Edwin, Pau, and Roan greeted us when we arrived at the Plaza. They were already skating.

“You have no cat today,” Edwin said.

“Are you disappointed it's just me?” I replied

“Oh my god no, it's just the first time I've seen you without a cat.”

“Yeah I was joking, you can come over if you want to play with cats.”

“Can we come over too?” Roan asked

“Yeah of course.”

Edwin let me ride his board. “Ride” is an overstatement of what I was actually doing. I held on to Edwin's shoulders as I tried to move a millimeter. It went on for about five minutes until I gave up and let Edwin ride his cat board. I sat on a patch of grass and watched them do tricks on the concrete. The sound of everything, the skateboards running, the wind, the birds, the chatter, lulled me to nap under the foliage. 

I woke up, sunray in my eyes, chatter in my ears. Pau was talking about a “Shaun” and I knew I had to hear that story.

“You’re up, sorry we bored you,” Martin said, offering me a hand and I wiped my clothes off of grass.

“No, I was just tired.”

“Water,” Edwin offered,

“Thank you. I heard you talking about a Shaun.”

“Shaun Mendoza, you know him?” Roan said

“Yeah, I'm friends with his girlfriend, Kayla. I think they broke up.”

“Because Shaun cheated,” Pau said

“Shit, really?”

“Yeah, okay so-” Pau started to narrate a complicated web of incidents, and my jaw was on the floor.

The coffee grounds are dark and fragrant. The moment I opened up the jar, the smell lingered in the air. I slowly poured water about a cup of water into it. I need to wait a minute for it to bloom. The hot water filled the french press to the rim and I put the cover on it, not pushing the filter down yer. I check the clock, 6:46, and it's done. 

“Do you like iced or hot?” I asked Martin. He was observing me while sitting over the counter.

“Hot”

“Why?”

“Cause it's raining.”

“I will drink iced coffee even if I'm freezing. Iced coffee forever.”

“I like it, but I'm in the mood for hot.” He crossed his arms on his shoulders and shivered, acting as if he was cold.

“The fuck was that?” 

“I'm cold,” he repeated the gesture and we laughed at whatever he was doing.

The clock says 6:47, I'm one minute late on the coffee.

They were all sipping hot coffee except for me and Pau, she is also an iced coffee loyalist. We were all sprawled on the floor watching “Mother!”. Maybe, coffee isn't the best beverage for this movie. I do not know if it is the movie that's making me anxious or the coffee, maybe both. Our cats also hang out with us in the living room. We played, hugged, kissed, them, Edwin looked really pleased. 

I waved goodbye to them until they disappeared on the bend. The night was cold still even without rain.