Shimmer *The Seattle Superheroes*

Chapter Sixteen: It's Always the Blondes

Chapter Sixteen: It's Always the Blondes

Seattle; July 3, 2010; 12:43. p.m.

It's funny, really, how life likes to draw out the time when nothing happens, making it seem like an eternity of monotony, then pile on drama like rubble from an explosion.

Standing in Cups and Couches, Shimmer was feeling slightly out of place with Cane and Patrick there again. It was the day after the five hour walk to the airport, and the group of four had been sent back to Jack Baron's apartment to look around. They had found little new evidence, and it would be days before they would discover whether the cigarette butt Shimmer had found would be of any use, causing Patrick to begin complaining as they left.

Shimmer was entirely unsure why Patrick was sent with them at all, but had not questioned it or antagonized him, as Cane had.

It was shortly after the lunch rush when they had entered the café, meaning that it was fairly empty and there was little commotion upon their entrance.

"Hi, welcome to Cu—" Rena began automatically. "Oh, hey, Shimmer."

"Hello, Rena," Shimmer replied. "How are you today?"

"Good, thanks, you?"

"All right, thank you."

"So, who are your friends?" Rena asked, looking at Cane and Patrick.

Nash stepped forward and leant on the table. "Come on now, Rena, you know we can't tell you."

Rena laughed at that. "The usual, Shimmer?"

"Yes," Shimmer said. Then, with less of a pause than normal, "Please."

Rena pulled out a cup and wrote on it before looking up again. "How about you all?"

Patrick grumbled something about not wanting to poison himself with caffeine, causing Cane to suggest he drink it for that reason.

"I'll just get your coffee, Shimmer," Rena said, giving Patrick an annoyed look.

"That's fine, 'cause I was going to steal your spot anyway," said a bubbly voice as Kieran came up to the register. "Hi!"

"Hi, Kieran," Nash said, sending her a cocky smile.

"What have you been up to lately?"

"You know," Nash said, shrugging casually. "Super hero stuff."

"Ooooh," Kieran said in a 'mysterious' voice. "Super-secret superhero stuff?"

"Exactly."

"Well then. What can I do for you?"

"Surprise me," Nash told her.

"That," Kieran replied, "I will do. How about you?" she asked, looking to Cane.

"Just a house blend," he told her.

"All right. Is that a superhero thing? That's what Shimmer always gets, too. Anyway, I haven't seen you around before—do you work with Psych, too?"

"You could say that," Cane said, uninterested.

Shimmer was surprised; she hadn't taken Cane for one to pass up on a chance to flirt with a pretty girl.

"Kieran," the other Barista, a dark haired girl named Josephine, said. "Could you go clean up?"

"Sure!" Kieran trilled, flouncing off to get to work with a last smile at Nash.

The three men waited by the front for Josephine to make their coffee while Shimmer walked over to where Rena was.

"Here you go," Rena said, handing Shimmer a cup.