Chapter Text
Happy Hollow Street is one of the most popular areas in town with many stores, great places to eat, and a popular arcade. Right across from the said arcade stands a brand new coffee shop called Starlight’s Coffee & Cafe, which about this time was set to open. Inside, were three people; Sara Covetman, Oliver Acrimony and Lewis Bright, the owners of the new coffee shop. The three looked to be in their late teens or early 20’s. They set up the inside of the shop with cute and cozy decor.
“Alright, just two weeks left until opening day, and we’re almost done setting up!” Sara beamed.
“I can’t believe the money we saved up back in high school helped us open our very own coffee shop!” Lewis added, as he put up the menu.
“It took us a few years, but we finally got a building to open it.” Oliver said, as he put up paintings and posters on the wall.
For years it was Sara’s dream to open her own business, and it was finally coming true. She saved up money from chores, part time jobs, even competitions with her best friends to bring her coffee shop to life. She couldn’t wait for everyone to come to their lovely coffee shop to relax and hang out.
“Okay, we got everything inside set up and ready to go.” Lewis proclaimed. “Now what’s next on our list?”
Sara pulled out her phone, opened her Notes app and went to her checklist. She saw they were almost done, two more things; Poster advertisements and Storage stocking. “We just need to put up advertisements and get ingredients, then we’re done!” Sara explained. “Maybe, we can open up early at this point.”
Lewis and Oliver smiled, excited they were almost there. “Darling, I can do the posters.” Lewis offered.
“Sure.” Sara replied. She then walked over to the counter and pulled out two huge stacks of paper that made Lewis’s glasses slide off his nose.
“Darling, this is a lot of posters.” Lewis commented.
“Well, I made enough to cover all of Happy Hollow Street.”
Lewis sighed. He grabbed the first stack of paper, then he opened the drawer and took out a roll of tape. “I’ll come back for the rest,” he said. Sara and Oliver nodded in reply. Lewis then left the shop, walked over to the nearby light pole, and taped the first poster. He went around taping posters to other light poles, walls, and even giving it to other business around Happy Hollow Street.
Lewis was about to head back to the shop, when he saw someone running and knocking into him. The pappers fell from Lewis’s arms and onto the ground.
“Oh no.” Lewis groaned. He kneeled to the ground to pick up the papers.
“Do you need help?”
Lewis looked up and he started blushing upon seeing the other boy in front of him. The boy looked shorter then him, with messy brown hair, and round shaped glasses. He wore a blue vest with stars over a lilac shirt with folded sleeves, dark blue pants, and brown shoes.
“Uh…” Lewis trailed off not knowing what to say to the gentleman.
The smaller boy waited for his response, but from the looks of the stacks of paper, concluded Lewis needed help. “Here. I’ll help you.” The boy said, kneeling down and starting to pick up the papers.
Lewis snapped out of it and went to pick up the papers too, only to touch the boy’s hand. The two looked up and the two boys started to blush. They quickly moved their hands away and looked down nervously.
The boy read the advertisement, seeing it was for the coffee shop opening across the street from his family’s arcade.
“Oh, so your one of the workers of the coffee shop opening soon.” The smaller boy said, standing up.
“I’m one of the owners, darling.” Lewis replied, standing up as well.
The boy was impressed. “Really? You look too young to be running a business.”
“I’m only 20-years old.”
“Same here!” The smaller boy exclaimed. He then held his hand out, “nice to meet ya, I’m Wiatt Nicholson.”
“I’m Lewis Bright.” He replied, shaking Wiatt’s hand.
“Well, welcome to Happy Hollow Street.” Wiatt said, as he let go of Lewis’s hand.
“Thank you, darling.”
“No problem, darling.” Wiatt replied, giving a smug smile.
Lewis blushed and gave a nervous chuckle. He never had anyone use darling on him, not even his friends. Yet, here’s this boy he never met using darling at him, and it was attracting. Lewis cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject hoping the blush on his face would disappear. As they were chatting they started putting the rest of the posters up together.
“S-So your grandfather runs the Nickel Per Play Arcade?” Lewis asked.
Wiatt nodded as he taped one of the posters on the wall. “Yep!”
“I used to play there all the time when I was a kid.”
“Really?” Wiatt asked. Lewis nodded in reply. “Did you open the coffee shop across from the arcade because of it?”
Lewis chuckled while putting up another poster. “No. It was just a coincidence that the only open building was across from the arcade.” He explained.
“You must feel lucky!” Wiatt exclaimed.
“You can say that.”
The two boys continued to put up and give out posters for the coffee shop. While doing so, Wiatt and Lewis kept on glancing at each other and blushed every time he saw the other’s eyes. Lewis wanted to ask if Wiatt was single, but it felt rude to ask. Wiatt wanted to do the same, but he was worried if Lewis had someone already or wasn’t into him. Then again the blush on Lewis’s face said so otherwise.
“So…” Wiatt trailed off.
“So…what?” Lewis asked as he put another poster up.
“Uh…are you…available later today?” Wiatt asked.
“I just got to do a few things inside the shop, but I’m free after that.” Lewis answered.
Wiatt smiled. “ I was wondering if you’d like to hang out at the arcade and play some games?”
Lewis smiled. “Sure!” He beamed. “I mean,” Lewis cleared his throat, “sure I’m up for it.”
“Great!” Wiatt exclaimed.
“Lets finish with these posters, then I’ll grab the next ones to put up, and then we can hang out at the arcade.”
Wiatt nodded. “Okay!”
The two put the rest of the posters up, and soon the stack was completely pinned to every wall and pole. They headed back to Starlight Coffee & Cafe, but someone came out and marched behind them, looming over the two.
“Wiatt!” A gruff voice yelled.
Wiatt and Lewis is gasped and turned around to see an older man come out and walk over to the two boys. The man wore a blue jacket over a dark blue polo shirt, black jeans, and black shoes.
“Where were you?” The man asked.
Wiatt chuckled. “Sorry, Grandpa.” He replied. “I was just showing Lewis around. He and his friends own the coffee shop across the arcade.”
The older man glared at Lewis. Lewis shivered to where he couldn’t think of anything to say that was polite polite to the older man.
“Oh Lewis, this is my grandfather, Carlos Nicholson, the owner of Nickel Per Play Arcade.” Wiatt introduced his grandfather. “Grandpa, this is Lewis Bright.”
“N-Nice to meet you, sir.” Lewis stuttered, as his hand nervously shook, trying to shake the older man’s hand.
Carlos gave the boy a cold glare, before a smile formed as he shook Lewis’s hand, tightly. Lewis flinched as the older man’s grasp became harsher.
Carlos laughed. “Well, welcome to the neighborhood, kiddo! Sorry for the scare!” He beamed.
“N-No problem, sir.” Lewis stuttered, in pain.
Carlos let go. Lewis held his hand feeling it throb. “So, what have you been doing with my grandson?” The older man asked.
“I was just putting posters around for our new coffee shop, and Wiatt offered to help me.” Lewis explained.
Carlos looked at his grandson, who nodded in reply. The older man sighed, “as much as I appreciate my grandson helping you. I need him to watch the arcade for a bit while I go run an errand.” He explained.
Wiatt sighed and pouted, but Lewis patted his new friend on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, darling. When I’m done I’ll come in and hang out with you.” He explained.
Wiatt smiled, “thanks Lewis.” He said.
Lewis smiled. “Anytime, darling.”
Wiatt walked back inside the arcade while Carlos left to go run his errand. Lewis walked back inside the cafe and grabbed the rest of the posters. However, he looked up to see Oliver and Sara smirking at him.
“Darlings, why are you looking at me like that?” Lewis asked.
“Did we just see you flirt with the Nicholson kid?” Sara asked.
Lewis blushed, “uh…not really flirt. We just hung out for a bit.” He replied. “Wait, you know him?”
Sara nodded, “he and his grandfather came to me a few days ago to say hi.” She explained. “They seem pretty nice.”
“Yeah, he is.” Lewis sighed, as he turned to the window to see Wiatt overlooking the counter at the arcade.
Oliver went over and put his arm around Lewis. “Sounds like you like him?” He asked.
“I-I mean.” Lewis replied blushing. “He’s cute.”
“Ooooh.” Oliver and Sara said at the same time.
Lewis’s face turned a bright red as he glared at his friends, who chuckled in response. He then marched out the door and slammed it, which made Oliver stop chuckling but not Sara. She continued to laugh until Oliver nudged her shoulder, causing her to stop.
“What?” Sara asked.
Oliver pointed to where Lewis was standing and saw he was gone.
Sara’s face quickly formed into a frown. “Oh.” She sighed. “Too far?”
Oliver nodded in reply, while Sara sighed.
“Don’t worry, he’ll calm down once he’s done.” Oliver reassured his best friend.
Sara nodded as she and Oliver went back to working more on the inside of the coffee shop.
After Lewis finished with putting around the posters. He felt better, and decided to go straight to Nickel Per Play Arcade. Once inside he realized everything looked the same as the last time he was there. There were some new arcade games and claw machines, but that seemed to be it, everything else was as he remembered it.
Lewis looked around to find Wiatt, and saw him helping three boys with their prizes. One boy wanted a purple robot toy, the other wanted a stuffed rabbit, and the last boy got a water gun. They thanked Wiatt before they ran back to their parents and showed them the prizes they got.
Wiatt chuckled. He then saw Lewis and smiled. “Hey! You made it!” He exclaimed.
Lewis chuckled. “Sure have,” he said. “So, what do you feel like doing darling?”
“I don’t know, what are you up for, darling?” Wiatt asked, narrowing his eyes and smirking.
Lewis’s face turned red as a tomato as he let out a nervous laugh. “W-Why do you like calling me darling?”
“Well, you call me darling, so I should also call you darling.” Wiatt replied.
Lewis chuckled nervously. “Well, I call everyone darling. Even my friends.”
Wiatt chuckled, “well, it’s dashing.”
Lewis squeaked as his face turned very red. He turned away from the other boy, as the latter chuckled. “C-Come on let’s play some games.” He stuttered, grabbing Wiatt’s hand and dragging him to the arcade floor. Wiatt chuckled seeing his cru-er-new friend be all flustered.
Once calm, Wiatt helped Lewis with his game card and the two spent the rest of the day playing arcade games together. Lewis was so impressed with how skilled Wiatt was with gaming, that he would be distracted as Lewis lost.
“Yes!” Wiatt cheered, beating Lewis for the 5th time. “Beat you again!”
Lewis sighed, chuckling. “You have skills darling.” He said. “I guess I’m distracted by your skills.”
“Well, I’ve grown up in this arcade so I’ve learned a lot.” Wiatt said, stretching.
“I can tell.”
Wiatt smiled and Lewis smiled back, rubbing the back of his head blushing. “So, you want to play more or do you need to head back?” Wiatt asked.
Lewis looked back at the coffee shop before looking back at Wiatt. “I guess I can play a few more games before I go back.”
“Cool!” Wiatt beamed. “Want to play the new VR game we got set up?”
“Sure!” Lewis replied. The two boys ran over to the VR game and started playing.
Back at the coffee shop, Sara looked through the window, and glared at her best friend hanging out with Wiatt across the street. They we’re near opening day, and yet Lewis was playing games and flirting with the Nicholson.
Oliver didn’t seem to mind, “relax Sara, Lewis is having fun.”
“I know that!” Sara spat. “It’s just, we have a coffee shop to set up, and Lewis is busy playing video games.”
“Sara.” Oliver said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t be jealous over Lewis making new friends, or in his case, a boyfriend.”
Sara frowned and turned away. She didn’t have a crush on Lewis, but he was one of her first best friends. He protected her from the bullying she went through, even to the point he took a beating, which landed him in the hospital.
Oliver frowned and tried to think of something else to help cheer Sara up. “Even though we’re near opening, it doesn’t hurt for Lewis to take a break.” Oliver stated. “Plus, you did say we could open early, so Lewis spending time with Wiatt doesn’t sound so bad.”
Sara glanced at the arcade and sighed, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” She replied. However, she lied as it was a bad idea.
Oliver smiled. “See! What can go wrong?” He asked.
“Everything.” Sara thought.
Oliver then heard his phone vibrating and pulled it out from his pocket. He saw it was his younger sister Liz calling him. “Sara, think you can bring the cups to the storage room? My sister is calling me.” He asked.
Sara nodded. “Sure.” She replied, picking up the boxes.
Oliver picked up the phone and walked outside to take the call.
Sara then made her way to the storage room. She walked down the hallway to it, and just as she was about to open the door to the room, she saw another locked door nearby that piqued her interest.
Curious, she put the boxes down, and went to look at the door. The only odd thing about it, was the keyhole was in the shape of an eye. “Huh?” She wondered. Sara remembered in her office, a case with keys all hung up, and quickly went there hoping to find the key for the door.
In her office, Sara saw the case hung over her desk and opened it. Inside she saw many different keys, and one stood out; a black key with a red eye on the top. She took the key and went back to the door, putting the key into the keyhole and twisting it. Sara heard the door unlock, and upon opening the door there was a flight of stairs, going down.
“Huh?” Sara asked. She stepped in and walked downstairs, and was surprised to see bottles filled with colorful substances. “Are these potions?” Sara looked around seeing the amounts of potions around her. She froze seeing a giant, rusted red book at the end of the room. Walking towards it, Sara brushed her fingers on the dusty book. She brushed the dust off her hands on her pants as she read who the book belonged to.
“By Edmund L. Avidmiser.” Sara read. She wondered what he wrote in this book, and carefully opened it. There she saw many potion recipes, some looked worn out due to age, but some were able to be read. “No way!” Sara laughed, as she continued to look through the book.
The potion recipes ranged from making flowers grow bigger, being sticky like glue, all the way to making you fly.
“This is amazing!” Sara exclaimed. Suddenly, she had an amazing idea. Something that could make the coffee shop one of the best places in Happy Hollow Street.