XVI: In Which A Second Meeting Occurs

Kaldi’s was crowded and bustling as Colin walked in carrying his bag over his shoulder.  He edged his way past three white girls who were obliviously blocking the entry way. “Excuse you.” One said as she backed into him while he tried squeezing through.

Colin ignored her and went to stand in line to get a drink.  Seven people stood between him and the counter where Jane was busily taking orders.  As he waited, he looked around the coffee house, seeing if there were any open seats where he could sit until their reservation for the conference table took effect.  To his surprise, sitting at the big table, he saw Steve, Sam and Ronaldo smiling in animated conversation next to a tiny blue-haired girl wearing headphones and crouched over her laptop, resolutely trying to pretend the three men didn’t exist.

Steve saw him, made eye contact, and said something to the other two, who looked over and waved, while Steve got up and walked over to where Colin stood in line.

“‘Sup, Colin?” Steve reached out for a handshake.

“Hey, Steve.  Get here early for homework again?” Colin shook out of obligation.

“Yeah, but Ron and Sam showed up before I could get much done.  We’ve just been talking for the past hour.” He looked at the line ahead of them as Colin adjusted the strap on his bag which had slowly been digging into his shoulder.  “I’ll hold your place in line if you want to go set your stuff down at the table and say ‘hi’ to the guys. Just don’t talk to the girl, she’s apparently not in the mood for conversation.”

“Okay, I’ll be back as quick as I can, thanks.”  Leaving Steve in his place, he edged through the crowd to the table.  Sam and Ronaldo greeted him warmly while he set his bag in one of the unoccupied chairs.  The girl at the other side of the table watched him from the corner of her eyes until he went to join Steve back in line.

There were only two people ahead of them when he returned.  Steve stayed with him a minute or two, making small talk, then headed back to the table as Colin reached the front of the line.  Jane greeted him with a warm smile and told him she’d be off in time for the meeting. He handed her his cash when she told him the total, took his change and his new punchcard and stepped aside while his drink was made.

“You didn’t order either, did you?” Sam asked excitedly when he got back to the table.

“Um, no.” Colin said, sitting down.  Jane knows what we want, so telling her my order would be kind of insulting, wouldn’t it?”

“Sweet!” Sam replied, nudjing Steve who unfolded a paper and wrote Colin’s name under the heading ‘Didn’t Order’.  His name was listed under Sam’s and Ronaldo’s, the other column, labeled ‘ordered’, only contained Steve’s name.

“Force of habit, okay?” He said with defensive embarrassment.

Settling in, Colin took his binder out of his bag and opened it on the table. “I hope you guys don’t mind, but I typed up notes on all the stuff we talked about last time.”

“Nuh-uh. Nope. No talking about paranormal stuff until three when everyone’s here.” Steve said, shaking his finger.  “Your rules, remember?”

“All right.” Colin smiled. “So what have you guys been talking about?”

“Well, Steve’s been trying to get me killed.”  Sam said, laughing slightly.

“What?” Colin’s eyes widened.

“It’s not like that. Sam’s got a couple of a******s at school messing with him.  I’ve been helping him deal with them.” Steve explained.

“Yeah, from the safety of the other side of a phone.” Sam shot back. “But no, it’s cool, It actually felt really good to turn the tables on them for a change.”  Sam and Steve told Colin the whole story of what had happened with Kurt and his gang.

“Wow, where were you when the jocks decided to pick on the fat, nerdy, asian kid?”

“Kindergarten, probably.”  Steve laughed. “For real, though, I wasn’t always confident like that. I got my share of bullying.  Took me forever to figure out that if I could make people laugh, they might not beat me up. Living with Nate and ‘Quan has helped me hone it to an art.”

“Thankfully I was able to avoid most of that.”  Ron said. “People mostly stayed away from me in school and I started home-school before I could really get bullied.”

“I had you pegged for home-school.”  Xander said.

Everybody turned and greeted them as Xander and Alex walked up to the table.  Two more for the ‘Didn’t Order’ list. Selena arrived shortly after, prompting the blue-haired girl to leave the table with an exasperated sigh and move to one in the corner of the shop.  Jane joined them at three-o-clock and after Sam proudly displayed the paper with its six-to-one count, Colin called the meeting to order.