Coffee Break.

Matt stood with a hand in his pocket and the other at his mouth, holding a cigarette to his lips. He sucked in the toxins and breathed them out quickly, putting the cigarette out on the ground in front of him. Let day in and let life out. A quote from a book repeated in his head, like a mantra or call and response with only the one figure.

He observed his surroundings, a truck stop cafe up ahead, the hotel's parking lot in front of him, one of the main roads of the town next to the entrance to the parking and burnt leftover rubber marks. He felt hungry and cold so he decided to go to the truck stop cafe and prayed he wouldn't die of food poisoning.

As he walked through the doors, a metal bell ringed above his head to signal his entrance and a curtain of heat engulfed him. He smiled, typical truck stop cafe. In one of the corners of the room, a television playing the news was turned up loud, announcing more deployments in some far off country before an image of jets flying out was shown. Matt walked up to the counter, hands in pockets half due to the fact they were still cold and also to find money.

He skimmed the menu quickly and decided coffee was his only option. "What will it be, darling?" A middle aged woman with gentle eyes greeted him and he smiled at her.

"Just a coffee please." He told her, putting the amount due into the woman's hands as she held them out. She quickly counted the coins before depositing them into the register.

"Won't be too long, doll, just wait over there for now." The woman requested and Matt nodded, walking over to where the woman had signaled with a reddened finger.

As Matt stood around, he took in the area further more. A rack of greeting cards stood next to the doors alongside what looked to be an old overturned bookcase with magazines about trucks, bikes and cars along with the occasional teenage gossip one inside. Newspapers were on the other side of the doors and two bins stood outside, covered in graffiti, mud and gum. The floors were tiled black and white with a permanent sheen of dirt on them and fluorescent tubes on the ceiling lit the place up.

"Excuse me?" A woman called to Matt's direction and he broke from his tired habit of taking everything in about the room to see what was the matter.

"Your coffee's ready, love." The woman beckoned to a foam cup standing along on the glass counterpane and Matt nodded, walking the small distance to take it from it's place. He muttered a quick thank you and smiled again. The woman nodded in acceptance before beginning to sweep up the inside of the kitchen.

Matt quickly added some sugar and went outside, slowly sipping his coffee as he stood around.

"Pretty boring town, isn't it?" A young girl smiled up at him and Matt gave a shake of his head.

"I haven't really seen much of it, I'm only here for the night so I wouldn't know."

"Oh? Figures. You didn't look much like one of the local boys anyway," the girl noted and Matt smiled. The girl seemed nice enough if she was willing to have a conversation with a complete stranger about her least favorite rundown town. Matt took a large sip of his coffee as the conversation seemed to die away.

"Well, I'd best be off then. I've got homework that's waiting for me. See you around next year, Matt." The girl smiled before walking away. Matt gave her a quick wave before registering what she'd just said.

"Hey, wait a minute. How did you know my name?" He asked, pulling her shoulder back lightly to stop her from going.

"You're Matt. You come here every year on tour with Derek, Manning and now Blake but last year it was Travis. You play one show and then you're gone,just like every year before. It's always at the town center, too. Except the year you signed with the major label, you didn't come around then. You went to one of the bigger towns, I think." She explained.

"So, you are one of our fans then?" Matt asked curiously after her explanation.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. I'm Chelsea." She held her hand out to him and he took it, shaking gently and smiled at her.

"So, you've seen us play then?" He asked and she nodded.

"Every year you've come out. Your shows are dirt cheap, so most of the local kids go. Makes for a fun night, plus you guys are always really nice and try to look out for us as best you can." She said and Matt smiled.

"I'm glad you all enjoy the shows, it's great to hear our fans are having a good time when they come out to see us." Matt told her and she nodded in understanding.

"Well, I really do have to leave now. I wasn't kidding about the homework, our teachers really hate it when we don't do it. Thanks for everything, Matt." She smiled and he murmured a no problem before hugging her. He wasn't quite sure why he did it, but he felt it was the right thing to do regardless.

He watched as she walked down a gravel path before finishing off his coffee. He walked back to the hotel, the mantra still repeating itself in his head as he walked before he took another cigarette from it's place in his pocket and lit it, breathing deeply in and enjoying the warmth the stick emitted into his mouth. He walked through the electric doors and to his room where Derek lay on their bed, playing with the laptop. The band had to share beds to save up money for fuel and food.

"Where did you go, dude?" Derek asked and Matt gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"Just out for some coffee." Matt told him, still glad that their band was able to have such a positive impact on a little town like this.