Chapter Text
Meryl had read every review about East of July and from what she understood your experience varied based on who was working and when you went in. Everyone seemed to be agreement the place had the worst vibes they'd ever experienced but the food and drink was absolutely worth it. She couldn't imagine how. But she'd drawn the short straw and Roberto said she was the one who needed to review it for the site.
There was a menu next to the door in a shadow box. She pretended to look at it while very much looking inside. It was a nice day in July and the doors and windows had been opened to let in some sort of cross breeze. Saxophone music filtered out from inside the cafe. She'd heard about this. Apparently it was just one guy who did all the music and either played sax or trumpet. With some digging she'd found that people had complained so much about the trumpet the owners made him stop. But he could play the saxophone still. It wasn't like it was bad either. Whoever was playing was really good.
There were only a handful of people inside. Not like there was a lot of room. They all were just in their own little worlds, all the patrons wore headphones. She kept looking inside trying to see if she could spot who was running the show. Scouring the net had come up with the names Vash and Nai who owned East of July and everyone it was best to go in when Vash was working. Apparently Nai was even meaner than his employees who were rude. But she didn't know what they looked like so she was just trying to determine it by who looked busy or bossy.
"Are you going in or what-
Meryl almost screamed but very much did jump at the voice behind her. She whipped around, heart racing and had to look up, and up, and up. She was used to people being taller than her but this was ridiculous. It was a guy a bit older than her with shaggy black hair and brown skin wearing a hair of sunglasses. He was wearing an East of July t-shirt/uniform like she'd seen the rest of the workers inside and smoking the end of a cigarette. "W-what?" she stammered because he'd snuck up on her.
"You going in? You're blocking the way," he said, disinterested in her. That was when she realized she was. At least from the side he'd come around with the fenced in part of the sidewalk. A table and chairs blocked the rest of the way in and she was standing between them and the wall.
"Oh- I was just looking at the menu," she said and moved out of the way. He walked past her without looking at her again.
For the first time since she'd been standing there the atmosphere went from sullen to almost... cheerful, inside the cafe. "Nico! Finally. I thought you weren't coming," someone called from inside.
"I can still leave," the man said. Meryl watched him punch in and then tie an apron around his waist.
"You should put that out before the boss sees," Nico's coworker, a blue haired man, sneered at him. Meryl had read enough reviews to know he was the barista everyone liked.
"Or what? He'll fire me?" Nico scoffed. "Be doing me a fucking favor," he grumbled. But he did throw the cigarette away.
Emboldened by the fact that now it wasn't quite so quiet or desolate, and clearly the owner wasn't around at the moment, Meryl went in. The saxophone was even louder as she went up to the counter. Was that a cover of 'I heard She Wants You'? It wasn't terrible but on a saxophone? Probably not the best choice. The man who'd just clocked in, Nico, was at the counter ready to take orders. He was still wearing his sun glasses. Inside? She didn't even clock it as rude she just thought it was a bit stupid.
"Oh hey, you did come in," he said when Meryl approached the counter and array of baked goods. "Welcome to EJ what can I get'cha?"
Meryl eyed the treats. Roberto had said review the food, coffee, and atmosphere and given her a budget to go there several times. He wanted her to be thorough. He'd also said there was no way some place with as poor reviews and standing as East of July had such a high amount of people who went there to keep a regular staff. No way the coffee was that good. "Hmm, I'll take a cinnamon swirl," she pointed through the glass at it, "and a latte with toasted almond syrup," she said.
"Uh huh," 'Nico' said punching in the order. At the espresso machine the barista sighed. "For here or to go?"
"For here," she said.
There was a pause. "You sure?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Okay then," 'Nico' said and tapped in the order.
"I saw online you sometimes do little foam animals? Is that extra?" Meryl asked.
"... Yes," and he smiled and then looked over at the barista, sneering at him. "Toasted almond latte with a foam animal for here, got it," he said looking back at the POS. "Do you want your-" he paused as the saxophone's volume went up several decibels. In the song this was the lyrical climax. It was not good on saxophone at all. "- want your cinnamon swirl heated?" Nico continued as if he hadn't paused for ten seconds.
"Sure," she nodded. She heard the grinder go off.
"What's the name for the order?"
"Meryl."
"Okay, Meryl, your total is fifteen double-dollars," Nico said and if Meryl didn't have someone else paying for it she would have declined to get it. That was so expensive just for coffee and a treat! What the hell?! She handed over the money. When she did she finally noticed he had a name tag. It did not say 'Nico', it didn't say Nick or Nickolas or any other name she'd associate with such a nickname. It said Wolf Wood.
Who the fuck called themselves Wolf Wood? As if the saxophone playing covers wasn't weird enough. But she knew this place was weird.
'Nico' - she refused to think of this guy as Wolf Wood- stepped to the side and grabbed her pastry and put it into a toaster under the counter. It was handed to her less than a minute later on a plate. The pastry was just barely hot. Probably about as warm as if she'd just left it out in the sun. "Thanks," she said and took the cinnamon swirl to one of the tables and sat.
She pulled out her journal to start writing notes. The saxophone was very distracting but she did her best to ignore it. The two employees talked but she couldn't hear them over the music. The cinnamon swirl was delicious as she suspected but cold at the bottom which was disappointing.
"Mary?" a voice called at the barista counter. Meryl ignored it as she ate pieces of her swirl and wrote in her journal. "Mary?" the barista called again over the saxophone. A few minutes slipped past and then her ears perked at; "Toasted almond latte for Mary?" That was her order.
She got up and went over to the counter. The coffee still looked hot and the foam bear was only starting to melt. Unlike in some of the pictures she'd seen the bear indeed had a frowny face on it instead of a cute smile. "Uhh, is this mine?" she asked while the barista was cleaning the machine.
The barista, the blue haired guy with bangs, looked over. "Yeah? I only called you three times," he rolled his eyes.
"You called a Mary. My name is Meryl."
"Whatever," he said with great disdain and turned away from her but not before she caught his name tag affixed to his crisp collared shirt. It didn't have a name on it either. It was just a crudely drawn cat facing away with a little x for a butt hole.
"Well... thanks cat's butt hole," she said flippantly and took her latte. At the cashier 'Nico' cackled.
"Not funny," the barista hissed at 'Nico'.
"You totally deserved that," 'Nico' teased him as Meryl went to sit back down.
"Like I'd let these people know my real name," the barista said scornfully. Meryl lost the rest of their conversation under the saxophone now doing an acoustic rendition of 'He heard I Like To Party'. It was awful. Again the music was well done just what a choice.
Meryl took a picture of her cute latte bear before taking sip of her coffee and got a full body shiver. It was perfect. Perfectly pulled shot of espresso that was mellow and extremely flavorful to go with the toasted almond syrup. She looked at the counter and saw several coffee grinders, each with a different colored cap. Were they all different sources? Did that mean the barista picked a different bean depending on what you were getting? No way. That seemed like way too much work for how shitty the service was. She'd have to order another before she left and watch.
Some more people came in and got coffee or tea and a pastry to go. That seemed to be what most people did and quite a few people did come in and get drinks. None of them stayed other than the people already there, heads down, headphones on, they wanted to get in and out as fast as possible. If the barista called a single right name she didn't know because she wasn't close enough to hear 'Nico' taking the order but the blue haired guy sure was busy back there.
She'd finished her latte and swirl and was about to get up and get a decaf to go when someone came out of the back. Three of the four patrons sitting at tables immediately got up and left. What? Why? The man had platinum blonde hair styled just so and Meryl thought he'd be cute if he didn't have such a scowl on his face. "Midvalley shut the hell up," the new man said. "You're giving me a headache." The sound cut off instantly and Meryl was so grateful.
"No need to talk so bad about Sylvia like that, boss," the musician said. "You usually love it." Boss? Was this one of the brothers who owned the place? Probably not the nice one a few reviews talked about.
The man grumbled a moment, "Take a break," and went over to the counter. Meryl pretended not to pay attention at all. 'Cat butt hole' stood up so straight when he came around and looked very attentive to his boss's order while 'Nico' just ignored them and was sweeping up behind the counter. Midvalley, what a name, got up from his little stage in the back and walked out of the cafe and across the street. Meryl saw him start to smoke a moment later.
"You scared all our customers away," 'Nico' said while the owner waited for 'cat butt hole' to make his drink. Without the sound of the saxophone to cover everything up the cafe was small enough that Meryl could hear them very well.
"They'll be back," he said dismissively.
"Doesn't look good if the cafe's empty," 'Nico' said and leaned on the broom.
Well it seemed the excitement had passed and Meryl would be more than happy to get out of here before Midvalley came back and played another cover. She started packing up her things. "And since when do we care about appearances?" the owner asked.
"Vash does," 'Nico' said with a shrug. Meryl picked up her dishes and seeing nowhere to leave them took them up to the counter.
"And he worries too much about-
"Can I help you?" 'Nico' said over his boss as she approached the counter.
"Where can I put these?" she asked awkwardly holding her plate and latte mug.
"Oh! I can take them. Thank you," 'Nico' said cheerfully and took them, putting them into a bin below the counter. "Did you want to get anything to go?"
"Yes. I wanted to get a decaf?" 'Nico' nodded, putting it into the POS. "With caramel and vanilla," more nodding. "And one of each of the cookies."
"Sure thing. And it was... Meryl?"
"Yes. At least one of you can remember," she said cheerfully.
'Nico' snorted. "One of us has to be the smart one on shift and it ain't Legato," he said.
"I am standing right here with steamed milk," 'cat butt hole' -Legato- said where he was holding the steamer wand in the metal pitcher.
"Yeah and Vash hates when you waste the expensive milk," 'Nico' said without any fear at all. Then to Meryl he said, "That'll be twenty-eight double dollars." She paid and he bagged her cookies.
The owner was standing at the counter on his phone waiting for his drink. Once she had her cookies she did the same, facing the door. She saw a pair of women about to enter the cafe, see the owner standing there, and quickly walked passed, strained looks on their faces. So this was not the nice owner. Yikes. She more watched Legato to see if he did use different beans depending on what you got. He was making two drinks and poured the milk first into one and then the other. On the top of one foam he made a heart, the other looked almost like a shit. One one with the foam heart also had the name written cutely on it with a heart around it: Nai. The other was just standard print of 'Vash'.
"Here you go," Legato said, leaning on the counter to serve the owner. Leaned on it way too far Meryl might add.
"Oat milk?" he asked.
"Of course! What do you take me for? An amateur?" Legato asked, insulted.
"Hmph, only sometimes," he said and put away his phone and picked up both paper cups. He drank out of the 'Nai' one without looking at the name. Then he left, back through the back door he kicked closed behind him. Meryl felt so awkward watching the barista stare after his boss and look at his ass as he left.
"Oi, you got another drink, cat butt," 'Nico' said when Legato lingered too long.
"That's not my name," Legato snapped and stood up.
"Then do your job," 'Nico' rolled his eyes.
"Tsk," and Legato wiped down the machine while grinding some new beans. Meryl watched intently, leaning over the counter a bit to maybe get a look. The front of the bean containers had no names but Legato seemed to know what they were anyway. He pulled out a new steamer mug from the fridge under the counter and filled it with milk. He wrote her name on a paper cup and pressed the grounds into the portafilter head. He adjusted something on the big machine before putting the portafilter into the head and a small cup under it. The espresso machine hummed loudly and Legato turned on the steam, starting to heat her milk.
She was impressed when the espresso finished pouring almost at the same time Legato finished steaming the milk. He poured the espresso into the cup and then did a pump of vanilla and caramel and then looked at Meryl watching him. His sharp yellow eyes looked her over more precisely than she ever recalled a man doing so (and that was not a thing she thought in admiration or enjoyment) and then leaned back and added an extra pump of vanilla to her cup. He tapped the steaming pitcher on the counter, way harder than she expected, swirled the milk and then poured the steamed milk into the cup at an angle. It seemed to mostly be for his own amusement he made a little squiggly pattern that became a heart at the end. It certainly wasn't for her benefit. Then the lid went on.
"Latte fo Marcy," he said, looking right at her as he set the latte down on her side of the counter
"It's Meryl," she said and picked up the cup. Her name was spelled correctly on the cup. Oh so he was just an asshole on purpose. Good to know.
"Whatever," he said and turned away from her to clean his machine and equipment.
"Thanks for the treats," she told 'Nico' as she left.
"See you next time," 'Nico' said.
"Yeah right," Legato grumbled.
"I mean boss is right, they do keep coming back," she heard 'Nico' say as she walked out of East of July. As she started her walk back to the office she took a sip of her latte.
It was, like the first one, utterly perfect. Perfect grind, perfect roast, perfect draw, perfect foam, perfect amount of syrup. That blue haired 'cat butt hole' guy- Legato- was good. Probably way too good to be working there. She wondered briefly why he stayed when she recalled him mooning over his boss. Right. Some people were just crazy. Not her problem. She'd go back another day. Maybe she could catch them when the nice owner- Vash?- was around. See if the atmosphere wasn't so damn weird and oppressive.