with me!" He laughed. "There was no way you're that stupid."

"That'll be five dollars, please," I managed.

"Okay," he beamed and grabbed his wallet. He pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to me. I was careful not to brush our hands together.

After I placed the bill in the cash register, I rushed to Dave who was standing by the coffee maker. "A Nutella hot chocolate," I breathed, handing him the cup.

"Ah, so I see Prince Charming is here," Dave chuckled, grabbing a carton of milk and pouring it in a metal cup.

I breathed heavily, "I just called him his real name for the first time."

Dave's eyes widened, "holy shit, Ron, it's the end of the world," he mocked.

I watched as Dave steamed the milk then scooped a glop of Nutella into it, trying to calm myself. "You don't understand," I croaked. "I don't know any of our other costumer's names."

Dave rolled his eyes and poured the drink into Brandon's cup. "You're fucking ridiculous," Dave reached for a lid and put it over the cup. He handed it to me, "give him his drink and then I'll switch you places at the register, okay?"

"No! What?! I can't -- I can't talk to him."

"You see him everyday, anyway! Are you just going to quit because you know his name and you clearly like him a lot?"

I blankly stared at him.

"Jesus fuck -- give him the fucking drink!"

I took a deep breath and walked over to where the customers waited. There stood Brandon, arms crossed, standing like a mannequin you'd see at a high class store.

"Brandon," I manage to call out.

His gaze shifted to me, then the drink. He walked over to it and I quickly scurried away before he could speak to me again.

He's not cute.