Ever Since New York

SEVEN | coffee beans and crushed dreams

     "HEY, WHAT ABOUT THIS?" NATE asked as he held up a coffee machine he had found God knows where.

     "Where did you even get that?" Eli looked at him, not even sure what else to say. She was standing in the middle of the dairy aisle with a carton of milk in one hand and yogurt in the other. She had lost him fifteen minutes ago and had no clue where he had run off to. And now here he was, his head popping around the corner with a box resting on his hip as if he was holding a kid.

     "I don't know. It was just sitting here," he mumbled as he turned back and down the aisle he had come up. Every now and then, she could see a flicker of his face from the slits between the shelving.

     It was just after eight at night when they arrived at the store; the night sky was getting colder from the setting sun. Only a few minutes away, the two of them walked to the closest store, Eli grateful she didn't have to do it alone.

     The harsh white light and constant buzzing sounds from the store relaxed her as she stepped into the quiet building. It was dead. The only other person in the store was the cashier. It was a little colder in the store than outside, causing Eli to pull her jumper sleeves down more, covering her hands.

     Nate had pulled up beside her with a shopping cart with ice cream and Cheetos already chucked in. She had made some snide remark to him that her cooking skills would help him make a more substantial dinner, but he scoffed and said nothing can beat a midnight snack like this can.

     Now, her cart was almost filled to the brim and she was chasing her neighbour around the shelves as though he were a five year old.

     "Nate. Nate, stop running off." She dumped her milk and yogurt in the cart and pushed it down to where she last saw him. She turned round the corner to find him hunkered down, his chin resting on one hand while his other sorted through different types of coffee beans. "What are you doing?"

     "Come 'ere," was all he said.

     "Can you focus on one th-" When she reached him he grabbed her hand and pulled her down so that she was on his level.

     "Do you prefer arabica or robusta?" He asked completely focused on the different coffee bean bags in front of him.

     Eli, risking a quick glance at the man beside her, noticed that when his brows were furrowed, a little scar above his right eye became visible.

     "Well," he said turning to her, his face brighten a little when he saw she was already looking at him, "which one would you like?"

     "I mean, they're just coffee beans, aren't they?" She shrugged. This was the obviously the wrong answer.

     Nate shook his before grabbing a bag, "Just coffee beans? Very disappointing from you Miss Willis. Just beans my ass."

     "Well, what would you have liked me to say?" She shakes her head with a laugh. They both stood up and began walking back to her ditched cart at the end of the aisle.

     He looked down at her as she walked by his side then back to his beans, his eyes wide at the thought that she had nothing to say, "Trust me. Living in the middle of nowhere for eight months with only some kind of liquid that they are trying to pass as water," he sneaks a side glance down at her to let her know that it was most definitely not water, "coming back home to good coffee beans is a must. And the fact you are just passing it off as nothing? Disappointing." His last word enunciated a little more than the rest.

     "I apologise profusely." Eli smirked as she took the bag out of his hands and into the cart. She had clocked on at how they had fallen in sync as they walked beside, a small smile forming at the thought. "What was it like? Over there? Wherever you were." Her voice was quiet against the humming of the fridges, but also from her almost regretting the question as she spoke. A quick glance up at him told her he wasn't bothered, his face staying in his usual stoic manner.