januarie robinson
- august 14, 2019 -

NICK AND I DREW THE unlucky cards and got stuck on the two center registers for the day, which for us meant nothing, but a whole lot of standing around. We stood in silence for most of it. All thanks to me, really. What does one say to the guy who almost caught you in the arms of his brother who just so happens to also be your boss...?

            With a ballpoint pen between my fingers, I scribbled a few cartoon caricatures of my co-workers on a scrap piece of receipt paper.

            "Those are really good."

            "Oh, no," I waved him off, "these are just some doodles. Normally, I sit at Tony's Coffee where my sister works. It's this cozy little place on the main strip of road. That's where you can get the best references."

            "Which sister?"

            "Jordyn." I smiled, "She's in her last year of high school. Wants to go to college for Computer Science."

            "And you just go there and draw? I'm guessing in an actual sketchbook and not on scraps of receipt paper."

            "Mainly on Wednesday. Thursdays are reserved for movies and friend time."

            "Hear that, Luke." Nick called across the lobby; however, his voice had very little humor in it, "You're working this girl too hard."

            My eyes grew wide. If I thought it was bad the first time around, I was wrong. Lucas and I had avoided each other like the plague after what happened in the office. I'd start panicking whenever we were in a room together. Was I being weird? Was he being weird? Did people think we were acting strange?

            I jabbed him in the ribs behind the soda tower, "No. You're not. Don't listen to him.

            "I hardly ever do." Lucas called back to us. My heart pounded against my chest. We hadn't talked to each other casually in what seemed like forever on my part, "Especially when he calls me, Luke."

            "Sure, sure," Nick smiled and it turned mischievous. Him and Victoria were making up for a lot of the trouble in my life. I actually think they would get along beautifully. As long as he didn't bring up the hair and she didn't bring up the wife.

            "Say," he spoke as if the thought had just occurred to him, but I highly doubt it did, "why doesn't Januarie take you to that nice little coffee shop on Wednesday? What'd you call it? Tony's? You both have the day off and you both like coffee seems like the perfect fit."

            My eyes darted from Lucas to Nick and then around the lobby, "Nick it's not hard to find. It's this little red building on the side of the main road. I don't think Lucas would need anyone to show him where it is."

            "Nicholas." Lucas' voice cut through the air and he straightened up, "Don't you think that would be a little inappropriate." Nick rocked back on his heels and raised a brow at Lucas, almost like a challenge of sorts. One I hoped neither of them would take.

            "Plus," I said quickly, "I can write down the name." Turning to Lucas and my smile waved, "They really do have some of the best coffee in town. You should check them out when you have time."

            "This wouldn't happen to be the same place that doesn't allow phones," his shoulders relaxed when he looked at me.

            "One and the same, but if you bring a book, the coffee is completely worth it. Plus, the baristas don't bother you either."

            Lucas thought for a moment, "Actually, I would like the name. I'm not the biggest fan of small coffee shops, they're usually too small with far too many people, but I can't say for sure unless I try."

            "Exactly." I scribbled the name down on a scrap of paper and slid it across the table. He glanced down and mothed a thank you before stuffing the paper in his pocket.

"JORDYN, STOP. THEY DID NOT," I laughed, covering my mouth with my hands. She clutched the counter top to stop from crumbling to the ground. Milo smiled over his shoulders from the drive through window. A tear rolled down my cheeks as the laughter spilled from my lungs.

"Jacob barreled through the front door and Josh tumbled through the back. And, Mom sat at the kitchen table, over burnt to hell, with a magazine in hand. She just looked up with a straight face and asked if they brought the milk she asked for." She whipped the bottom of her eyes with a napkin.

Shaking my head, I grabbed my coffee cup, "I'm just going to be in my corner." I nodded towards the back of the shop. It was the perfect position to see the entrance of the shop and when you're there to draw other people it was the best spot.

She smiled and began to talk into her headset. I plopped down on the couch and wiggled into the corner. After setting down my coffee, I pulled out a set of headphones. I slipped them over my ears and flipped open my sketchbook.

There was this woman on the other side of the shop, next to the window. She had this light brown hair flowing past her shoulders. Glasses rested on the tip of her nose as she stared down at the Ipad in front of her. She would scroll for a minute or two and then scribble on the notebook next to her.

I turned my paper sideways, sketching out her likeness. Nodding along to the song playing through my headphones, I picked my next person. A man sitting at a table with his hat turned backwards on his head. He had a nose ring on one side and a crooked grin settled on his face as he read. I moved to the upper corner of the paper and sketched him out.

Once the sketch was done, I put my pencil down and stretched out my fingers. My eyes wandered the room, landing on the man at the counter. Turning, Lucas' eyes caught mine and he smiled. I pulled my headphones off my ears as he walked over.

"I thought you said you came on Wednesdays."

"Had a change of mine," I shrugged. "You decided to try it out?"

"Well, your reviews so far have been pretty spot on. I was kind of hoping this would be a three for three." He smiled and gestured to the couch, "Do you mind?"

I looked over at the empty seat. For a moment, an image of us in the office flashed through my mind, but I pushed it down. However, that didn't stop my heart from racing, "No, not at all, please."

He sat and placed his book on the coffee table in front of us. My eyes traveled down his arms and to it's cover. It was white with big, red letters that read, 'Start With Why' written by Simon Sinek. Non-Fiction. For some reason that didn't surprise me at all.

"So—" we both started. Stopping, we looked at each other and laughed. He gestured for me to continue.

"What'd you get?"

"For coffee?"

"Yeah," I laughed, "this seems like the moment of truth. You can tell a lot about a person by their coffee order."

"Can you?"

"Of course. Do they like cream? Do they add sugar? Do they drink it extra hot? These are all important facts to consider."    

He looked down at his cup, "Is that right?"

"Well yeah. Take for example people who take their coffee a little hotter than normal. They're risking a burnt tongue, but their coffee stays warm longer. Is this because they just take longer to drink it or do they like the risk? We're dealing with some extremely complicated territory here."

He shrugged, "I guess coffee has always just been coffee to me."

"Then you, Sir, don't spend enough time in coffee shops." The girl studying on her Ipad got up and walked over to the counter, my guess for another drink.

I nodded towards her and Lucas followed my gesture, "Take that girl. Got here before me. Flat White with a dash of Mocha and a sprinkle of Cinnamon."

The girl smiled over the counter at Milo, pulling a few bills from her wallet, "Can I get a Flat White with just a dash of Mocha and some Cinnamon sprinkled on top?"

I turned on the couch to face Lucas, "Told you."

He laughed and shook his head. He mirrored my sitting position, but pulled one leg on his lap, "Okay, how did you do that?"

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, "Flat Whites have more cream than coffee, the Mocha is to give it a little bit of flavor, then the sprinkle of Cinnamon breaks it all up so it's not as sweet."

"If you can just guess," he glanced down at his cup, "what do you need me to tell you for?"

"Because if I'm right, I can judge you silently for it."

His smile widened, the dimples appearing, "Ah, I see."

"Would you rather I judge you out loud?"

"You can judge me however you like. It's just—"

"Black coffee with a bit of milk," we spoke together.

"Okay, what's wrong with that?"

I laughed, repositioning the sketchbook in my lap after flipping the page, "Absolutely nothing. But, let me guess, you tell people you drink your coffee black."

"Okay, maybe I do," he tried to hide his growing smile.

"Of course, you do." I smiled, grabbing my pencil from the table. Shifting in my seat, I leaned back and brought my feet up to make my legs a table. Lucas took his book and opened it. He glanced my way. Catching his eye, I smiled.

He sat there reading his book and sipping on his coffee as if this was something we did on a weekly basis. We were in a comfortable silence for a long time. I sketched him out on at least four different pages. A cartoon version of him with his straight posture and beard. We kept glancing at each other throughout this time.

Finally, he tried to glance over my legs to the drawing in my lap. I looked up at the movement. Leaning forward, I switched to sitting cross-legged next to him and handed over the drawing. A smile spread across his face.

"Nick was right. These are really good."

"Thank you. It only took me seven years to get to this point, but the great thing is I can always still get better."

"Those are the best kind of hobbies, don't you think?"

Smiling, I nodded my head, "I agree with you completely. What's yours? That hobby that you always get better at?"

"I keep a garden. It started out with some rhubarb and strawberries, but it was so calming and gave me something to do with my hands." He handed my sketchbook back to me, "It kind of just took on a mind of its own after a while and at this point it takes up almost the entire backyard."

"You grow strawberries?" I sat up quickly, "There is nothing I love more than strawberries and sugar. My mom used to make it for dessert before my dad passed away. It was his favorite, so we had it at least four times a week."

Lucas placed his hand on my knee, "I'm so sorry about your dad. I had no idea."

"What can I say? It was a long time ago, I was only seven, but at least I still have memories of him. My younger sisters were only two. I'm sure the only things they know about him are the things we've told them."

"What was he like?"

"Oh, well, I think you would have liked him. I'm positive he would have liked you." Lucas glanced down at his coffee, his lips tipping up.

"Him and my mom opened the bookshop together right after they got married. He was more of a movie guy, but my mom, she couldn't get enough of reading. She breathed books and he was the kind of guy that did everything he could to bring a smile to her face."

I sighed, "They were so happy. He'd let me sneak into the living room late at night, way past my bedtime might I add, and watch old black and white films with him. Mom caught us once. She tried to be mad, but she ended up just watching it with us. He commentated every movie he watched—" I laughed, "—I mean, the guy couldn't be anywhere for two minutes without striking up a conversation with someone."

"He sounds like a great man."

I nodded, "Yeah, he was."