Earl Grey

It wasn’t right, ordering a cup of earl grey in a coffee shop. There was a reason they had coffee shops and tea shops now; especially for people who liked going to coffee shops but not necessarily their coffee. She was one such person. The food though, she mused, was better in coffee shops than in the tea shops. She couldn’t figure why that was. It was a conundrum, one she wanted to explore more once she was sat at her table with her order.

Ordering always felt like a memory challenge to her. The line from the place where the food was kept till the cashier was long and by the time she reached the cashier who asked her for her order, always politely and always with a smile, she had completely forgotten what she had tried to memorize. There followed an awkward dance then and she always felt that whoever was behind her was looking at her exasperatedly, wondering how she could call herself an adult if she couldn’t even manage an order. 

All in all, she preferred going to coffee shops that were empty, like this one. She had placed her order – yes, an earl grey because she wanted to eat a blueberry cheesecake and she needed to watch her calories – and went in search of a table that was strategically placed. The strategy she followed was simple: she should be able to see people and no one should be able to see her.

She moved towards the perfect table: a corner table that would allow her to people watch. To her dismay, it was taken. There was a phone, sunglasses and a book of all things that was holding this table for someone else. She would have pouted – it really was the perfect table – had she not been impressed with the tableau. She knew the person was reading the book and it was not an accessory because the phone was acting as a bookmark. The sunglasses were obscuring the title of the book and she was itching to move it just to see the title.

She looked away but no one was around to tell her not to touch things that didn’t belong to her. She gave into temptation and moved the sunglasses. The book was called Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. An involuntary smile stretched across her face as she felt a kinship towards this person who was, from the looks of it, just beginning the epic journey.

“Hi,” said a voice behind her, making her jump. She was glad she was not holding her cup of tea. 

“Sorry,” she said, putting the sunglasses back on the book, hoping to leave the scene of the crime just as she had found it. “I was curious. Good choice.”

“Thank you. Have you read it?”

She looked up to put a face to the voice and was not ready for the sight in front of her. The hair, the makeup and the cloying smell of sweat mixed with expensive perfume hit her senses. 

She was glad that she had not claimed the table next to the perfect table. She would have had a headache from the smell. She said, “I have. It’s epic. Enjoy!”

Her name was called out and she went to collect her cup of heaven and plate of sin. The new table did not allow her to people watch but the tea was brewed exactly as she liked it and the cheesecake hit the perfect spot. She could see the person from her chair and wanted to whoop with joy when they opened the book instead of Instagramming their cup of coffee. Not that there was anything wrong with Instagram or coffee…but the book took precedence.

She wished she had had the time to also glance where the person had reached in the book but resigned herself to hope the person enjoyed the book as much as she had.

It was a good day, she decided with a smile and a laugh as the first strings of Moon River began to play on the audio system. Even if she was sitting alone in a coffee shop where all around her were couples or families or people waiting for other people…it was a good day.

---

Connecting this post to #BlogchatterA2Z. To read other posts, check Theme Reveal 2022: Without Prearrangement.

---

PS: If you like how I write and would like to read more, I have 2 ebooks on Kindle – both free if you’re on Kindle Unlimited. You can read more about the ebooks here.