I WAS ON MY USUAL WALK HOME FROM SCHOOL,
But I wanted to try out this coffee place downtown. The reviews on Google were positive and mostly 4-5 stars. It was also listed as a tourist attraction, so I wanted to see what all the buzz was about.
I walked through downtown Minneapolis which in itself was nothing remarkable. However, the winter aesthetic of the sidewalk and the city street was more than enough to blow me away. Normally it's all gloomy and cold. But this December was relatively warm for winter. The temperature was barely freezing and the sun was out. The icicles gleamed like crystals in the sunlight and created a kaleidoscope of color that reflected off of the icicles and onto the sidewalk. The snow was also very mildly tall. It wasn't too tall or too short.
Another remarkable thing was the smell of hot coffee that emanated from the coffee shop in front of me, the one I was looking for, Angel Coffee. There was a chalkboard outside listing today's specials and a cup with some angel wings on it. Something about a Moka Suprême? It was the most expensive thing on the menu which was like twelve dollars. Not too expensive, but if it's expensive then it has to be good.
I went over to the glass door and pulled on the handle, it wouldn't budge. I tried to pull harder, but it still wouldn't open. At this point, I thought the store was closed and the door was locked. But that's not right, it's only 5 PM. Most stores close at 6 at the earliest. I tried another pull and the floor gave way under me and I slipped on the ice and fell right on the floor.
After I just realized one had just happened, the door opened but as if someone pulled it from the inside, which is what happened. This girl with short, white hair was the first thing I saw when I looked up. She had this stupid smile that I couldn't tell wanted to mock me or laugh at me; maybe both.
"If you're wondering why this place is a tourist attraction, it's this door right here." The white-haired girl said.
I looked at the door, the handles were indeed in the normal place, but the door itself was a push door, not a pull door.
"Yeah, we deliberately did this to attract customers." She put her hand out and I grabbed it. She pulled me up with so much strength it was unbelievable. "So, welcome, I'm sure those fake reviews got you to come here." She put her hand out to shake my hand, I reciprocated.
She made a gesture pointing me towards the counter in the back with the stools. I walked in and sat down on the luxury looking stools. The frame was polished silver and the cushion looked to be Italian leather, exquisite. I sat down and, the seat was indeed Italian leather. Just the way it felt to sit down was enough, but so was the texture.
"So, the reviews were fake?" I asked. The white-haired girl walked behind the counter and started putting on a white apron and clipped on a name tag. "Claire?" I asked again for reassurance.
"Yeah, my dad wasn't confident in this place succeeding, so he decided to make this place as weird as possible, which reminds me..." Claire went into the kitchen and I could hear some sounds. The sound of a blender, then the sound a spoon clanging on glass or something. Then she came out with a glass cup and an emotionless expression. When she began to speak she sounded like a robot.
"Sir here is a free Mocha Suprême for every first-time customer." She said so emotionless and scripted I felt genuinely nervous that I was in the matrix or something.
"Um, thank you." I took it and took a sip. This was better than any other coffee I'd tasted, it was amazing. "Hey, make me another one," I said. "I'll pay."
"Okay, coming right up." She said, expressionless and without a tone once again.
As she went into the kitchen, I heard the bell of the door jingle behind me. I turned around to see who it was, and it was Nia. She flinched as she made eye contact with me, but then she took a breath and walked over to the counter and she sat down on the stool next to me.
"What brings you here, stalker?" She asked.
"You must be bipolar or something, switching back and forth like that," I said, sipping more on my Mocha Suprême. "It's quite sickening to say the very least."
I looked at her, she had an unbelievable expression on her face, guess I must've pissed her off. Her face turned beet red, and she made a pouting face. "What exactly do you mean by that?" She grabbed my collar, "I'll have you know I took karate, I'm not afraid of you!"
"If you took karate, you would know karate is meant for self-defense, and not for offense?" I asked with sarcasm.
"Screw you, smart ass!" She slapped me, it hurt a bit.
I lifted my palm to caress my cheek, where the red mark in the shape of a hand was. I looked back at her with my hand still on my cheek, and her face totally changed expression. Her face was still red, but she felt more remorse than anger at this point.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to slap you like that." She started stuttering.
"You know, I don't particularly care, this is a new experience for me." She made a weird look and blinked a few times as if she was trying to process what I had just said. "But apology accepted I suppose."
"Mocha Suprême right here valued customer." Claire walked out of the kitchen holding a large paper cup that had a lot of condensed water on the outside of the cup, it was dripping.
"Oh, Claire you knew I was coming? Thank you very much." She grabbed the very wet cup and I had to interject.
"That's mine," I pointed at it. "Can I have it back?"
"It's his Nia, he paid for it." Claire also pointed at it.
"Huh? Oh, sorry." She handed it back to me, looking even sadder. For what though? Because she didn't get a free Mocha Suprême?
"You know what? You can keep it, I already got a free one." I said handing it back to her.
She looked back at me with hopeful eyes, not the reaction I was expecting, but hey what can you do?
"Gee Allan you're such a nice guy," Claire said, I literally could not tell if she said that sarcastically or not.
"Make me another one, I'll pay for this one too," I said.
"Tch, I take that back." And she stormed off into the kitchen.
"She has attitude, sorry about that," Nia said while sipping on her free Mocha Suprême.
I nodded and looked up at the TV. The News was on, and I was absolutely bewildered by the subject of the hour. "Hello, everyone news anchor Jesus Ruedas here, Realm of Realms Online is the most popular game since Fortnite 12 years ago, it has only been 1 week since the initial launch, but 250 million people are playing worldwide! This is a phenomenal achievement by Chazo Soft who are looking to become the next superpower in the gaming industry. Not to mention, an advancement in FullDive technology, we are getting closer to the future folks! My sons have been playing non-stop these past 8 days, they've been locked in their rooms all this time, only coming out to use the bathroom and eat their three meals. Now, let's discuss the weather." The news anchor rambled on some more about how terrible the weather will be this week, it ruined my mood too.
Claire came out of the kitchen with an angry face and slammed my Mocha Suprême on the counter. "To hell with the weather! I'm staying inside until spring comes back!" and she turned off the TV.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"So Allan, I looked at your address and you don't live far from here, wanna walk me?" She asked while looking at her phone.
"Oh? You're going to this guy's house? What for? You better not do anything naughty." She nudged Nia with her shoulder.
"It's not like that, we're having a club meetup at his house, that's all," Nia said, looking over at me for an answer.
"Aw, that's lame. Would've been fine with the latter." Claire said.
"Okay, that's it." Nia got up and took my hand. She then proceeded to run out the door, dragging me with her.
"Hey, wait I still need to pay." I was getting farther from the counter, Claire just stood there. "Charge my credit card!" and just like that, I was out the door.
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