Coffee Shop Soundtrack

Ryan yawned as he waited on the corner of Vermont and Berligh in Brandon. The little shopping corner of Brandon was busy that day with all the Halloween sales and stores getting ready for Christmas. He stood at the side, watching all of the commotion of people passing. There was a few college girls shopping and the city worker changing out the Halloween concert posters for some Thanksgiving banquet. It was a crisp morning where his breath was easily seen in the air. Not even a warm cup of coffee could shake away the lingering cold weather. The warm mornings of fall were finally lost and it was finally time to start bundling up.

He stood at the side with two cups of coffee, clearly showing the logo of The Ground's to the people who passed. Dressed in jeans and a warm coat, Ryan waited patiently for his summoner. Cassie wasn't so happy that Ryan had to leave in the middle of a shift, but this was always so much more important. He just couldn't leave his summoner waiting. He had always met her like this ever since he moved out three years ago.

“Ryan!” a voice called from the other side of the street.

He looked up from his blank stare at his dirty shoes to see a woman wave her arm. She wore a cream colored trench coat and had graying brown hair tied up in a loose ponytail. Ryan's bored look quickly lit up as he pushed his back off of the wall of the building behind him. He met the woman at the cross walk who quickly gave him a big bear hug there on the side of the street. He would hug her back but held the two coffee's up so that it wouldn't spill on her coat.

She gave his cheek a kiss and took his face in her small hands.

“How's my most amazing nephew?”

“Aw, you just say that because I remembered to bring you coffee this time.”

Ryan cocked his eyebrow and shook her coffee cup in his hand. She laughed and took the coffee graciously. Her wrinkled face squinted in gladness as she and he walked the small shopping district. For being in her fifties she carried herself so strongly. She may have just been a professor of Art at the University college located there in Brandon, but she was so much more.

“You're rather happy today. Any of my “cousins” living with you and Uncle John now?”

“Your great uncle actually,” she leaned over resting her left hand on the opposite side of her face, “just so you know I wish it was one of your cousins, he's such a slob. I would take a football crashing through my window than a lazy man in front of the TV for the month.”

Ryan rolled his eyes and gave a sigh, “I try to teach your son how to throw and you hold the result over my head for life.”

“Thanks to you, he now has a strange urge to go to college for demolition.”

They both laughed. Her son would be turning eighteen soon. He took after his mother's spunky personality but his dad's brain. Ryan could see his young cousin becoming an Engineer and blowing up anything in his path. He was proud to know that it was him who got him on that path. The two walked and talked a little bit as they walked the chilled street. They ended up stopping for a late lunch at a cafe down on Berligh. The cafe brought in lots of light from the windows and skylights above which was shaped a lot like a lighthouse. The entire cafe was designed as if it belonged out at sea with blue colors, shells, and a giant aquarium tank located right when you walked in.

The two sat down and ate and continued the conversation they were carrying outside. His aunt Lori was doing fine, she actually was getting ready to grade midterm projects that day when she had the sudden urge to call up her favorite nephew. He just so happened to be the only nephew of her's that still lived in the area. Others have moved on while he was still stuck there. Well, those were thoughts that he had before, for the past four years Ryan finally has accepted this life of his.

“Hey, Aunt Lori?” she looked up from her sandwich, “why did you call me so suddenly today? We were going to meet up next week once midterms were all done.”

She shifted the food in her mouth slowly to the other side in thought. Swallowing, she placed her meal back on her plate and leaned forward shifting her food aside.

“You've been watching the news right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well... then you know what's going on Friday then correct?”

Ryan didn't respond. His eyes wandered from her to his food resting on his own plate. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

“What's wrong? You should be happy!” she smiled and turned her head to reach his eyes, “you remember Harry right? He gave me the okay for you even to contact your parents again. Ryan, you're finally free! You can move back to Boston again. Heck, you can go move to Fort Meyers! You were telling me before that it would be nice to move somewhere warm.”

Ryan gave a smile but it was clear that he had something on his mind. All he could think about was the shop. Years ago he would have been happy to hear this, but now... he didn't know how to explain it. To how simple Brandon and Seymour were, he actually liked it out here. His friends were here and his business.

“For heaven's sake, boy, at least get a girlfriend! You are twenty three! There's an entire life time worth of jobs out there, but you're only young once.”

“You tell him sister. He needs to get a girlfriend.”

Ryan blinked a few times and looked back to the booth behind him. There was Georgia, sucking on a smoothie straw with a guy next to her with her usual cynical look on her face. Both were dressed in warm coats, and something knit covering their ears. She wore a yellow hat with a puff ball at the end, he wore a knit hat that was made with horns on the top, making him look like a viking. Ryan remembered the boy, he was at the Open Mic Night a few nights back doing a poetry bit with some friends.

“Exactly, maybe this young lady would be perfect for you,” Aunt Lori gave a little wink to the boy with her joking tone.

“Sorry, ma'am but she's taken,” the viking boy gave Georgia a side hug which even made the serous faced girl blush slightly.

Georgia finally took a break from her smoothie to mention to Aunt Lori that Ryan was great and all, but he was the kind of guy a teenager would only have to get them into clubs and get them free beer. The two teens snickered to themselves and escaped from their uncomfortable position behind the booth. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that Georgia would go out with. He looked a mix between an artist and a punk, but wore glasses making Ryan automatically think of a nerd. The fact that the boy was wearing a viking hat probably didn't help his case.

“Darren, Ryan. Ryan, Darren,” both shook hands, “don't know who she is.”

Ryan wanted to apologize for her tone but Aunt Lori shook her head and casually said hello to Darren. Darren settled Ryan and Georgia's confusion saying that he had been meeting with “Professor Lori” about the art program. He emphasized though that he was interested in the sculpture classes especially. Apparently Georgia and he were going to head out to an auto shop to get some parts for his next sculpture. Now Ryan could see why Georgia would like him. She only stood there glancing at him with rosy cheeks sucking on her smoothie.

The four eventually made their way out of the cafe. Ryan wanted to complain about why Georgia was skipping school again, but she corrected him saying that school was let out an hour ago. The two only came in to get smoothies and get going to the auto shop. By chance did they run into Ryan and Aunt Lori. Darren excused himself, chiming to Georgia that he would go get the car. With one last goodbye to Aunt Lori he was gone.

“I should get going too,” the woman sighed glancing down to her watch, “those projects won't grade themselves.”

Ryan and Aunt Lori shared another one of their bear hugs before she turned back to where they came.

“Oh, and Ryan, remember to take care of yourself now. It's been a month since you started working on that Open Mic Night, so do something for you for once!”

She pointed to her head and then blew him a kiss before disappearing off into the busy sidewalks. Georgia took a break from her drink again and looked up to the dirty blonde coffee shop owner. He needed to shave a bit but she could see right away what Aunt Lori was talking about.

“You dye your hair!”

Ryan gave her a strange yet shocked look automatically turning his head towards the reflective window of the cafe. Aunt Lori was right, he needed to take care of himself. For right there were brown roots peeking through his slightly messy hair. He turned towards Georgia to see her evil smile.

“Don't you tell Cassie.”

She laughed and placed a hand on her hip. He half expected the girl to blurt out something of black mail but instead softened her look as she took a sip again from her smoothie.

“You know why don't you ask out Cassie?”

Ryan frowned, confused at her question.

“Oh, come on Hair Dye McGee, I see how you two interact with each other. You see her every day for who knows how long, and you haven't ever thought of the possibility of getting together?”

Ryan wanted to respond to the girl, but that was when Darren pulled over to the curb to pick up Georgia. Georgia waved goodbye and told him to think about it. She gave an evil toothy smile and hopped right into the car and drove off leaving Ryan alone. He stood there with a forlorn look before finally deciding to check his phone. There were twelve missed calls from Cassie complaining for him to hurry his butt back to work and help her.

Racing back to work, he kept replaying Georgia's words in his mind. He pulled up to the historical church grounds to see no cars there. He had just missed the rush and didn't even realize it. He wondered if getting something for Cassie from the cafe would have been a good idea, yet it was too late now. The music was up and hear Cassie's voice as she raced to the stereo and cranked up the song.

“I love this song!” she chimed to no one.

He poked his head through the door to see the curly haired girl slightly dancing in the middle of the room. Her bright cherry lips were curled into a smile as she attempted to move at the beat of her favorite song. The sun was starting to set sooner now and casted shadows across the shop, but all Ryan's mind kept thinking was just how beautiful she looked. He stared at the woman, a few years older than he, who looked no different than when he saw her that morning. She wasn't any different, yet she was then.

His hand slipped on the door and the jingle bells attached to the handle chimed his presence. Her cherry lips turned into the angriest frown ever as she stopped and turned towards the door with a menacing stomp from her healed shoes.

“You.”

“I- I can explain-”

She stormed over to the man and moments later he was forced in outside cleaning duty as she sat on the couch doing nothing. It didn’t matter that he hated the leaky roof that moment or that he was cleaning it. All that mattered was that a single thought ran through his mind.

That he was starting to fall for the girl.