Coffee Shop Soundtrack

“Dude, Christmas is still two months away, shouldn't you be getting ready for Halloween?”

Ryan gave a smile as he and Georgia suddenly went back to back, holding up their fingers like guns.

“Exactly.”

Cassie curled her lip in confusion as Georgia gave a mischievous grin. Relaxing her arms she only looked away and laughed telling that she and “foot ball head” were not allowed to hear such classified information. The two looked at each other and laughed diabolically taking out the string lights along with all the other junk they had brought in.

They had decided the other week that The Ground's “Open Mic Night” will take place Halloween weekend. Ideas have been swarming in Ryan's mind for days now on what they will do with the shop. Flyers were already up alerting the event in Brandon and Seymour and now major planning could commence. Food, decorations, even what color the soap in the bathroom should be swarmed his mind. Ryan planned to take the day off to gather his thoughts and some well needed sleep.

Ever since he woke up that day, every little moment made him feel as if he was in a film noir movie. Thus he would narrate it as one.

–

“Life is a strange ordeal, it's hard to believe it's real sometimes. The times when one is expecting the simple, ends up being the most... complicated. When I woke up this morning I wouldn't have foresaw myself dressing up as a fifties detective, being held captive by a tangled mess of Christmas lights, and then fighting off a hoard of moose heads. I should have known this by now, since I ever started working with that curly haired dame Cassandra, I have come to expect the uncontrollable things of life. Though this time it was different, the dame wasn't the cause of this ordeal, it was another. A gal much younger than the dame or I with dark hair half way down her back and grease stains on her pants.

I had started the day like any other, waking up at four and dragging myself around my condo in a drudgery morning routine. It was half way through a pee when I realized that I had the day off. There was no need to ready my uniform or prepare my daily cologne of coffee bean oil. The day off meant I could do what I want, go where I want. I was a free man.

A free man to go back to the warmth of my bed.

There was nothing else witty that I could think about this situation. I did this task for another three hours before thoughts of the day bounced around in my mind. These left me wide awake in the overcast morning light that slipped across my room leaving a present of shadows. Thoughts that were to be left tomorrow were trapped in a web of my excitement for something that was weeks away. Sure, after all the planning the dame Cassandra and I along with a local lad and gal had done, anyone would be excited for, but that again was for another day.

Throwing on my favorite clothes, momentous from my high school years that were far too short for me now, I had hoped they would help. However, they did nothing. Watching the same morning sitcoms also did nothing. Even touching the crocheting kit that my land lord Mrs. Fleeter got for me last year did nothing. After setting down my poorly made scarf I decided the only way to get these thoughts off my mind was to go for a jog around Brandon. The fact living in the center of Brandon, only a couple blocks from the downtown from all the best shops to buy supplies for a coffee house party was a plus for such a journey.

That journey however brought me face to face with the gal that would change my simple day for the worse. All different kinds of people ran through the streets of Brandon. All with their own stories and agendas to where they needed to be that day. It was it's own kind of chaos. Children were off to their classes so all restrictions of the day were let loose. Everything now was raw and the conversations that I overhear are clear examples of this. Though she was different. She stood there at the side of a brick wall looking off with a mysterious and judgmental glare to the people that past her.

If this were a true film noir she would have been dressed in a black dress with a cut up the side showing off the leg that was up against the wall. She would have been older and possibly holding a cigarette expecting me to show up. Though in real life she was a gal of seventeen with a soda in her hand and clearly not in the comfort of her school.

'Hello, Georgia.'

Her solid frown quickly turned up into a shocked look as she flinched from her spot on the wall. I gave her a look and leaned next to her looking down with a sly smile.

'What is a girl like you doing out well past the first bell of school?'

Her eyes sharply narrowed as she shifted her body into a crossed armed position.

'What is a man in a scruffy attempt at a beard, dressed in an outfit two sizes too small for him, and hitting on a girl doing out here?'

I scratched at the hair I forgot to shave from my drudgery routine that morning. The gal had a mighty fine point. My clothes were meant to be around the house only and the way I laid on the wall next to her could have been mistaken as a man with an agenda. She may have been only six years younger than I, perfectly fine relationship in some cultures, though I wasn't interested in a teenager. I gave a sly smile matching her's and stood up from the wall.

'Well, touche,' I held out a hand, 'I won't tell if you don't.'

'Change those pants and shave your beard then you've got yourself a deal Mr. Creep.'

She shook my hand in return and minutes later the two of us were back out in public from a quick freshening up on my part. The long dark haired girl placed her hands in her pockets as if she tried to hide something from me. The air between us seemed to grow thin as we quietly walked down the charming downtown Brandon.

'So what's with that logo on your jacket? That's not a West or East logo. thought you said you went to West High.'

I felt the muscles in my arms tighten like a rubber band being strained. I had not been thinking when I kept to wearing the jacket. Thankfully the rest of me looked fine for a gal her age not to be embarrassed.

'It's from.. Narnia.'

Her sarcastic look changed into an “are you kidding me” glare. I cocked my head to the side and pointed to a store down from where we were walking. Technically the quaint second hand store was named the “Lion's Wardrobe”, but clearly used the idea of Narnia in its branding. That was when the ideas I tried to escape from started to swarm back into my mind. Georgia was the perfect distraction from those overwhelming thoughts, but they had returned more powerful than before. A gasp filled the air as the gal ran to the side, pulling me in the process.

We hugged the walls of the downtown brick buildings as she held her breath. A young man, the same age as she jwalked from the other side of the street. Cars honked at the boy and his friends who followed behind. They were loud and boldly talking like the rawness of the city and walked right into the dull lights of Narnia. The gal's eyes narrowed as she softly swore about how she got sidetracked. I leaned back wondering why this boy was of importance.

'That's Dylan. My brother,' she shifted her head around in a cautious manner and grew closer to the shop, 'he was talking about skipping class today and doing something but I couldn't catch what.'

That was when a terrible idea seeped into my mind. I was already helping a girl not get caught for skipping school. If we were ever caught I wouldn't hear the end of it from the authorities or even worse the dane Cassandra. But the more I tried to release my wild idea that swarmed in my thoughts it kept scratching, unwilling to release me. I glanced at Georgia and pointed off for her to follow me. The gal and I snuck into the open gates of Narnia, grabbing the first few items from a rack of costumes to disguise us as we walked.

The boys were sneaky I'd give them that, they knew to come to a place that was big enough to hide Waldo and his entire family. I think I even passed by a fishing boat over in aisle six. I stepped out from behind the coat rack pulling on the trench coat I found, slipping a fedora over my dirty blonde hair. Georgia walked out wearing the same but looking more like a Sherlock Holmes with matching pipe. Her hair was stuffed inside a hat as she nodded to me in a manly manner and walked off. I even had to give a double take as the girl walked off. She could be a great actor if she wanted to be.

'We can't lose him.'

Her tone was harsh and quick as she pulled out a cellphone and made sure that it was set to a camera setting. I smiled and joined her around a corner.

'Aw, I wish that I had a younger sister who cared so much about me.'

'Yeah, a younger sister who wants to catch her brother getting in trouble and get kicked off of his football scholarship.'

She sneaked on down the next aisle as I felt myself slowing. This was something I never heard the gal say before. She had said plenty of strange and sarcastic things over the weeks I had known the girl, though that one sentence was pure and serious. Her speed grew faster as she heard his voice echo off the in the distance. Narnia only grew bigger as they kept walking. The store was built out of some warehouse downtown and held so many items which Georgia kept leading me through.

The camera turned on as she peeked her head up from underneath some blankets. I joined her and watched as he and his friends joked about in the store.

'He's skipping school, get him for that then.'

'The school doesn't care about that. That's just a detention and a scolding from Dad. I need something better.'

'Georgia, why do you want to do this-'

She pushed at my face to silence me. This took me by surprise, and I fell to the floor where dozens of Christmas lights laid tangled. She said something and then I heard her phone click as it took a picture. The boys heard this noise right away and turned to look at the source. The gal gave them a pathetic wave and then provoked them with her middle finger. She slapped my back and told me to run.

I wished that I could, the tangled mess of lights were like vines attached to my legs, as I crawled out of the buckets I found myself in, I only brought myself a never ending line of lights and three furious boys. I finally caught up with the girl who released her disguise, letting the trench coat float back my direction, attacking my face. With this, along with my tangled feet and the boys running into me from behind, I became a road block which ran right into an hunting exhibit. Items fell from above onto us and the next thing I knew I was pulling the trench coat off of me to see the angry faces of the store manager and local police man. I gave a nervous smile and noticed the boys tangled up beneath me.

I became the police man's little hero that afternoon. He took the boys away and I got off easy, at least from the police man. The manager forced me to buy everything that I intended or didn't intend to break. This involved a ray of Christmas lights, a moose head, a singing fish, and a few other random objects. I sighed handing over the man the money and forcing myself to take the boxes outside. Georgia was long gone and it looked like the police officer didn't find her.

'Hey!' A shout came from outside Narnia.

Georgia was there with my car and waving out to me.

'You stole my car...?'

'Do you want a trunk to put those boxes in or not?'

I may not understand everything about that girl or what she thinks, but for that moment, I was happy to see her there.”

Ryan puffed out a long breath of smoke with Georgia across from him with a discontent look on her face.

“That was the lamest description of our day ever. It had far much more action than that,” she crossed her arms and arched her eyebrow, “and what's with the cigarette? Since when do you smoke?”

“It fits with the setting.”

Ryan smiled letting out a puff of smoke, resting the fedora on his head as he stood from the table. The sun was setting and casted dark shadows across the coffee shop. Without another word he left into the brightness of the light.