Chapter 3

Isaiah prepares himself both mentally and physically for a trip, a trip that only time can tell what'll happen.

Chapter 3

Isaiah awoke the next day, the bright late autumnal sun shining into his eyes through the blinds as he crawled out of bed to turn off his alarm. He turned to his left, the door was slightly ajar, letting the slightest bit of noise from the cafe below come through. He was able to hear Liam and Rain having a conversation, well, a conversation would be an understatement. Liam and Rain’s conversations were almost always Rain ranting louder than she should be and Liam responding quietly to everything.

Isaiah began to pull on his outfit, buttoning up his collared shirt and pulling on his slacks. He walked over to the mirror, washing his face off and straightening his hair before stepping towards the door. On his way out he noticed that the envelope of money that Rain had given him the night prior was still on his nightstand. Isaiah sighed, I might as well give this back, she’s not moving in without good reason. He creaked the door open, descending down the stairs towards the loud and bustling cafe below him. The feeling of the busy morning filling the entire space around him as he went further towards the ground level.

“Took you long enough to head down this morning, I was getting kind of concerned,” Liam stated, looking over at Isaiah, “You aren't going to have a good time when daylight savings rolls around.”

“Can it, time is irrelevant.” Isaiah retorted, pouring himself a cup of coffee as he spoke.

“Don’t give me attitude, I covered the morning shift while you were sleeping in.” Liam said, his brow furrowing.

“Sleeping in? I woke up at 8:00, like I always do.” 

“Bro, it’s 9:30.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope, you never sleep in so I was starting to get concern-”

“I’ll be back” Isaiah interrupted, storming off up the stairs only to find his alarm clock sitting by his bed, the time flashing 8:07am. He began to become increasingly angry, but at the same time more curious to why someone would do it. It wouldn’t have been Liam, unless he was really concerned about Isaiah’s lack of sleep. So, who could it be? Oh wait, I know. Isaiah turned around to face the stairs and began to descend faster than usual, almost sliding as he ran. As he reached the bottom of the stairs his glance immediately shifted over to Rain, sitting smugly with her head resting gently on her hands. She was wearing a light green hoodie that went nicely with her almost mint green eyes. 

“Welcome back sleepyhead.” She remarked smugly.

“I should have known it was you.” Isaiah replied, turning his gaze to Liam, “You should go before I start saying some not so nice things.”

“That I can do.” Liam said, scurrying off to help customers while all hell broke loose between Isaiah and Rain.

“Why do you have to make a deal out of this, I was just helping you catch up on sleep?” She said smugly, looking up at Isaiah as the words escaped her mouth.

“You think I want to be slacking? I’ve had a schedule for years now and you just decide to mess it up because you ‘feel like it’? I’m done with you pulling stuff like this Rain.” 

“You say this like it’s the first time I’ve done this.”

“I don’t think I need to make it sound like it’s happened before, considering we both know that it absolutely has.”

“Does this have to be some conflict? I just came here to see you and Liam along with drinking coffee. If I wanted to go somewhere to argue then I’d walk myself back home.”

“I get it, I get it. You can chill,” Isaiah said, reaching into his pocket, “Now regarding this, were you in your right mind when we talked about this.” 

Isaiah held out the envelope to Rain, she quickly took it out of his hand and slid it into her pocket. Moving her hair out of her eyes before speaking,

“Let’s just, forget that happened.” Rain said shyly, avoiding eye contact as she talked.

“I don’t think I really can, considering that’s the first time you’ve complimented me in forever.” Isaiah said, grinning smugly.

“I said let’s forget about it, all of it. I’ll even give you this envelope if you just pretend that nothing happened.”

“That’s not needed, just calm down. Besides, why did you even bring up the whole moving in and giving me the money thing?”

“Well, you see, it’s just a little rocky around the house right now. It’s fine, I just lost it last night.”

“That part was obvious, why not a hotel though? It’s obvious that you had the money for that.”

“Well,” Rain paused, looking embarrassed. Something that was extremely rare for Isaiah to witness, “I feel more at home at the cafe, that’s all.”

“That’s valid, after all, I hope everyone feels that around here. Especially my friends.”
“Oh, shut up!” Rain pouted, “I’m not used to you being nice, ease me into it next time.”

“That made no sense,” Isaiah laughed, “Are you tired or something? I’ll make you your usual.”

Isiah began to work on the drink that Rain always drank, it was more espresso than it was drink at the point where she liked it. It’s the maximum amount of caffeine that is ok for a human, and on top of that is more bitter than just plain soil. Isaiah was always dumbfounded at the fact that she not only drank this every day, sometimes multiple times a day, but that she also enjoyed it. He was never a guy who could understand people very well, but Rain especially. She always kept her family situations to herself and rarely shared them to Liam and only Liam. 

Rain’s ability to hide what was going on with her was almost admirable, yet always seemed to sadden Liam. He hated to think that Rain was sad and the inability to know if she was or not always seemed to kill his mood. That didn’t seem to be a problem that day however, Rain was in a great mood and Liam seemed to be as well. Isaiah was, of course, neutral as usual, staring off into nothingness as he worked, pouring drinks all throughout the morning.

As time passed, he began to get tired, just then realizing that he hadn’t had a coffee this morning, and just now got tired. Isaiah always needed a drink to get himself out of bed in the morning, but this morning that was different. Did going off of his sleep schedule and getting extra rest really make that much of a difference? Isaiah felt good that this was the case, being able to skip his coffee that morning in place for some extra rest was something that he could appreciate. 

Maybe what Rain did wasn’t so bad after all.

The day continued like usual with customers coming and going like normal, Isaiah felt happy with how things were going as of lately. Rain was being nicer than usual and Liam hadn’t caused any problems that Isaiah had to fix. Well, problems isn’t a good way to phrase it. A good way to say it is Liam wanting to help Isaiah, and Isaiah doing anything in his power to stop it from happening. Liam always seemed to want the best for Isaiah in anything, he treated him special, almost like family. However, nothing lasts forever, 

“Hey Isaiah, I have a good idea!” Liam shouted, approaching Isaiah quickly.

“Christ, what’s happening?” Isaiah said, looking down unamused at Liam as he spoke.

“I think it’d be a really good idea if we took a break, a bit of a vacation some would say.”

Isaiah paused before letting words escape his mouth, after a moment, he sighed, 

“Well you know Liam, that is just fantastic…for you. I don’t need time off, my life is fulfilled right here.”
“You work as a barristo.”

“My point still continues to stand.”
“No it does not,” Liam laughed, “C’mon, it’d be fun, we can go to a natural hot spring, or an amusement park, or something more interesting than here!”

“This place is plenty interesting.” 

“Maybe for you Mr. Popular. You’re the face of the business, nobody comes here just to see me.”

“Sure they do,” Isaiah joked, “If I had the time, I could make a comprehensive list on all the people who come here just for you!”

“Anyways, I gotta go and do my job, you can go talk to rain about this ‘vacation’ garbage”

“Isaiah, will you ever take the time to listen to me?”

“I already listen, I just don’t care.”

“That’s my problem exactly.”

“Listen, if you can give me a good reason for this trip then I’ll go.”

Liam’s face instantly lit up with excitement, he was practically jittering with eagerness. He simply nodded, hurrying off to go talk to Rain with a smug grin on his face the whole time. That kid really is going to find a reason for me to take time off. Isaiah chuckled, beginning to take the next customer's order and begin the drink, excited to finally have a good reason to stop working for once. He almost felt like he needed to hide his happiness from Liam, having made a big deal only minutes prior. Eventually, he just let it go, that’s what he had to do more often, just let go.

Isaiah always seemed to be too uptight, he never felt approachable, and often snapped at people for no reason. Although, no reason isn’t the truth, the truth was that he never let go. Always having issues when it comes to trusting people because of things that happened a long long time ago. All he had to do was let go, but he never could, he always held onto things for well too long, and it rubbed off on him. Maybe that was his reason for taking a break, to finally calm down, unwind, and let go of all the emotions he couldn't take anymore.

If only he could do so, if he could it would be so easy.

Isaiah returned to his work after a long few minutes of thinking, it’s all getting better, isn't it? If so then maybe, just maybe it can go towards a better future, I already have more friends than I’ve ever had, why stop here? The past is dark and my future is light, might as well keep trudging.

Isaiah looked over towards Liam and Rain, who were chatting as they usually did at a booth. Today was different for some reason, it wasn’t because of their clothing, or their hair, it was because they had a whiteboard the size of the entire table. The blondes always seemed to be doing something absolutely stupid, just barely crossing the line between fine, and absolutely disastrous. It was safe to say that Isaiah was taking none of it, most likely because as soon as he saw this he put a dead stop to what he was doing and went directly over to the booth where the two were sitting.

“What the actual hell is this all about?” Isaiah said in a completely monotone voice, staring Rain dead in the eyes.
“Does planning work as an excuse?” She replied, smirking.
“It absolutely does not.” 

“Come on, this never would have happened if you just accepted going with us on the trip.”
“So it's a trip now? Liam, I thought this was supposed to be simple, and not too fancy, and now rain is making it sound like we’re all going to a different country.”

“We’re not going far! I promise, just chill.” Liam started smiling awkwardly, looking up at Isaiah.

“I’ll chill as soon as you stop with this absolute chaos,” Isaiah sighed, “I really wish you two weren’t always doing ridiculous stuff like this.”

“So if we stop, will you go along with it?” Rain chimed in.

“Fine. If you pack this up and leave.” Isaiah gestured towards the whiteboard.

Rain grinned with the most mischievous smile she had ever pulled before gesturing to Isaiah to get back to work. Liam quickly followed his friend back over to the counter, and began to take more customers orders. Life at the cafe stayed simple, day after day, and that’s exactly how it was meant to be. Although, despite this, Isaiah was slightly excited to have time to get away. He could finally get some time to go and enjoy himself, and as much as he’d like to believe that the cafe was the best he could get, that’s not the truth whatsoever.

Isaiah laughed to himself, walking over to the counter and grabbing a mug out of the counter sitting at eye level. He then grabbed a small black tea bag, out of the cupboard next to the one he had opened prior, pouring water into the mug. He then put the cup into the microwave, setting it for 30 seconds before walking over to sit in one of the booths by himself. The second he sat down, he sunk into the seat, pulling out his phone and opening his messages. His eyes quickly drifted over to his most recent notification, it was a message from his mother. The text read only a few simple words,

Mom: We should meet up for dinner!

Me: alr

With just a simple, short message Isaiah turned off his phone resuming his work for the time being. Isaiah took a moment to absorb his environment before going back to making drinks constantly. He took a moment to notice the creaking of the wooden floorboards below him. He took a moment to look at the wisps of white streaking across the baby blue sky as he planned his gaze across the shop. He took in the smells of coffee and the sounds of clattering drinks, laughing, chatting, running equipment and the sound of Liam’s footsteps as he delivered drinks. It always felt lively at the store. 

Even though taking time off sounded nice, there was no way that Isaiah would take the life that he had for granted. Being in a place that day in and day out had a happy and friendly atmosphere during the day could very well be described as paradise for some. And as night fell, that atmosphere became calm and sterile, the moonlight glared through the windows, the cold air flowing through the door as new customers went in and out, made the feeling completely different. It made the popularity of the cafe absolutely explainable.

That’s exactly why Isaiah started the cafe, to have all that he wanted, a place to sleep, work, and live. He rarely had to leave, and when he did he would stock up on all the groceries that he needed for the time being. However, Liam would usually be the one making the grocery runs, later in the evening after he got off his shift. It was simple, everyday felt so simple, but there's nothing wrong with simple. 

The day went on, repetitive as usual, but happy. Isaiah had a lot to be happy about as of recent, with almost everything that he could want to be going well doing so. He had made a new friend and was beginning to move on with his life and live in the present. Isaiah was finally getting everything he needed to figure out and was starting to lead a more normal life. 

The sun fell again that day, the bright burning yellow fell down below the horizon, leaving the sky painted a light salmon color as the dark approached. The stars then began to appear, starting slow then speeding up, the dark atmosphere above being illuminated gradually. The clock on the wall ticked, Isaiah yawned, slapping his face and straightening his hair. He trudged over to the counter, pulling a cup of plain black coffee off of it and taking a sip. He had made this cup only moments prior yet it had already become room temperature, letting the bitter taste sink in. Isaiah absolutely hated the taste of anything bitter and preferred whatever sweetener over it, although black coffee was always more convenient and Isaiah chose it more commonly.

He waited, and waited, and waited, the clock seemed to tick slower than usual and with nothing to do and no customers to serve Isaiah pulled out his phone again. He immediately opened up his texts and got back to his mother,

Me: Sorry, I was busy earlier. How about we play it by ear, I have some upcoming plans that have remained undetermined.

Mom: Sounds good to me, but wait. Since when do you have friends? 

Me: It’s Just Liam.

Mom: Makes sense, you never have been to social lol

Me: Did you reach out to catch up or to bully me? 

Mom: I gave birth to you, I very much deserve to play with you a little :)

Me: Alright mom, I have to go work, talk later.

Mom: Okay!

Isaiah put his phone away once again, hearing Liam coming down the stairs right as he did so. Liam walked over to the counter and stole the black coffee off of it, knowing very well that Isaiah wasn’t going to finish it. 

“I thought you couldn’t handle caffeine? You’ll be up for quite some time.” Isaiah remarked while beginning to wash the dishes.

“Who said I’d be sleeping tonight?” Liam smirked.

“What’s so important that you have to stay up all night?”

“Isaiah, I don’t own a car, and we’re taking a road trip tomorrow.”

Isaiah immediately dropped what he was doing and quickly moved towards Liam,

“What did you just say?!”
“Did I not tell you earlier today? We’re going to do it tomorrow. It won't be too long. I just thought we’d take a quick trip to a hot spring.” 

Isaiah opened his mouth to speak however no words came out. He had nothing to complain about, he was going on a trip with his good friends and he didn't have to pay a penny.  He just closed his mouth and went back to his work. 

Over time customers came and went, and between them, Isaiah had time to do the dishes, re-organize the cabinet, and mop the floor. Yet still Luna hadn’t shown up. He had time for Liam to head over to the store, grab snacks, and come back to eat them with his friend, and still, Luna has not arrived. An hour had passed, the evening creeping farther and farther towards midnight, and still she hadn’t come. And right as Isaiah was ready to write her off as not coming in and docking her pay there she arrived, but to Isaiah's surprise, not alone. Stood behind Luna was Rain, smirking with Luna looking at Liam with what could only be described as pure fear.

“What in god's name did you do this time?” Isaiah questioned, looking the girl dead in the eyes. 

“Just a bit of convincing.” Rain replied.

“I don't believe that whatsoever.” Isaiah remarked, pushing Rain’s hands off of Luna’s shoulders before gesturing for her to go towards the counter. Luna happily complied, walking over to the area and beginning to help the customers.

Isaiah guided Rain over to a quiet corner in the cafe, looking around to make sure nobody was over there,

“What the hell did you do?” Isaiah asked, looking defeated and feeling quite the same.

“I just did some convincing, I went over and had a chat with Luna to make her come along.” Rain responded.

“Why did you feel that this was necessary, I don’t see why you would be so insistent on her coming. You obviously didn’t just talk to her; did you see her expression when she walked through the door?”

“What if she was just embarrassed from accepting so quickly, ever thought about that ‘Mr. Icanperfectlyreadtheroom’?”

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell when someone is scared Rain. It was pasted all over her face.” 

“Not, my fault.” Rain scoffed, walking over to the table where Liam was seated, smiling and gesturing to Isaiah to get back to work.

This was it finally, Isaiah couldn’t really do anything about it now. Liam was deadest on the trip and Isaiah wasn’t too keen on letting his best friend down. Besides, it wasn’t torture or anything, it was just an outing that Isaiah well needed and deep down truly wanted. Although, despite that he couldn’t help but feel nervous, he didn’t know who Liam hired to take care of the shop in the meantime and how much that would cost him. The coffee was just expensive enough to keep him stable financially, and he didn’t have the money to live extravagantly. Isaiah trusted his friend though; he knew Liam was thorough enough to make sure everything was taken care of.

His main worry, above all, was that Rain would find some way to screw the whole group over on the trip, Leaving them with no glimpse of getting home. Rain had one of the most chaotic natures out of anyone he met, Liam was the only one who could even contain her. Liam was good at holding the whole friend group together, probably the only reason that Isaiah and Rain were still friends. 

Isaiah could only wait and see, see what the future had in store for him as far as his life outside of work had to give.

He stood up from the rickety wooden chair seated behind him and began to walk over to the counter. The glare from the neon sign reflecting into the window casting a shadow as Isaiah walked. He went to each table, greeting them and thanking them for coming in at such a late hour. Isaiah had been a little less professional this day so he thought he’d make it up through his attitude. He tucked in his shirt a little tighter into his slacks, and straightened his hair as he went along from table to table. 

Meanwhile Luna was serving customers their coffee, diligently working while she made the drinks. She made sure that every order was the best quality she could make, leaving the beverages almost looking like art. 

At one point a customer ordered a latte accompanied by a generous tip, in return Luna delivered a drink worthy of the price. She began carefully steaming the milk until the small cylindrical bubbles rose to the top, shrouding the white liquid in a thin layer of foam. She simultaneously prepared the espresso, making sure the texture was as smooth as possible before serving. Lastly Luna mixed the majority of the milk and espresso into a dark creamy brown before finishing it with a neat latte art of a heart. 

The texture was that of what you’d expect a beverage with such attention to detail put into it to be. Every sip was smooth and bitter with a hint of sweetness at the very end. Every drink taken felt like a gift, well living up to the quality that people began to expect from the daydream cafe.

That’s truly what people came to think of the establishment, it was cheap, delicious and the workers mainly relied on tips to stay financially sound. It was almost a good thing in a sense, motivating the employees to always put in 110% when seen necessary. 

Time would pass and still feel like nothing happened, most likely because the cafe being quite large and did not have very many tables. It never felt crowded, combined with the cold breeze that came by occasionally by new customers coming in. Its popularity was well deserved, Isaiah had made a college student utopia, for him and for all others similar to himself. 

Isaiah walked over to the counter after some time, coming to check on Luna and see how things were going.
“Need anything?” Isaiah asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. 

“No, do you?” Luna replied, “I know you have that trip tomorrow, maybe you could go get some sleep?” 

“I don’t really need it, waking up early has always been my thing.” Isaiah chuckled, “You need some as well, why don’t you go get some rest since you’re coming with us?”

“Oh, I was thinking about not coming.” 

“Why would that be? If you don’t want to, I understand, I just thought you wanted to.”

“Well, as much as I do, I don’t want to start problems, you and Rain seemed to be not on the best terms about the whole ordeal.”

“Rain and I are always like this; I don’t think that should influence your decision.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” Isaiah said smiling, “Go chat with Liam, he’ll find somewhere for you to rest, I’ll finish the shift.”
“Deal” Luna replied.

Luna nodded, turning around and walking towards the stairs, the sound of the boards creaking echoed as she climbed higher and higher.

Now that she had gone Isaiah began to panic, I really hope Liam has a plan for what we’re going to do with this place while we’re gone. As much as Liam was trustable, he was also chaotic and not the smartest and planning ahead was not his strong suit. 

The night passed faster than usual, nearly no customers coming in the rest of the night. The only things that Isaiah had to entertain himself was his cellphone, his headphones, and the muffled chatting coming from up the stairs. It was almost a relief, not having a lot of customers, it allowed Isaiah to sit back and relax, to finally be able to not have so much mayhem in his life.

That was soon to end, however, the next following morning was destined to be anything but peaceful. With Liam being a poor driver and Isaiah not trusting Luna enough to drive the friends, Rain and Isaiah looked to be the only ones fit to transport the group. It wasn’t a big deal for Isaiah, he had to take responsibility quite often, and for a lot as well. Driving a car wasn’t the biggest problem in the world.

As the night came to an end Isaiah downed the rest of his coffee, washed the cup out and then put it back in the cabinet. He walked over to the door, locking it and flipping the sign from open to closed while shutting off the sign outside. He next turned off the lights in the building and tucked the chairs in. He sanitized the tables and booth seats, he put back the ingredients and started some more cold brew coffee. Then he began walking up the stairs to meet the group.

“Hey Isaiah,” Liam said, looking over at his friend from across the room, “Excited for tomorrow?”
“I am, but at the same time I don’t trust you to drive a car. Likewise?” 

“You bet I am.” The blonde responded.

“Well then its settled,” Rain chimed in, “You and Liam sleep on the spare mattress that’s in the storage room, me and Luna are going to steal your room for the night.”
“I’m too tired to complain.” Isaiah responded, plugging his phone in on the bedside table before saying goodnight and walking down the stairs with Liam.

The two went to the storage closet, grabbing a king-sized mattress out of it and bringing it to the middle of the restaurant floor. They plopped it down onto the floor dusting it off before lying right down. Liam set an alarm on his phone to go off early in the morning. 

“Goodnight, Liam”

“Goodnight, Isaiah.”

As the two drifted into unconsciousness the night felt peaceful, everyone finally resting as the darkness of the night swallowed the cafe.

Author's Note

This took a while, try not to be disappointed :)