The Coffee Shop

A waitress hears more than she wants to hear and is forced to take action.

 

    "My mother's dead."

    Bored, Jen eavesdropped. She stared across the Formica countertops, ignoring the crazy cup and swirl design to a couple talking in the far corner. A lock of her lank blonde hair acted as a curtain hiding her blatant staring from the couple. Not that they would notice her, the conversation was too intense. The guy was young, twenties with dark icicle eyes and dusky skin. Across from him the girl was openly crying. She was fantastic with electric magenta hair alive with gel. Her shirt was the same lurid color swirled liberally with black. Dark brown skin contrasted with the cat's eye lenses shining liquid green light in her slanted eyes. She dragged the back of her hand across her damp cat stare obliterating all but the most stubborn tears.
    "Dead," Magenta’s voice was leaden.

    Jen shook her head and tapped her ear like it was a faulty microphone. The couple was as far away from the counter as you could get in the tiny shop. The cappuccino machine alone was enough to drowned out any conversations. It bubbled, clanked and fizzed. But the funky thing was, the girl's voice was clear as a damned bell, perfect. Jen leaned over the counter and tapped Zuli. "Can you hear them," she asked the older waitress.
    "What? Hear who?" Zuli shouted, looking around. "I can barely hear you over that thing." She pointed to the sputtering cappuccino machine. "We should really get that fixed." Zuli tugged at her apron strings with a well-manicured hand.
    Funny thing was Jen could barely hear Zuli over the conversation in the far booth.
    The girl was still talking about her mother’s death. She scrubbed her face again and whispered, "I mean, yesterday she was fine. She said she was going out for a drink. Now, she's dead." Magenta’s hands covered her face. Her shoulders shook as she cried behind her hands. The young guy put a hand on top of hers. Jen got a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. She should be happy Magenta had someone to comfort her only, it didn't seem comforting. His hand was more like a wolf’s paw, pinning a small animal in place... A smile played around the corners of his mouth. He told her, "Sh, it's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."
    Jen blinked. Ripped her eyes away from the couple and focused on the cracked hardwood floors. She was intruding and she should respect the girl’s grief and mind her own damned business. Only…only that guy was so wrong. She fought to stare at the individual scratches in the old wood, gleaming dully with polish but her eyes mutinied and popped up, magnetically connected to the couple.

    The young guy pulled Magenta’s hand away from her face and rubbed it between his two paws. A smile played around the edges of his mouth. Jen could feel a glee coming off of him as he asked her,”were you two close?” Magenta started weeping again and the smile brightened. Jen felt the weird fluttering in her stomach again as realization flared. “He’s enjoying her pain!”

    “What? Who’s enjoying who’s what?” Zuli’s eyes flicked to the booth. “Girl, get back to work and stop watching them. Customers are waiting to always be right…”
    Magenta sobbed. "I just don't know what I’m going to do now. Sorry I'm laying this all on you. God, we barely know each other." In vain, Magenta took a napkin to her almond eyes. Mascara made black rivers down her cheeks. Jen thought the girl couldn't be any older then Jen and Jen wasn't legal. The guy was young but he looked legal.
    "Look, you can't go home right now," the guy was practically purred. "Why don't you come back to my place? I'll clean you up. We can talk. Have a few drinks to relax you. When you're up to it, I'll take you home. Okay?" His fingers brushed Magenta's hand again in another "comforting" gesture. Nausea ground Jen’s teeth together.

    Magenta lowered her eyes. Head bowed. A shy smile blossomed on her tear streaked face and she squeezed his fingers. "I'd like that."
    Jen doubled over. Pain crippled her guts and disgust bled through every part of her body. Her eyes glazed over for a second. Recovering, she saw another sick little smile sweep across the guy's face. The pain increased until she made up her mind to stop this guy. Jen moved out from behind the counter. “Zuli, I gotta stop them from leaving.”

    Zuli grabbed her arm, “Did you go crazy and I’ve been to self involved to notice? Leave it alone. They’re customers. They’ve got nothing to do with you.”

    “I can’t. I’ve got to do it,” Jen said, pulling free and heading for the table. Nerves forced her gait to quicken and jerk but the pain in her guts lessoned the closer she got to the table.
    Two fives dropped to the scarred table. The guy stood up, wallet in hand. Urgency and something like desire burned underneath the ice in his eyes. Jen felt her own urgency. Her pad popped into her hand and she pulled the pen out from behind her ear. She had no idea how to stop him directly, so she accidentally rammed him.
    The guy's wallet flew into the next booth and plunked down into an oversized coffee cup. He fell back into the booth. Jen fell half on top of him. His skin touched hers. It was too hot like it was acidic. Jen was sick and lifeless against him. He shoved her. Jen fell to the hardwood floor. Magenta stood up. A shout rang out from Zuli.

    The young guy stood up and shouted, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Stupid b***h that was my wallet.” Standing over her, the guy kicked Jen in the ribs. Jen bit her lip against a scream as her ribs caught fire. She felt her insides crack. Tears sprang up in her eyes. Magenta shrieked.
    "What the hell are you doing?" Zuli shouted racing across the shop floor, brandishing a broom like an oversized baseball bat.

    Angry, trying to smother it, the guy put on his best persuasive tone, "Dana, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Let's just go, okay?" He reached for her.
    Magenta smacked him away. "No way!” She said, her eyes meeting Jen’s. “I thought you were a decent guy. What the hell is wrong with you, Jimmy? You kicked our waitress! You some kind of wacko? Get away from me."
    Jimmy’s dark eyes lit into Jenn. Walking over to the next table like a glacier in motion, he retrieved his wallet from the coffee. Everyone in the shop sat like deer, staring and silent. Smoldering, he stalked out of the shop. The little bells jingled happily as the door closed behind him.
    Jen sat up. "I just bumped him," she told Magenta, playing it up.
    "I know. I'm sorry,” she said helping Jen to her feet. “No clue what I thought I was doing. I met him outside. He was being so nice… Maybe I’m the wacko, right? I was gonna go home with that freak."
    Jen shrugged, "I'm okay. Everything's fine now." Her eyes watched the giant pane window, making sure Jimmy left. For an instant, Jenna Fitzgerald had known Jimmy’s heart. When their skin met she glimpsed the inside of his head and been burnt by it. Rape. Murder. His intentions had touched her insides and now they clung to her like cigarette smoke.
    "Lucky you crashed into him," Magenta said as she pulled out a five. "Life saver’s tip."

    "No thanks." Jen winked at the girl and scooped up Jimmy's two fives. "It's taken care of. Sorry about your mom.”

    Magenta was startled. Shrugging it off, she put her arms around Jen and hugged her warmly. "Thanks," she whispered.
   Smiling, Jen walked back behind the counter. Her legs were shaking. Jen stared at the three teens climbing into Magenta's booth as the girl left the shop, bells ringing. They were laughing and talking but she couldn't hear a thing over the cappuccino machine. It chugged and bubbled so loud she couldn't even hear the tinkly music her boss played throughout the shop.

   “What the hell did you think you were doing?” Zuli furiously polished a mug with the shop’s logo, ‘Coffee & Time.’

    “I don’t know. I could hear them…How could I hear them? And I knew she needed me…”

    “Are you going X-Files on me?”

    Jen smiled but she didn’t laugh, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

    Zuli disapproved. “This job is too much of a pain in my butt for you to go on making it harder. So, let’s make this a one time freak out, okay?”

    “Sure, Zuli. A one time…” Jen frowned, “Thing.”

 

End.