Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

22. Decaf and Deacy

Julia

Let's see.  Morning blend, french vanilla, hazelnut, mocha swirl, espresso, cappucino, Americano, macchiato, pizzicato, parmigiano, John Leguizamo... and pumpkin spice.  Okay.  That's the first row.  Six more to go. 

It was ten minutes till twelve, and I stood in the staff room, chuckling nervously to myself, trying to weed my way through the Keurig pods available.  All I wanted was a cup of decaf- but I couldn't for the life of me settle on which flavor I desired.  There were fifteen decaf choices, after all- and that wasn't even counting the tea selection.  In the end I resorted to chance, waved my hand in the air and pointed at a random flavor. 

"Kona Blend," I read to myself.  "One hundred percent certified Hawaiian coffee beans.  Riiiight."

Humming "Mele Kalikimaka", I tucked the chosen pod into the machine and lifted my shaking hand to start it brewing.  I never drank decaf, as I'd always thought it defeated the purpose of drinking coffee in the first place.  But I was already so nervy and wound up that a cup of regular coffee might have sent me into hyperdrive, and anyway I needed an excuse to get out of my glass office and hide away for a moment, on the off chance Freddie might have actually meant what he said.

From the moment I drove away from the house that morning, I had been assuring myself that I had no reason to be so worried.  Freddie wouldn't waste his time learning how to do something now that he could have, and should have, learned how to do years ago.  I had heard somewhere that he had one driving lesson in the early seventies that lasted five minutes, before his patience ran dry- and he quit, just like that, never again to fill the driver's seat.  And for all his life, Freddie relished the luxury of being driven around.  Besides, the chances of that willful diva, especially considering his age and how set he was in his ways, suddenly allowing himself to be taught something so superfluous were incredibly slim.

But Freddie was also a man of his word... and he said, "See you at noon."

How final, how frightfully absolute, Freddie's tone had seemed.

And the hands on the staff room clock only would only move ten more ticks before meeting under the twelve!

Teaching him in itself wasn't the issue, you understand.  I'd seen enough of his little tantrums and heard enough bitchy comebacks to cope with them, and even assuage them at times.  It was what I had promised him in an overconfident moment- and how someone like Freddie could interpret something as dangerously vague as "That, and more"- that churned my stomach.

He's not coming, I told myself once again.  Calm down.  No one likes a nervous counselor.  As nice as it would be to see him, he's not going to let me teach him to drive.  He may be gone tomorrow anyway.  What difference is one afternoon going to make- one they'll crebinate in twenty-four hours?

"Oh, hi, Julia!"

The voice disrupted the one in my head, startling me.  I whirled and automatically greeted Antonio, one of my fellow counselors, with a "Hello!"

"Daydreaming again?" he teased.

"Just a little," I shrugged.  "It's been pretty quiet today, hasn't it?"

He rolled his eyes.  "I know, right?  It's been like a tomb around here this week.  I'm like, Oh, my God, I cannot deal."

I obviously wasn't alone in the staff room.  A couple of my coworkers were grouped around the table, feasting on takeout paninis and sushi.  Watching them eat was making me even hungrier; in my infinite wisdom I had failed to pack a lunch for myself even as I put one together for Danny.  While most of my compadres preferred to venture off-campus for their food, more often than not I chose to bring a sandwich from home, something that occasionally earned a bit of teasing- not that I minded-