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Coffee Boy
While most kids during the summer would go and hang out with friends (Shion didn’t really have many friends, as people were always turned away from his strange appearance), and go to parties and get drunk to celebrate their time off from school, Shion was going to be taking an Ecology summer class. Well, that’s what he was going to do. On the first day of the summer break, Shion found that his course had been dropped and apparently there had been an email sent out to his mother, but she had forgotten to tell Shion. He couldn’t blame her though, she was a very busy woman. While she was also annoyed that it was dropped, she said, “Well, I guess that will solve Renka’s problem then.”
Renka was a friend of Shion’s mother, Karen; who lived down the road from them and had a daughter named Lilly, who was six years old.
Renka had been trying to find a babysitter for a few days now, Her mother had been very sick and she was going to stay at the hospital with her for a couple of days. If she could have, Lilly would have gone with her, but there just wasn’t anywhere for Lilly to stay in the hospital. Karen couldn’t really babysit her during the day either, as she had a bakery to run and she just wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on her.
“He’s great with children.” Karen said to Renka. Which wasn’t exactly the truth or a lie, as Shion had never looked after a child before, as he grew up an only child and didn’t have any younger brothers or sisters to ever look after.
“I’m great with children,” Shion reassured his mother and Renka. Renka smiled at the white haired boy and said “I really appreciate you doing this, Shion. I hope this isn’t a burden on you or anything. It’s only going to be for a couple of days, but I hope it’s not getting in the way of anything.”
“No, no. It’s quite alright. I’m sure Lilly’s a good girl.”
“I really appreciate it, Shion. Thank you. You’re a good boy.” Renka thanked and bowed. Shion felt his face flush a bit and watched as Renka went to say goodbye to her daughter.
“I’ll be back in a couple of days okay, sweetie, Shion will take very good care of you.”
“I’ll miss you mummy, make sure gran gets well.” Lilly’s small voice cried as fell into her mother, wrapping her tiny arms around her. Renka kissed her daughter’s forehead and pulled away and slipped into her car, waving as she drove off.
“I miss mummy already.” Lilly said sadly. Shion smiled with pity at the small girl. “I’m sure she’ll think about you. And she probably already misses you as well” Shion said and knelt down so he was face to face with her. The small girl wiped her tears away and smiled. “Okay.”
“Why don’t we go for a little walk into town?” Shion suggested.
“Yea!” Lilly exclaimed excitedly. “There’s a new café that’s just opened and I want to try it. Can we go? Pleeease Shion?”
Shion laughed at the girl’s expression. “Of course, let’s go then.”
Shion waved goodbye to his mother and made his way down the street to a crossing. Lost Town, where he lived wasn’t very big, but it still housed a good 10,000 people and the streets were often busy with traffic.
“Mummy normally holds my hand when we cross the street…Can I hold your hand Shion?” Lilly asked shyly and Shion gently took the small hand in his. It was a little odd though, holding another hand, let alone holding a six-year olds hand. It was reassuring for this small girl though, he wanted to make sure she felt safe around him as if her mother had never left.
Once at the curb, Lilly let go and smiled shyly at him. “Thank you,”
“You’re very welcome. Do you know where you’re going?”
“Uh Huh!” She shouted happily. “This way!” And she ran off around the corner.
“Wait!” Shion shouted and ran until he caught up with her. ‘So fast for such a tiny girl…’
After about five blocks they made it to the new coffee store where the smell coming from inside was absolutely wonderful (not as wonderful as the bakery of course). Once inside, Shion looked around at his surroundings. People with laptops open, books were open and newspapers set out on all the tables. It was almost like being in his mother’s bakery and he loved that. Shion eyes wandered to a guy (well that’s what he thought he was), who was occupied behind the counter. Whoever he was, he was new to Lost Town, as Shion had never seen him before.
He was known as Coffee Boy to the other customers who had come and gone from here and who may have had a possible crush on him. He was wearing a white shirt with black sleeves and a pair of jeans (from what Shion could see) and an apron. His hair was a dark blue-almost back colour and tied in a messy bun ponytail. ‘He’s beautiful’, Shion thought to himself.
Coffee Boy, however, wasn’t working at the counter, he was sweeping, smiling as he did so. Shion didn’t really understand at first, but he soon realised he was listening to the radio, a song from ‘Les Miserable.’ And in his own way, he was dancing along.
“May I help you sir?” A girl behind the counter asked. She looked as though she was in her early twenties, with blond hair tied into a thick ponytail.
“Uh-umm, Lilly what would you like?” Shion asked nervously, with the boy still in his mind.
“Can I have a berry smoothie please?”
“Of course, and I’ll get the chai tea please.” Shion asked and handed the money to the girl.
“Thank you Mr Shion!” Lilly chimed. Shion laughed at the little girl’s excitement and that’s when the Coffee Boy (or perhaps ‘Sweeping Boy’ would be more appropriate at this time), looked up and smiled at Shion. It was then Shion could have a good look at his eyes. Grey. Like the clouds on the verge of a storm, shining like the shards of crystals, but gorgeous as they complemented his dark hair.
Lilly and Shion shifted over to one of the free tables with the number six for their table. It was near the counter so Shion could still see the dark haired boy from where he was sitting. He was putting some milk and mixed-berries in a blender for Lilly. Frustratingly for Shion, he wasn’t wearing a name tag, which would be helpful for a time like this.
As he came over and handed Lilly her drink, Shion observed if the smile he gave to her was the same as he did to him. I’m being stupid, Shion thought to himself, thinking these actions are more than the usual routine. When the boy was handing Shion his own drink, their hands accidently touched and he forgot that realisation entirely. When he walked back Shion watched his movements. They were elegant, as if he were walking over clouds.
When they were finished, Shion took one last look at what he liked to call now his Coffee Boy who was making another smoothie for a customer. Shion thought about going over and buying a piece of cake or slice, just to see him up close again, but thought again that it was stupid. He didn’t want to come across as creepy (or at least any more than he already felt he was).
Once outside, Shion suggested they go to the library, however Lilly said she was feeling tired so they just started to make their way back to the bakery. The walk was quiet and slow, as Shion’s thoughts kept wandering back to the dark haired boy in the café. ‘I have to see him again!’
“Shion!” Lilly’s voice shouted annoyingly and Shion snapped out of his thoughts.
“Ah! Sorry. I got distracted.” Shion laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
“It’s okay.” She said sweetly and took Shion’s hand when they came to a crossing. Then after a while, Lilly asked. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“W-What? N-No….B-But…” Shion stuttered and blushed, “How do know that I like boys?” Shion generally asked, at how Lilly would understand this sort of thing. If it was from her mother, then he was generally proud that she understood these things.
“The way you looked at him at the café. You like him.”
“Ah-”
“Don’t worry Shion, we can go see him tomorrow.”
For such a young girl, she was certainly quite intelligent. Shion then smiled brightly and said, “Great idea.” Yes.
The next day was pretty much the same, although Shion was wearing much better clothes. He even went as far as to put on a tie loosely with a button-up shirt, instead of the plain white t-shirt he wore the previous day. If Shion’s mother Karen had noticed the ‘more dressed up’ attire, she didn’t say anything, she’d probably just smile fondly when Shion wasn’t looking.
Once Lilly was finally ready to go, (it surprised Shion that even a little girl would take so long to get ready) they made their way back down to the café. While they strolled Shion constantly looked in the window to check if his collar was straight or his hair was sticking up, while Lilly was telling Shion about her semester in school and how someone in her class tried to eat soup and said it tasted like berries. Shion wasn’t exactly listening, but he tried to follow her story.
When they arrived, to Shion’s amazement, the Coffee Boy was standing behind the counter, not sweeping this time, but at the cash-register. There were a couple of people in front of them and Shion kept a close eye on how he treated these customers. Politely and with respect, but nothing too special or anything out of what someone would normally do. Once Shion was at the front of the line, the boy’s smile widened and Shion was sure of that.
“A berry smoothie and chai tea?” He asked without hesitation. Shion felt his face go slightly pink at the statement. ‘Had my order from yesterday really been worth remembering?’
“Uh..Um…yea.” Shion stuttered and the dark haired boy laughed quietly. Shion could hear people shuffling behind him impatiently as he tried to find the right amount of money in his pocket.
“S-sorry. I can’t find the right change.” Shion said and his hand began to shake. After about a minute scrambling for the right amount of money he handed it to the other male, their hands touched again for a brief moment. They were warm but they sent a cool shiver up Shion’s spine.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He replied and Shion stood there for a moment staring at him, but felt the impatience of the people behind him and went to sit at the table with Lilly.
“He’s seems really nice.” Lilly said sweetly.
Shion sighed, “He sure is.”
After a few minutes he came over and delivered their drinks. “The berry smoothie for the young lady, and the chai tea for the handsome young man.” He announced placing the drinks on the table and Shion forgot how to breathe for a moment. The Coffee Boy must have noticed as he was chuckling when he walked away.
After Lilly took a few sips, she announced she needed to go to the restroom.
Shion looked over at it and saw that they would need a key, so he went up to the counter, of course, it was him who came over.
“Sorry to be a bother, but can you please give me the key for the restroom? Shion asked. Coffee Boy reached over and handed him a key with a large plastic square attached to it.
Shion felt a little stupid coming over and asking for it, so he said, “It’s uh…not for me.”
He smiled softly and said, “I wouldn’t mind if it was you.”
Lilly soon came over and took the key off Shion and headed to the restroom. Shion felt like an idiot just standing there in silence, so he spoke up after a couple of minutes.
“How are you?”
“Good” He replied simply. Lilly was taking a while, but perhaps that was just her, although the line to the restroom was growing longer and they seemed to be getting more and more impatient as time passed.
“How old’s your sister?” The Coffee Boy asked.
“Oh, she’s not my sister.”
“No?”
“Nah, I guess…I’m kind of babysitting her for a couple of days while her mother’s away.”
He nodded, smiling and then said, “Hey, let’s go sit, I’m on my lunchbreak anyway.”
They both made their way to the table to where Shion and Lilly were sitting before. It felt much more relaxed sitting down. It felt less awkward and more comfortable to look at him a bit closer.
“I’m Shion.”
He smiled, “Like the flower?”
“Uh huh.”
“I’m Nezumi.”
Nezumi? That doesn’t sound right. “Nezumi?”
“Yea, that’s why I don’t wear a name tag.” Nezumi said bluntly.
Shion grinned gently, “It’s nice to meet you…Nezumi.”
“Nice to meet you to, Shion.”
Nezumi then reached out and gently touched Shion’s hair. “I love your white hair.”
Shion turned in surprise at his comment, “you do?”
Yea, it’s pretty. I also really like that scar.” Nezumi complemented gesturing to the pink stripe on his check.
“Do you mind me asking, what happened?”
“It’s a long story. Maybe I’ll tell you one day.” Shion said desperately wanting to change the subject. “Do you live around here?” he asked.
“Yea I just moved here with my grandma just over a month ago.” The dark haired male replied.
Explains why I’ve never seen you around up until yesterday.
“So…Nezumi…?”
“Soo…Shion?”
Shion felt his face go fully red and struggled to spit out any words.
“Do you want to…I don’t know… Go out for a coffee sometime?” He struggled to say.
Nezumi laughed, “Not coffee, but yes.”
Shion was going to say something else but Lilly came from the bathroom and handed Nezumi the bathroom key.
“I’d better go… I’ve got to take Lilly back home, could you take these and put them into takeaway cups?” Shion asked gesturing to the unfinished drinks. Nezumi nodded and took them away.
About five minutes had passed and Nezumi had been taking a long time just to fill up takeaway cups. Soon enough though he came back with two cups with a napkin sitting on top of the chai tea filled one, to which Shion found a number written neatly on top of it.
“Do you want to do something tomorrow and/or the next? I haven’t got any work for the next few days.”
“Sure.” Shion said. “I guess I’ll call.”
“Good.”
Lilly looked somewhat satisfied and Shion shot her a look.
On the way out she said, “You are going to call him right?”
“Yea.” He sighed happily
That evening Karen got a call from Renka to say that she would be home tomorrow morning, and that her mother was doing okay now and should be on the road to recovery.
Karen also noticed a slight change in Shion’s mood tonight. He was defiantly giddy about something and he was texting someone at the least.
“Oh, who are you talking to Shion?” She asked cheekily.
“He’s talking to his new bo-umf-” Shion held his hand over Lilly’s moth cutting her off.
“No one in particular,” Shion answered for her.
“Oh and I forgot to ask, how’s that new café?” Karen asked.
Shion smiled and looked down to his phone and to his conversation with ‘Nezumi’ named at the top.
“You’ll never believe this.” Shion said and told her the whole story.