1 ☕
Cadee's POV
Immediately when I pushed the doors open, the intense stench of coffee surrounded me as the bell jingled above me.
That's normal to expect from a cafe, yet I still wasn't prepared. I almost gagged, but I swallowed everything down along with my pride then dragged myself inside. Before I could even take a seat a lady ran up to me.
"How can I help you?" she chirped dusting off her apron with her hand gently.
Maybe let me sit down first, then pester me. But I smiled nonetheless. "Um, a donut would be fine," I said moving past her, only for her to pop up into my view again.
"What kind?" She raised an eyebrow while tapping a notepad with a pencil.
"A long john please, two." I smiled tightly as I slid past her again, to get to an empty and clean table. "The chocolate ones, that will be all. Thank you." I answered quickly before any more questions spurred from her mouth, as I heard a bell jingle.
She nodded with a polite smile before practically skipping away. I let out a sigh of relief and turned to the table I would sit at. When I turned around I noticed someone was already sitting at it. I took a glance around, but it appeared the rest of the tables were full or messy. Finally, I slumped down across from the fellow customer, dropping my bag next to me.
I was sure nobody was sitting here before. He paid no mind to me as he scribbled in a torn up, brown leather journal. But suddenly his forest colored eyes glanced up from the journal and peered down at me viciously.
He raised an eyebrow as his chestnut rectangular glasses rose up with his nose, which was scrunched up. "Can I help you?"
I averted my gaze from him. "Not really," I muttered, opening my bag for my camera.
"Don't you dare take any pictures of me." He scowled gripping onto the pencil he was once scribbling with.
I glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. Cocky much?
"I won't, just the inside of the cafe. I'll avoid the people or at least their faces. Maybe blur them out if I do get any." I started mumbling to myself as I pulled my camera out.
He sighed across from me then continued his scribbling once again, as the waitress from before skipped over. "Here you go, sir." She beamed as she placed the plastic bag with my long johns down before me. Her head whipped around to look at the man. "I didn't notice you there! Want your regular?"
He finally placed the journal down. His droopy, annoyed features from before vanished and were replaced with a relaxed smile. I scoffed unwrapping my long john, then took a large bite yanking it with my teeth.
"Yes please, and it's alright. I just came in a while ago." He spoke gently as if he was caressing her, and immediately her face was flushed.
"If you say so, I'll have it here right away." She swooned trying to bite back a smile before speeding off.
And the man was back to scribbling. I figured he was an artist, most artists seemed to be in a bad mood. Or maybe it was me who was annoyed they could actually draw and not have to rely on showing art through what's around them in photos. While yes they use their surroundings as a reference I suppose, it seems they have more freedom and will, unlike me.
"Aren't you going to get a drink with that?" a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I took another bite from my long john, much gentler this time. Then I glanced around to find who spoke to me. I looked anywhere but directly in front of me.
"It was me goddammit!" the man across from me seethed with his face twisted, before sitting back clearing his throat. His shoulders relaxed and so did his face.
"Sorry," I replied, fighting the urge to roll my eyes, before finishing off one of my long johns.
"Well, how come you didn't order any coffee? You're going to be parched after those donuts." He eyed me as I was about to take a bite into my second one.
Immediately I gagged just by the word but managed to relax by eating some of the donut. "Coffee's disgusting," I answered between chews as his face twisted up at me.
"And you're not?" He scoffed as the waitress returned with a steaming cup of coffee.
"What?" I spat and bits of donut flew from my mouth into his cup, causing some to splash onto his journal and him.
The waitress smiled shakily, glancing between us. "I'll just get you another coffee sir-" she murmured as she reached for the cup but the man rose up from his seat quickly. His movements shook the table, causing the cup to tip over my way onto my camera.
I shot up from my seat, but before either of us could tackle each other, we both were escorted out. I'm sure the waitress did ask us to leave but I let my feelings control my actions and didn't listen, and neither did he.
My assignment for class would just have to wait longer. I could always find another place to take pictures at, that I despise. Besides, I had the whole weekend to do it. But I wasn't sure if there was anything else I despised but coffee...and maybe that man that destroyed my camera! It wasn't even technically mine, now I had to pay two hundred something dollars, possibly more. I didn't even get that much coffee on him or his journal.
Nevermind about that, I needed to get back to my dorm so I could prepare for tomorrow's class. I sighed as I looked around for a bus stop while going through my bag for my bus pass. But I couldn't feel it, so I looked down and started scavenging through my bag. Eventually, I just took out my wallet with a groan. I would just have to pay this time. When I opened my wallet, it only had pennies and nickels. I used my cash for donuts and to pay for the mess in the cafe, meaning I had to walk all the way back to campus from here.
The man from before drove past me in a smokey colored Genesis G90. I felt like he was taunting me, smirking my way before driving off. I took a deep breath before marching my way in the direction of my college’s campus.
