Cliche Café

galão

"Decaffeinated coffee is like a hairless cat, it exists, but that doesn't make it right." - unknown

I was dragging the next morning at work. Slate had to keep continuously tapping me on the shoulder to keep me awake. Between customers I lay my head on the counter.

"Have a real wild night last night?" Slate smirked.

"Oh yeah for sure. Bowling can get super wild," I mumbled and yawned.

"Seriously May? Go to the back and rest. You're going to hurt yourself working like this," Slate put his hand on my shoulder and before I could argue, he led me to the back.

"No, you can't work by yourself," I shook his hand off my shoulder.

"You should have thought of that before you stayed up so late with Lev," Slate sighed and gently pushed my into the back.

Exasperated I sat on the old couch that's in the back of the coffee shop. From there I could see Slate working. He hurriedly took customers' orders and made coffees between each new guest. I laid down on the couch so I could still see Slate. He occasionally flipped his hair out of his eyes and wiped his hands on his apron. I had never watched him work before.

Slate turned from the coffee maker and stuck his tongue out at me. I winked back at him and he walked to the back. "Sleep you loser," he smiled and shut the door so I couldn't see to the front.

I signed and then yawned. It was hard to keep my eyes open, so I gave up and closed them. After a while, Christopher arrived to take me to school and woke me with the smell of a coffee. "Wow, you really did have fun last night," Christopher wiggled his eyebrows.

"Shut up and give me that coffee," I replied and stole the coffee out of Christopher's hand.

We left the back; I walked up to Slate and shook his hand. "You're the best. You know that right?"

Slate continued to hold my hand and smiled, "Na not really."

"Well, now you know," I replied and waved goodbye to Slate before leaving the café. I hadn't even noticed Lev hadn't gotten his daily chai tea.

Christopher led me to his car just like every other day. He bothered me with questions about my late night call with Lev. "You know the blue in your hair is already fading," Christopher pointed out.

"Is it?" I ran my fingers down through my hair and played with the ends.

"Are you going to dye it blue again?" He questioned.

"Yeah for sure." I turned and looked out of the window.

"So you choose Lev?"

I had to process what he said. I never had thought of Lev as a choice. I didn't know I had a choice to make. I knew I really liked Lev and that was all. I didn't understand what my blue hair had to do with Lev. "I didn't know I had a choice."

Christopher shrugged "I think Lev is adorable anyway."

"Really?" I smiled.

"Yes dear, of course," Christopher replied.

I spent the majority of the school day in deep thought of the previous night and of Christopher and I's conversation earlier in the day. It seemed Christopher thought I had a sort of love triangle. I couldn't believe something as cliche as that could be occurring. Although, it seemed to match the rest of my life.

During lunch, Christopher and I's spot in the library where we eat lunch was occupied by Lev. I hadn't told him where I sat at lunch, so it was a strange coincidence. Lev smiled and waved at me when he spotted me.

Christopher halted my walking, "So your boyfriend is eating with us now?"

"I didn't invite him, I swear," I threw my hands in the air.

"I'm going to start having my boyfriend eat lunch with us," Christopher smirked.

I punched Christopher in the arm and laughed, "You don't have a boyfriend and neither do I."

I always think about the first day of school when I was a freshman. I was terrified of the cafeteria. Huge tables full of teens who were judgmental and rude made me very nervous. I had run to the library with my lunch tray. When I walked into the library, Christopher had already been there and exclaimed he had never seen such a scary place as a cafeteria. We've eaten in the corner of the library in the bean bags ever since.

"Lev! How did you find our lunch spot?" I exclaimed.

Lev looked at me confused, "This is your guys lunch spot?"

"Yep," I smiled and sat in the bean bag next to Lev. "You remember Christopher?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Lev scratched the back of his neck.

"Why did you eat in the cafeteria yesterday and decide to eat here today?" Christopher questioned raising his eyebrows. I hit his arm. He didn't need to be questioning Lev.

"The cafeteria was too busy for me. I didn't have any friends anyway, so I came to eat by myself," Lev replied and took a bite into his sandwich.

"Now you have us," I smiled. Lev nodded and smiled gratefully.

"Welcome to the group," Christopher held up his water bottle for a cheers. Lev and I also held up our water bottles and clinked them together.