Joe had come from a long day at work, he was tired and sore. He had spent all day hunched over a car, working it and cleaning out and then he had worked on half a dozen bikes. Now he was looking forward to something like a Blue Hurricane to drink or just a pint of beer. He smelled of motor grease and sweat but it didn't matter, he was free for now. The parking was packed but he found a place to squeeze his Plymouth 'cuda in. He was pretty weary of the car in front, it looked dinged up and the car behind his didn't look any better. What if they hit his car getting out of parallel parking? What stressful thoughts. He shuddered the thoughts away.

The Double Deuce bar was down the street, the billiard night was going to be great. Oh, it was written in the stars tonight! Right? He glanced up at the sky, the sun was setting. The stars weren't even rolling out of their beds yet. As he righted himself to look ahead, what he saw was a bicyclist racing to mow him down. He didn't even get a chance to say anything before being knocked back. He hit his elbow on the ground and it sent an electric shot of pain down his arm towards his ring and pinky fingers. He was more concerned for the bicyclist than himself at the moment, what if they had gone flying onto the road? He didn't have to look to the road because the bicyclist got up and began to gather the spilled things with amazing speed. The girl mentioned something about a free drink on the house. It made him raise his eyebrows and blink a few times. "Ah, sure...?

He got up with a grunt, by then all but a couple of cards were picked up. "Are you okay?" He took to mind that the cafe was on the 5th. That was the Nightingale Lounge, wasn't it? He loved it there by all accounts and went frequently. That girl was new for sure, in his years of drinking coffee and sometimes tea he had never seen her there. There weren't many Asiatic girls with a short bob riding around on bikes that showed up. Either way, the girl left as quickly as she had shown up.

Whatever he got a free drink out of meeting her and he wasn't about to let it go to waste. He had bought some alcohol the day before anyways which Vernard wasn't all too happy about. It wasn't like he drank a lot 'Take care of your liver, Joe!' he would say, 'I want to have you still alive at fifty, you crazy cat.' It felt nice having friends like that, close and caring. He'd do his part then to let them know that he heard their calls of friendship.

He stepped into The Nightingale Lounge, ready to order his favorite drink. It was the favorite drink of the indecisive customer who couldn't pick between coffee or tea. The grand and seasonal pumpkin spice chai with some whipped cream on top. He talked to the barista at the counter about the events from earlier before, maybe made it sound way worse than it had been. But he said he was alright because he was a tough guy for sure, it was just that the bicyclist girl said she worked here and that he could have a free drink. "I mean, I come here all the time. You know that, Janey. I should get one, either way, even just half of a drink."

"Well, that is true." Janey smiled, "I'll get it done for you. Just come by next time with your guitar and sing us something. I like it when we have performers over to liven up the space instead of just our music playlist." She wrote down his usual order of a Whip Creamed pumpkin spice chai and got to preparing it.

Joe rarely went into the bookstore part of the shop, he was no traditional book nerd after all. So he stayed in the corner looking up creepy internet stories. He read through one out of the list of thousands of stories. He was determined to read one article a day even if the number of stories grew much more quickly than that. The particular story he read was one about a strange man who could travel back and forth between dimensions. This man, or creature, had the ability to phase through walls and when he did so the materials he phased through would deteriorate. Apparently, this creature liked to take humans and spirit them away into the alternate dimension to feast on them.

He put his phone on the table where he sat and glanced over his shoulder. That was some creepy stuff for sure. Especially when the stories were written as if they were real documents from some facility that studied, captured, and sometimes killed such entities. Sometimes the stories were so well written, he felt like the monster would come and get him at any moment. While trapped in his thoughts about possibly getting kidnapped by a mysterious old man with creepy powers, the Barista chimed in through the low murmur of the cafe, “I got an order up for the cutie with the black hair.” It snapped him out of the thoughts and from tracing the Celtic trinity knot etched onto the table with his gaze. He glanced at Jane placing the warm mug on a plate with its complementary confection of the day, a pink and possibly strawberry flavored french macaron.

He got up and stepped up to the counter, his arm stretched out and poised to pick up the place when his forearm bumped into another's hand. He looked down, as he often had to, only to see the wide brim of a black hat. “Excuse me, but I'm sure she called me.” He placed a hand on his chest, only fingertips touching his shirt.

The black hat turned slightly but didn't let him see who it was. Stars had been embroidered onto its brim, they didn't look to be machine-made so he assumed the wearer had done it herself. “I didn't hear a name. You sure she called you?”

“Pretty sure. She called me a cutie earlier, the day before that, 'n so on.” Joe was determined to take the drink, moving slightly to get in the way. Honestly? Who the hell did this chick think she was?

“Oh you, don’t you know? Girls say that to everyone for bigger tips. Did she sucker you into one? Besides, you look more like the Cuppa Joe type of guy rather than a sweet pumpkin spiced chai with cream on top.” The girl with the hat smiled and finally looked up. It was her! The bike chick who ran him over. She seemed to recognize him as well once her big hat wasn't in the way, he heard the attempt to hide a snort of laughter.

He felt a tinge of cool surprise radiate over his chest, missing out what she really said over the sound of his name. But he knew that was just another way to say coffee. He breathed in, deep. Ready to say something before he could say anything he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye.

Janey set another plated mug and sweet macaron on the countertop wiping the edge of it with a small towel to remove a drip. “You two ordered the same drink, to be honest, I think you'd make a cute couple. Opposites do attract don't they?"

“She always called me the cutie with the black hair...” Joe took the warmer, recently brought drink with the speed of a striking cobra and retreated to his favorite stool. There he would know he wouldn't be bothered and he had the option to look out the window right beside. He had never seen this star hat girl before and he had lived here all his life. He looked over his shoulder at the girl who now sat at a small table with a book. He took a look back down at the mug. A little drawn kitty face adorned the foam which he didn't want to ruin but he did so anyway as he sipped bitterly at his sweet drink.