A Mocha Coffee | A Charming Barista

“Okay, you can do this! Just go inside, get a coffee, and just chill there for a bit. Jasper doesn’t bite and I am sure he is a fine fellow. He helped you out in the festival with getting those beers for Enzo. Besides, from what I heard, I probably did him a favor! I don’t think he will take the day off!” I was talking to myself, getting a few looks as I walked down the sidewalk for the Brewed for You cafe that Jasper worked and owned.He seems like a quiet fellow after all, he’ll be busy running his shop.

I was going to go to the waterhole to enjoy my quiet little place… until it was overrun with some party that was being thrown there. It was loud, overstimulating, and crowded. As if Spring’s Eve was bad enough with all the Moos there, now some have migrated to my little quiet place! I felt frazzled since I woke up this morning to see Romeo had made a mess on my bedroom floor, then the hot water heater broke, so no warm shower this morning as I washed myself under the cold water. To make matters worse, I left my food out from last night and didn’t put it in the fridge because I forgot.

All I wanted was for something to go right for once today! I was even going to ask Enzo to hang out, but he was busy with another friend of his and I didn’t want to interrupt him because I was feeling needy. But damn it was tempting! I needed to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. We are both adults and I need to tell him at least thank you for letting me know my skirt had a hole in it and I was flashing the town!

Before long, I was in front of the cafe, thumbing the ticket in my jean’s pocket as I finally opened the door to see what the hype was about this shop. The coffee here cannot be as good as everyone says it is! I mean, not when my milk tastes just like coffee… which sucks the joy of enjoying a cup at someone’s house because that is what you literally produce in the form of milk. Maybe this will be different? Whatever, I just need a distraction over a bad day so far and I feel frazzled from having my routine off.

The bell rang above me as I entered, there were some groups chatting around, having a good time without a care in the world, others came by after the festival for their afternoon fix of caffeine. As I walked to the front of the counter, I saw Jasper was cleaning something before placing it down on the counter. “Welcome to Brewed for You, what can I… hello, I'm glad to see you finally stopped by.” He said quietly, offering a little smile at me. I felt a blush cover my cheeks from embarrassment.

“Yeah, I thought it was time to come by and see what your shop was about.” I glanced up at the menu to see some of the drink options before murmuring, “also to thank you for telling me I ripped my skirt. That was not the impression I wanted to show everyone.” He nodded and waited as I perused the menu before landing on something with mocha in the name. “How good are your mocha coffees?” Finally facing back at him, he seems to give a little smirk before going back to a customer service smile.

“Mocha is one of my specialties. But more importantly, having that will warm you up today, it’s chilly outside.” He said, but I nodded my head, “Yeah, a hot coffee sounds nice right about now. Plus after the morning I had, I thought this would be a nice treat for myself.” He paused before after my last sentence, entering my order in for the total. “Okay, your total comes out to ten Moonie.” He looked up and waited for me to pay as I went to search my pockets for my wallet… which wasn’t there. Oh I wanted the floor beneath me to swallow me up and to never be seen again!

I chuckled nervously, tears pricking in my as embarrassment and the events of today coming in the form of frustration. “Nah, you know what Jasper? I think I’ll skip out on the coffee for today. I’ll just chill out here and Moo watch for a bit.” Swiftly walking away, I found a corner booth and put myself in the further corner of it. Dabbing my eyes with the corner of my shirt and rubbing my face, feeling like a fool once more. The thought of leaving the shop and heading home until I saw a mocha coffee placed in front of me

“It’s on the house today. You look like you could use it.” Jasper said as he slid in across from me, his own coffee cup steaming with warm coffee. “Want to tell me what’s wrong? I don’t like seeing my customers sad in my cafe.” I thanked him for the coffee he made me and played with the straw, wondering why he was interested in knowing about that. I was practically a stranger to him. Just met the Moo a few times and that was it.

“Just a rotten day is all along with having to adjust to a new town and meeting new people, it’s been… rough.” I told him and he nodded, telling me to continue as he sipped on his coffee. I took a deep breath and gave a mirthless chuckle. “You asked for it, we may be here a while.” He gestured to the now empty cafe. I don’t know how I didn’t notice that before as he came to sit down with our drinks. I sighed and thought of where I should start, maybe after meeting him? That could help.

“Well, after the incident with the skirt, I was kinda embarrassed to come back out into the public for a while, especially with the festival happening. I ran into Briar and she showed me how to make chocolates, you know? A way to introduce myself?” I told him and he simply nodded, following along, not interrupting. I continued, “well that didn’t work out well. I ended up making a mess in my kitchen while trying to get it right before deciding, ‘I can do my s'more pies! Those are always a hit!’ They didn’t work out. I didn’t want to give anyone those messes.”

“And then this morning, Romeo, my MiniMoo I found at Cybele’s Garden. He got sick this morning, making a mess on the new rug I have. After I cleaned that up and checked on him, I went to take my shower and fiddle ferns... My hot water heater stopped working, so I had a cold shower. I left my leftovers out on the counter because I had forgotten to put it in the fridge. So, no lunch today. Then I thought I would head over to the-” I stopped myself from revealing my quiet spot.

“To a place a walk to every day, only to see some Moos hosting a party out there, ruining the quiet atmosphere with it. It’s probably an open space anyway, but I considered it my spot because no one was there. And then I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll finally visit here and buy a drink!’ only to forget my wallet and, and, and,” tears finally started falling as I rubbed my eyes, “you were nice enough to make it for me.” A hand gently grabbed mine in a comforting gesture, Jasper rubbing his thumb back and forth on the back of mine.

“We all have those days and sometimes they hit harder than most. But I want to say sorry if I made you uncomfortable about your skirt, it was never my intention.” I nodded and sniffed, reaching for the napkin dispenser to blow my nose with my free hand. “I know. But I just got stuck in my head that every Moo would think bad of me for exposing myself like that. I didn’t even know that had happened until you pointed it out, which I am thankful for, mind you.” I gently shook his hand off of mine so I could blow my nose with both my hands.

After sounding the trumpet like noise, I felt a bit better off letting that off my chest. I placed the dirty tissue in my pocket to avoid putting it on his table. “I feel a little better after that, thank you Jasper.” He patted my forearm and gestured to my drink, “you can do that by telling me what you think of the coffee.” Taking the cup by the handle, I could feel it was the perfect temperature to start drinking it. I didn’t like it when it was scalding hot on my tongue.

As soon as it hit my taste buds, I could definitely taste the mocha in it, which was hard to do since chocolate always enhanced the coffee flavor every time I made something like this. My eyes rolled in the back of my head before I focused on him, “this is actually the best cup of coffee I’ve had out in public. How did you get the chocolate to taste when with the coffee?” I asked him, taking another sip as he watched me enjoy the cup he had prepared. Another small smirk was on his face, “trade secret I’m afraid. Why do you ask?”

“My milk is coffee flavored and the only time I have success with using chocolate with it is when it is separated from it. Like those chocolate things? They have those chocolate glaze on them and whatever the second flavor of the chocolate is.” I made gestures of what I was talking about, his smirk turning into a smile. “I do, but hopefully, the next time you make chocolates, I would like to try them, even if they aren’t pretty, the maker of them sure is.” I nearly choked on my coffee as he told me that, shocked as he brought out the charm.

“I hope that means you’ll come by regularly. You still have that ticket I gave you?” I nodded as I tried to regain my breath, coughing from the suddenness of that smooth compliment. “I do, and I mean, I’ll come back, your coffee is good! Especially the mocha!” I smiled back at him, feeling my tail wag once happily. He nodded before standing up, “I may have another recipe, a special recipe I want you to try when you are ready for it Melitta.” I was shocked he knew my name and before I could ask, Jasper went back behind the counter and before I could ask what he meant, a regular came in and took his attention. 

I was puzzled when he mentioned it, wondering if it was part of some sort of secret menu he was wanting to try, but for now, I put it in the back of my mind as I sipped this wonderful coffee. Maybe coming here now was an option without the sense of embarrassment. Jasper was a sweet Moo.