Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Isaiah stood up from one of the small mahogany chairs seated in the middle of the cafe, looking around to find his keys. He paused, sighing slightly as his eyes landed on them, picking them up quickly and shoving them into his uniform pockets before moving to start his rounds. 

He was a pretty tall, slender guy in his early 20’s, with mocha brown eyes, fair skin, and messy black hair that he usually does almost nothing to fix. He had a stern expression on his face as he paced around, his brow furrowed as if he was lost in thought as he often was. To his right stood Liam, a shorter young man with light brown skin, blond hair, and bright blue eyes to match.

While Isaiah was just looking for customers that might need assistance, Liam, on the other hand, had a tray covered in sweets and iced coffee in one hand, and another with one black and one white coffee in the other, walking swiftly yet somehow smoothly towards table ten, one of the larger booths tucked by the large window fronting the store. He quickly shifted his view to the table to his left to see a girl sitting in the booth by herself, her sharp green eyes staring at her phone.

"Hello and good day, welcome to the Daydream Cafe, how can I help you?” Liam paused, “Oh it’s you,”

His ear-to-ear genuine smile got smaller as he saw the blonde-haired girl sitting across from him. 

“Took you long enough to come take my order,” Rain said, wearing a sarcastic smug like it was a badge of honor, “You’re usually better than this Liam,”
“Oh quiet down, I’m trying my best, you know this!” He retaliated, his lower lip introducing a pout.

“You know I’m joking Liam; I’ll have the usual,” Rain said, waving Liam off to go and make the order.

Liam swiftly darted towards the countertop where Isaiah was seated, sipping on a cup of earl grey tea, lost in his mind as usual. As he took a sip of his glass, he set his thousand-yard stare outside the window, taking a look at the new building being constructed in front of him.

“Rain wants the usual Isaiah,” Liam said, striking a smile at Isaiah.

“On it,” He responded quickly, blinking, breaking the stare he held prior and turning to behind the counter, quickly putting together their friend’s regular; a plain black coffee with less than a teaspoon of sugar and five to seven shots of espresso. Seeing as Isaiah was always the one to put it together, it was muscle memory for him at that point.

Passing the dark drink to Liam silently, he moved back to the counter, putting on his best customer service voice for the next person in line. At the moment, Isaiah and Liam were the only two people in for the day shift, so they couldn’t lose focus or everything would slow down too much.

“Here you go,” he said, setting her drink in front of her, leaning against the booth table as he spoke again, “How many hours did you manage to get this time?”

“Around one and a half,” she muttered, taking a sip from her drink.

“Sweet. I have to go, but my shift’s ending soon. I’ll come hang out with you then,” he said kindly, standing up straight and stretching slightly.

“Seeya,” Liam sighed at her apathetic response.

The cafe always seemed to move slowly, it had become Isaiah’s life at this point; wake up, work, and then sleep again. It was almost a pattern that he followed, just work and sleep. He never had much interest in friendship other than Liam, and never had any interest in romance. He worked to settle his college loan debt but after that he was unsure what he’d do. His ability to process emotions is awful and he’s extremely antisocial so interactions outside the cafe are always a pain.

“Have you heard about the new employee?” Liam said, grinning at Isaiah as the words flowed out of his mouth.

“What did you do this time Liam?” Isaiah said, sighing audibly. 

“I haven’t told you?” Liam looked puzzled as he stared at Isaiah's unamused deadpan expression, “I employed someone to work the night shift with you, I didn't think you could handle it solo forever.”

“I’d rather do it by myself than with some rando, you know this.” Isaiah said coldly, glaring at Liam.

“Don’t you think it's worth it? It’s gotten a lot busier around here recently, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Isaiah said, wiping off the counter and preparing another drink, “Now get the hell back to work, there’s people waiting.”

“Yes sir!” Liam responded, the smile he previously had returning to his face.

As the afternoon slipped away and the night grew closer the cafe shifted mood completely. What once felt like a space meant for young adults and teens to talk and hang out safely, now felt slower, the constant buzz of chatter having died down to soft and calm white noise, the dark color theme of the cafe itself now blending in the dark sky and city outside. 

The drinks only helped to match the feel of the night, the bright moon shining mixed with the black abyss of the night sky gave it a feeling of serenity and calm but activity all the same, like a black coffee with cream, sugar, and espresso. 

Isaiah paced back and forth, the clacking of his shoes against the hardwood floor being the only thing audible in the cafe besides the quiet jazz playing through the speakers. Liam had been gone for an hour or so at this point and there had been a total of 4 customers in his absence. Isaiah had never been too interested in talking to another person, but if it meant that he could get some weight off his shoulders he’d be all in for it. The clock kept ticking as time went on, minutes passed but the world seemed to stand at a dead stop.

When will this new employee get here damn it! Isaiah thought, scowling. Minutes more passed and he loosened up, beginning to make himself a drink and sit down. However, he didn’t have to wait long, as soon as he finished the brew someone walked in the door.

“Welcome to the Daydream Cafe, how may I help-” Isaiah was quickly cut off by the person,

“I’m here for the job.”

Isaiah finally got a good glance of who was standing in front of him, it was a girl with short black hair that only went down to just below her chin, light blue eyes, clearer than the ocean, and round glasses perfectly balanced on her nose. She stood at a height of 5’4” and was wearing an extremely light-grey turtleneck, almost to the point of it being white that looked to be one size too big for her. On her legs she wore dark grey sweatpants that looked nothing but comfortable, contrasting her midnight black slip-on shoes.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Luna Amadite. Glad to be here!” She spoke, with a tone of confidence but also worry, looking up at Isaiah, his cold dead eyes staring straight through her formal facade.

“You don’t gotta be all uptight with me, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Isaiah, shifted the glare on his face into a straight emotionless expression, “The name’s Isaiah Frost, but you can call me Isaiah. Just ditch the formalities, not like I’d wanna talk anyways.”
Luna seemed flustered and surprised at Isaiah's tone, not expecting the owner of a hot coffee shop to be so cold. Isaiah was looking away from her again, eyes looking over what money was in the register.

“Oh, um, right… Where should I start?” Isaiah glanced up at her, noticing that she was messing with her sleeves. He sighed briefly, pointing somewhere behind the counter, in the kitchen itself.

“There’s an apron washed and ready, go put it on. Do you know how to make coffee?”

“Mainly sweet ones, but yeah!” she lit up again, moving behind the counter and back to where Isaiah had been pointing. 

“Then make me something, I have a few ingredients back there, wanna show me what you can do?” Isaiah said, the tension he was feeling loosening up, maybe having someone help out won't be so bad. Isaiah kept his attention fixed on Luna as she made the coffee, her movements unorganized and shaky but she seemed to know what she was doing. She grabbed item after item as Isaiah took sips from his tea, his mind the same empty but busy as it always was.  He was most worried about whether Luna was worth paying or not, it all depends on the drink she makes him. Three minutes passed, the sweet smell of coffee with creamer filling the air as the quiet music played, a feeling of serenity filling the two. Luna had seemed to mellow out more, her movements had become more fluid and less shaky as time progressed. Maybe it was Isaiah who had also calmed down or the cafe environment setting in but Luna’s movements had smoothed out and she was now working how she usually could. 

“Here you go. I hope you enjoy it!” Luna stated, handing the coffee to Isaiah which he grabbed up quickly.

The drink was a pumpkin spice latte, the presentation was immaculate with whipped cream perfectly dispensed across the top of the drink, slowly dissolving into the hot pool of liquid. The first few sips were almost heavenly, the whipped cream resting in Isaiah's mouth with sprinkles of the spice spread throughout. The fragrance wasn’t too overpowering, just a subtle sweet pumpkin scent hovering over the drink. From there Isaiah drank up the drink faster than he thought he could, the taste of the spicy-sweet drink filling his mouth, and for the first time in a while he smiled.

“That…” Isaiah paused for a moment before smiling at Luna, “That was surprisingly good Luna, I’m glad that you decided to work with us,”

Luna seemed surprised but joyful at the same time at Isaiah's reaction,

“You really think so?” She said, grinning ear to ear.

“I seem like a liar to you? Of course, it is,” Isaiah responded, grinning back at her. You’re too good sometimes Liam. 

“So why did you learn to be a barista, Luna?” Isaiah said, his previously joyful expression turning stern once again as he spoke.

“I’m not sure, I just felt compelled to do it. Cause it makes people happy to drink sweet drinks with their friends, you know?” She responded, her expression turning bland as well.

“I’m not sure I can.” Isaiah said, his expression turning from stern to somber, “I’ve never actually had friends for a number of reasons. People have never wanted to hang out with me, I guess they find me boring, and some people said I just looked scary. I’m not much of a social person but sometimes I even wish that I had some friends besides Liam, but I guess that I can’t get too picky.” Isaiah sighed a slight smile returning to his face at the thought of Liam, smiley, sweet, and all around golden boy Liam.

“Liam? Is that the guy that hired me?”

“Probably,” Luna was silent for a few seconds, before speaking again,

“Care to tell me more?” He sighed quietly.

“Liam and I have been friends forever, he’s always been there for me . We met in our freshman year, college, obviously, and he was the only one that would talk to me. Technically it was because we had a project together, but even after we turned it in he kept talking to me, and at some point, we became friends,” He paused for a few moments, “I think you’ll like him. He’s nice, but hyper. He even managed to become friends with a regular here, who isn’t known for being nice, exactly,”

“He sounds fun! I’ll have to hang out with you guys more often,” She commented idly, her eyes focused somewhere else.

“I’m not sure if I’d like to…” Isaiah stated, his sweet grin turning sour.

“Oh, why not?” Luna responded.

“I do not want to talk to anyone else.” Isaiah said, his tone sharpening.

“Oh come 0n! It would be so fun!”

“It wouldn’t, trust me,”

“I beg to differ, Mr. Grumpy. C’mon, it could at least be interesting,”

Luna jumped when the glass containing Isaiah’s drink was slammed onto the counter.

“No, I don’t think it would! I’ve met people like you before, you act so nice on the outside but never stick around.” His expression became angry as he continued talking, “I don't know what makes you think that just because you work with me then we’re both buddy buddy. I gave up trying to do ‘friendship’ a long time ago Luna, I’m sorry.” Isaiah stood up, the emotion on his face shifting back to normal. He began slowly collecting his stuff and quickly walked out of the door. He looked back one more time to see Luna sitting there, dumbfounded by his reaction to her friendly statement, she looked to be on the verge of tears. 

“I’m sorry-” Isaiah stuttered, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Isaiah sprinted out of the door, the cold autumn air beating on his face, like cold wisps of winter slashing against his face as he ran. I’m right not to trust her, all they want from me is gain. Nobody wanted to be friends before, so why now? They don't. They can't!

Isaiah continued sprinting, the bright headlights of cars passing by illuminating Isiah as he ran. He spotted a park bench, quickly plopping down to catch his breath.

“I don’t know what's happening.” He said to himself, “I spoke my truth but I still feel bad? Why is this happening! I don't know what to think anymore.” For the first time in forever Isiah felt it, warm salty tears falling from his face as he sat, steam rising from them as they clashed with the cold air. As we wiped the tears off his face he recognized what he was feeling. It had been a long time since he felt this way, but he felt regretful.

I’ll try to make this up, I’ll figure something out. 

The walk back to the coffee shop was a long walk, especially after running for a long period of time. How am I going to make things up? Isaiah thought, the sound of his shoes beating against the water stained concrete filling his whole headspace.

Sighing, he continued walking, ignoring this odd and unfamiliar feeling squeezing his gut at the thought of Luna, or gods forbid Liam, being upset at his outburst.

He nearly startled when he felt something wet fall onto his cheek. Looking up, he saw that the clouds were dark and low, clearly promising rain, seeing as a raindrop just fell and hit him. He picked up the pace as the rain started falling harder, soaking his thin clothes and his hair, making it all stick uncomfortably to his body.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity out in the cold rain, he saw the cafe, its soft lights a stark contrast to the grey and black surrounding it. Sighing, he slowed down, feeling that weird sensation build in his stomach as he got closer to both his cafe and Luna. I still don’t know what I’m going to do to make it up to her, a traitorous voice muttered in the back of his head. He promptly told it to shut up. He’d think of something to do in the morning, when he was thinking clearly. Maybe Liam could help him.

Pulling the door open, he was met by the smell of the coffee machine going and the nearly stinging scent of pure cinnamon.

Ah, Liam was awake.

“Look who’s back! We were starting to think you got kidnapped,” Liam said cheerfully. He was smiling, his blonde hair a mess, and his eyes clouded with sleep. He also wasn’t in uniform, which Isaiah would usually get after him for, but it was currently 1:34 at night and Liam was supposed to be sleeping.

“Where did Luna go?” Isaiah asked, a concerned expression coming over his face, revealing his feelings ab0ut the situation.

“I decided to cover her shift for her, you really broke her dude.” Liam said, his tone becoming more serious.

“I see.” Isaiah said, taking a deep breath, a feeling of heaviness falling upon his eyes, quickly blinking to stop himself from breaking down again, “I-I’m going to go sleep, I’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Go ahead, it’ll be good for you, you never do.” Liam responded, his cheerful mood returning once more. 

Isaiah waddled up the stairs groggily, he always stayed up this late, what’s different now? Each step Isaiah took up the stairs felt like a whole feat in itself, step after step he went up. He finally reached the top of the staircase, stumbling into the room and falling into bed. The feeling of rest never felt sweeter to Isiah, the sheets falling over him as he drifted into blackness. It wasn’t just the feeling of rest, it was the escape of reality entirely.

Isaiah woke up the next morning, an energetic feeling that he hadn’t felt in a long time filling his whole body. His alarm clock blared it’s usual sound, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, it was usually annoying but as much this morning. Does thirty more minutes of sleep do that much? Isaiah continued to get ready, slipping on his bland clothing, brushing his hair, and grabbing his wallet, watch and keys. He quickly went down the stairs, a subtle grin on his face as he went.

As usual Liam was working the cafe, up bright and early to serve coffee and pastries for people who got up just as early as he did. The sweet aroma of coffee and cream was a calming smell for Isaiah, after all, it was partially the reason he started this cafe. 

“So you didn’t die! Happy to see you.” Rain bellowed, a smirk on her face as she stared at Isaiah.

“I sure hope I didn’t.” He responded, happy to see Rain for once.

“Heard about what happened, didn’t know you had the balls to yell at someone.” Rain said, her smirk growing wider.

“Can it, I don’t want to hear it.” Isaiah said, scowling.

“Fine, whatever you want sir.” Rain stated in a mocking tone, rolling her eyes at Isaiah.

“Don’t give me that. Just make sure to tell Liam that I have to go get something.” Isaiah responded.

“Fine.”

Isaiah walked out of the building, he wasn’t sure exactly what would make it up to Luna so he just decided to get her a gift. Isaiah was chronically out of touch with what to do when hurting someone's feelings so he settled on something he knew how to do. 

The walk to a store from the cafe wasn't long, just a light jog could get you there in a few minutes flat. The cold air outside wasn’t what it was yesterday, it felt more warm but also more dry at the same time. The colorful autumn leaves fell off of nearby trees as Isaiah passed by, staring at the pavement ahead of him. The moisture had dried, leaving only the pale grey rocky concrete to look back at him. The sound of the birds chirping and the cars driving by put Isaiah into a state of calm once more, he no longer worried about what was to come for that time being, only the present. 

Isaiah finally arrived outside the store, the doors sliding open in front of him as he quickly jogged in. He kept walking, hastily moving towards the candy section, maybe if he got her some chocolates or something then she’d forgive him. He walked into the aisle, looking up and down the shelves. There were cookies, chocolates, hard candy, caramels, almost anything you’d think of off the top of your head. 

As he continued to look for something to give to Luna, Isaiah’s eyes drifted over to the boxes of chocolate. Isaiah knew next to nothing on what gifts other people like to receive, especially not girls so he just chose what he’d like to get. 

The only boxes that the store seemed to carry were heart shaped but Isaiah didn’t mind, hopefully she didn't think anything of it. The box was a crimson red color with a black pattern plastered over it, closely resembling smoke wisps. The box also had a lighter red ribbon tied around it in a neat bow, really closing the whole deal as a nice gift.

Isaiah approached the checkout, gripping the box tightly in his right hand and his wallet in his left. The cashier was a rotund man who looked to be in his late 40’s with short brown hair that he kept neatly styled and a scrunched face that made all of his expressions look slightly angry. He smiled at Isaiah, 

“Now what do we have here? Got a treat for your lover?” The cashier said, an ear to ear smug grin on his face as he scanned the item. 

Isaiah just nodded, he wasn’t wanting to tell the whole story of what happened with Luna to some stranger working minimum wage at a grocery store.

“You know there was actually a young lady about your age who stopped in to buy a similar thing not too long ago.” The man stated, setting the box of chocolates into a bag. 

“Interesting.” Isaiah responded, his expression as dull and unamused as ever.

The cashier rang up Isaiah, the whole transaction going as smooth as sandpaper, the man not stopping his talking once while Isaiah was there.

“Oh! Aren’t you the owner of that cafe that I keep hearing about?” He said, a smile on the cashier's face as he spoke.

“I’m not sure, but probably. I run the Daydream cafe, the one just a few blocks down.” Isaiah responded.

“That’s right!” The man responded, “I’ve heard your drinks are great, you better get going.” The cashier continued.

“Thanks, have a good day.” Isaiah responded, he really couldn’t care what these people thought. The only people he had the energy to please was Liam, Rain, and now Luna.

Isaiah sped up as he jogged towards the cafe, he wanted to get back to work as soon as possible. He didn’t want Liam to have to cover the night shift and the day shift alone. Although the checkout felt like it took hours barely twenty minutes passed since Isaiah went into the store. That was good however, it meant that Isaiah could go back to work sooner. He picked up the pace, his jog turning into a run as he continued his path to the cafe. 

Isaiah finally arrived outside the cafe, he looked up at the sign, Daydream Cafe in bold lettering residing on the sign surrounded by clouds for style. He walked towards the door, the metallic handle reflecting his face and the plastic grocery bag in his other hand. Isaiah pressed open the door, the dark tinted flooring creaking under his weight as he stepped into the cafe. 

“Look who’s back!” Liam said cheerily, pacing towards Isaiah quickly, “I made you a drink while you were gone, want to try it?” 

Liam’s smile was irresistible so of course Isaiah snatched it out of his friend’s hand, blowing on it before taking a sip. It was warm and bitter with a splash of sweet, just how Isaiah likes his coffee.  

“It’s great Liam.” Isaiah said, a subtle smile emerging as he continued to sip his coffee, “Has the morning been busy?”

“Not really, it’s been really steady if we're talking about customers, it’s been a very slow flow of people.” Liam said, rubbing his eyes as he spoke, “Then of course there's Rain sitting there in a booth by herself, like usual.”
“Did she order anything new or special?” Isaiah asked, gulping down the last bit of the drink.

“Nope. Same as usual.” Liam stated, briskly walking over to the door to serve more customers.

“One of these days we should just make her usual an item on the menu.” Isaiah bellowed at Liam as he walked away.

“Maybe.” Liam replied.

The morning went as it usually did, a few customers here and there, and out of those a few made messes but Liam was always quick to clean them up. Isaiah usually worked on drinks behind the counter, he never usually had to talk to people. Isaiah is a self taught baristo who graduated college with a degree in economics which he used to start up the cafe soon after. He never spent his days in college talking to or being around people, it was mostly spent studying or sleeping. His lack of ability to socialize proved owning a cafe to be a difficult job for Isaiah so Liam decided to help him out. To this day Liam still hasn’t found a new job and doesn’t intend to. 

Every day has been pretty similar for Isaiah since he finished the construction of the cafe. It’s just waking up, working, and going to sleep, with a bit of talking with Rain in the middle of the whole mess that is life. 

“Get over here.” Rain shouted across the cafe.

Isaiah set down the cup he was washing and began to walk over to Rain, making haste as to not have her yell again. 

“Alright, what do you need?” Isaiah said in a quiet tone.

“Nothing much, just wanted to catch up with the guy who owns the cafe I buy from every day.” Rain replied, a smug grin on her face as usual as she stared at her phone.

“It’s not like I’m forcing you to come here, nobody is stopping you from going elsewhere.” Isaiah retorted, knowing very well that Rain liked coming there for the atmosphere as well as the drinks.

“You know very well that I prefer it here over some random corporate coffee shop. You and Liam make some really good drinks, you can tell that someone put time into making them.” Rain stated.

“Alright, suit yourself.” Isaiah said, scooting out of the booth to get back to work, not wanting to deal with Rain’s rambling any longer.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” Rain questioned, grabbing Isaiah’s arm so he couldn’t walk off.

“Back to work? I can’t stay here chatting all day.” Isaiah replied.

“Of course you can, Liam has it covered, now come and answer a question I have for you.” Rain pulled Isaiah back into his seat.

Isaiah slouched deep into the seat, annoyed at Rain’s determination to keep him talking.

“Now Isaiah, who is that box of chocolates for? Did you get a girlfriend and not tell me or Liam?” Rain said, a devious look on her face as she spoke.

“It’s not like that, I just don’t know what to do after an argument. You’d probably know.” Isaiah replied, his emotion slowly dying as he spoke.

“Hey! No need to be rude. I was just messing around.” Rain shouted, becoming flustered and frustrated, “How do you pull off both rude and emotionless at the same time..?” She muttered, more to herself than to him.

“I guess I just speak my mind. It’s not like I want to offend people.” Isaiah responded, a look of concern appearing on his face, “What do you care? You say impolite things all the time.”

“I’m not going to start a fight with you today Isaiah.” Rain responded, becoming angrier as she spoke, “Can you try to make friends every once in a while?” 

Isaiah sighed, “I haven’t ever tried, I don’t think that will start now. Friends seem like a drag, I tried to make a few when I was kids and they brought me nothing but problems.” 

“What tells you that I’m going to be the same, or anyone for god’s sake?” Rain began to calm back down as Isaiah did the same.

“Sounds like a risk, and I’m not a person who likes to take risks.” Isaiah stated, gesturing towards Liam so that he would start walking over.

“Now that's just a lie.” Rain laughed, “You started this cafe with almost no money, no goal, and no help, and you expect me to believe that you’re not a risk taker?”

“Alright. I was young then,” 

“No you weren't. It’s only been a year,” 

“Exactly!”

“That’s not what I meant,”

Liam sprinted over to the table, cheerful as ever, 

“What do you need Isaiah?” Liam asked, his smile widening as the words slipped from his mouth.

“I’ll take two of today’s specials. Can you do that?” Isaiah responded, grinning slightly.

“Sure thing.” Liam said, quickly walking to the counter, grabbing two mugs off the shelf and began brewing his friends’ drinks. 

Isaiah sighed, letting himself space out as the chatter of the cafe and the sound of water boiling faded in the background, going from loud and in your face to soft but everywhere. It was nice.

Until Rain started talking again.

“So… why’d you get the chocolates again?”

“An apology… of sorts…” He opened his eyes, but refused to look at Rain’s piercing green gaze.

“And your solution was chocolates..?”

“Isn’t that everyones’?”

“Fair enough,”

“If I was mad at someone and they gave me chocolates, you better believe that I would forgive them.”
“That's because you have a thing for chocolate.”

“Shut up!” Isaiah retorted, not knowing how to react to being called out.

“You’re getting mad because I’m right.” Rain snarked.

“I’m mad because you’re falsely accusing me of loving chocolate more than anything,”

“I never said that,”

“You just did!” Isaiah was very tempted to throw his hands in the air.

“I said you have a thing for it, not that it’s your favorite,” Rain had a dumb smirk on her face, “Even though it is…” she muttered after a few moments.

He really didn’t like her sometimes.

“Can you stop, please,” He lowered his voice, trying to keep from yelling and disturbing the peace that had built up with the morning.

“Fine fine, but I’m never letting you forget it,”

“Order up!” Liam suddenly slid toward them at a concerning speed, startling both of them with how loud his voice was. Liam dished the glasses out onto the table, Isaiah and Rain quickly snatching them up and beginning to drink. Liam rarely made drinks for anyone, but when he did Isaiah knew they would be good. Liam knew what Isaiah liked, he had been friends with him for years after all, so he made him a hot cocoa with espresso. Liam had made Rain a bitter-sweet coffee with an extremely unhealthy amount of espresso.

“So,” Isaiah said, taking a sip of his drink, “Do you think she’ll forgive me?” 

“Why are you worrying so much?” Rain said, stirring her drink before taking a drink, “If she forgives you, then great. If she doesn’t then just fire her and move on with your life, I don’t know what the big deal is.”

“I guess you're right.” Isaiah responded, “It’s just-”

“It's just what?”

“I-I’m not sure, I’ve just never had someone be so forward with me about wanting to be friends.”

“Hold on! She wanted to be what now?” Rain asked, bursting into laughter, “Someone wanting to be friends with you? Give me a break. It took Liam being such a sweetheart, and me months of visiting the cafe every day and forcing you to talk to me to become friends. You expect me to believe you that she asked to be friends with you?”

“Well...she didn’t quite say friends, she said she wanted to hang out more often.” Isaiah said, messing with his hair as he spoke.

“I still don’t believe you,” Rain stated, “I don’t believe that anyone would seriously want to see you more often than they have to.” 

“That’s why I lashed out.” Isaiah said, his gaze and tone becoming cold and harsh, almost as if looking him in the eye could hurt, “Don’t give me s**t Rain.”

Rain slowly shifted her view from her phone to Isaiah's stare, a cold feeling falling over her as she spoke, 

“Please don’t curse, it doesn’t suit you-”

“I don’t care, I speak my mind. If you can’t handle my true feelings then you can join all the other people in my life. The people that turned their back on me the second I needed help the most. The people that couldn’t even stick around long enough to get to know me. You can become someone who just looks at the surface of someone and judges them like that. Liam is the only person I’ve trusted because he doesn’t take anything from me unless I give it to him. I trust Liam because he stays with me no matter what I do, and that’s why he’s… my friend.”

Rain sat there, dumbfounded, all she could do was listen to Isaiah’s voice. Rain set down her phone, finally looking back up at Isaiah as she spoke,

“I understand, however,” Rain took a deep breath before continuing, “The fact that you can’t tell a good person from a bad one shows me that you’ve gone truly blind. There’s a difference between surface level people and true friends, a big difference actually. I may not have had many friends over the course of my life, but I can tell you this; people who only see you for what you have aren’t real friends, real friends will see all the little things that you have to offer. I see you for the fact that you like tea over coffee, despite you owning a cafe. I see you for the fact that your hair seems to look a little bit different every time I see you. I see you for the fact that underneath that shell of cold low-level comments and professionalism you’re just a young guy, sweeter than a Frappuccino.”

Isaiah stood up, beginning to grin. He pulled Rain out of her seat and into an embrace, Isaiah’s other fist clenched.

“Thanks Rain, it’s nice to know that that’s the truth, sometim-”

“...and that’s why you’re going to try your best to make amends with that Luna girl tonight. You understand?” Rain said, grinning her smug grin as usual, looking up at Isaiah.

“Sounds good.” Isaiah responded, walking back over to Liam who was currently drying off a dish with a hand towel.

“What happened between you two?” Liam said, looking down at the dishes he was drying as he spoke.

“Nothing much...well, except for the fact that I have two friends now.”

“Look at you, acting like that’s not a lot for you.”

“Oh, hush Liam. She’s probably considered me a friend for a while, I’m just dense.”

“Look at me, I’ve been your friend for years, you think I don’t know how dense you are.” Liam paused, looking up at Isaiah, “Luna should be coming to the cafe soon, you ready to use your second chance?”

“I think I am.”

Author's Note

Hope you liked chapter 1 of 1 Cream 1 Sugar and a Dash of Salt (I'll be referring to it as CSDOS from now on) Hope to see you later.
Cheers,
Toban.

Reviews

[JayG]

• Isaiah stood up from one of the small mahogany chairs seated in the middle of the cafe, looking around to find his keys.

This works for you, who know what’s going on, where we are in time and space, and who we are. But from a reader’s viewpoint:

1. Why does either the size or the material of the chair he left matter when we don’t know the smallest thing about him?

2. Why do we care where he was sitting, or even if he was, when we don’t know WHY he stood…or was sitting?

3. He looks for his keys and finds them. So? Why does a reader WANT to know that? As the great Alfred Hitchcock put it, Drama is life without the dull bits." The keys are a dull bit. Unless they're important, later, there’s no reason to mention them, because that’s detail, a chronicle of events, not story. Story, on the page, reports only what matters to the protagonist in the moment the protagonist calls “now.” But here, we don’t know why they’re not in his pocket…or who he is…why he doesn’t know where they are….or…

• He paused, sighing slightly as his eyes landed on them, picking them up quickly and shoving them into his uniform pockets before moving to start his rounds.

This works for you because you know who he is, where and why he is, and, what you mean by “rounds.” But a reader REQUIRES context as-each-word-is-read, Fail that and you have words in a row, meaning unknown.

And as a critical side-note, at all costs, avoid wandering body parts! You just told the reader that his eyes left his head, flew, and landed on his keys. It’s not what you meant, or intended the reader to get, but it is precisely what you said.

Here’s the deal: As you were taught in school, you’re reporting and explaining. We’re not with him in that café, we’re with you, hearing about it second hand. But how entertaining is that?

Your reader isn’t hoping to find out what happened. They want you to make them feel as if they're living the story in real-time,

The problem you face is that to write fiction you need the tricks the pros take for granted. Fiction-Writing is a profession, and professional knowledge is acquired IN ADDITION to the general skills we’re given to prepare us for employment. There, we need—and are given—nonfiction writing techniques. Great for reports and essays, but useless for fiction.

So, dig into the tricks of the profession. Most of them are obvious once pointed out, but there is a lot to it, and it does need to be pointed out.

Start with a few books on the techniques of the profession. Personally? I’d suggest starting with Dwight Swain’s, Techniques of the Selling Writer, which recently came out of copyright protection. It's the best I've found, to date, at imparting and clarifying the "nuts-and-bolts" issues of creating a scene that will sing to the reader. The address of an archive site where you can read or download it free is just below. Copy/paste the address into the URL window of any Internet page and hit Return to get there.

https://archive.org/details/TechniquesOfTheSellingWriterCUsersvenkatmGoogleDrive4FilmMakingBsc_ChennaiFilmSchoolPractice_Others

For what it might be worth as an overview, the articles in my WordPress writing blog are based on the kind of things you’ll find in such books.

I know this isn’t what you were hoping to see, but we’ll not address the problem we don’t see as being one. So dig in. And while you do, hang in there, and keep on writing.

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/

[TobaaanWrites]

Thank you very much for leaving this review.

I struggle quite hard with reading which makes trying to write quite hard as well. The critiques and comments that you've left I will keep in mind while continuing to work on this series. I've only ever tried to write through trial and error so I thank you for aiding me in this way.

With appreciation,
Toban Warner