Fear and Loathing at the Coffee Shop – A Very Short Story

It was 1993. Chloe was filled with angst as she strummed her short black fingernails on the counter of her post at “Brain Candy,” the local coffee shop/ book store. Her hair hung in red orange tendrils around her cherubic face, fringed with baby doll bangs and still fresh with the scent of orange strawberry Kool-Aid from her most recent die job. She felt her stomach tighten as she heard the jingle of the entrance door bell. It was “the boy.” As a general rule Choe was given to bouts of loathing. She loathed her loathsome job at the book store. She loathed the overly affectionate grey cat that frequented the shop. She loathed the customers that she was forced to interact with. She loathed pretty much everything in site and she excelled at it. At the apex of her long and storied career as a loather was, “the boy.” The boy was tall and slouchy with a face much too young for his willowy frame. Chloe often thought to herself that he looked as if someone had plucked off a baby’s head and stuck it atop his gangly adolescent frame. The boy was chipper and sunny and loved to engage in small talk with anyone he crossed paths with, especially Chloe. The boy approached the register as he did most days and began talking. He prattled on enthusiastically about his dog, and the walk over, and his theories on the state of the world today. His thoughts pouring out like small rivers that eventually entwined into a rushing white-water cacophony of noise. She felt the familiar dull throbbing in her head as she struggled to simultaneously keep up and look engaged. She’d figured out months ago that if she showed any interest in him it would lead to prolonged chatter. So, she’d resolved never to learn his name and to only ever refer to him mentally as, “the boy.” He was getting fired up now about a recent local election. She’d never learned how to hold her face when people talked about things she didn’t give a shit about. It happened a lot. She nodded and smiled and tried to act appropriately invested. Her boss, Leon, was always on her about customer engagement. Was he coming in today? She glanced at the clock. He better not be late again. “Oh my God is he still talking!?” Chloe felt as if her mind had gone on a wonder and was just now returning to the present, like a boomerang caught just in the nick of time. The boy was looking at her expectantly. Shit. “THAT IS CRAZY!!” Chloe exclaimed. The boy nodded in agreement.