Beacon Paradox

CHAPTER 1- Friendship Paradox(part 1)

"One cappuccino for Michael. One cappuccino for Michael." Shouted one of the baristas of 'Coffee on the Dot.' A tiny coffee shop known for their fast services and of course good coffee. But people rarely sit by and drink their beverage there. And the owner knows that hence they do to-go coffee, a thing which no other cafes do in that particular area. And the fact that this tiny coffee shop is surrounded by big business is a bonus. Big chains of coffee places have not set their feet here, thus it helps being the only place to offer to-go coffee. The aroma of the freshly brewed coffee is the first thing one will get as soon as they pass Schaffer Street here in Willowbug City, a continuously growing town located on the outskirts of downtown Philadelphia.

The big business although what they are, never interested Ivory, the owner of the Coffee on the Dot. She also poses as one of the baristas of her own café. Because she feels it's important to serve and help people. And thus, get to know your daily customer. Although she does have a sneaking suspicion that nobody knows she is the owner of the place. Granted her getup always include a lose fitting red t-shirt with black borders, and on the back of it 'Coffee on the Dot' is inscribed, along with tight black jeans with red lines on stiches completed by a black plastic golf hat. Her coffee shop's uniform, which all her employees love to wear. They have never once complained of having the most atrocious dress, as she thought it would be, when she designed the uniform. Although nobody can answer why they have the plastic golf hat. As they are inside most of the times. And weirdly even Ivory herself cannot tell you that. She just thought of it one night and added it to the uniform.

"One tall Latte with extra whipped cream for Xavier." Ivory announced the next order just as one of her friends and employee shouted, "Six caramel macchiato for Michele." Sara, her friend smiled at her. Because they both know even though Michele ordered 6 cups of delicious goodness, she actually want 3 out of those 6 for herself only. Michele knows that the baristas are smiling because they are aware of her secret. So, she shushes them while taking her order and excited sipping the delicious goodness without caring for anyone else. Michele works in one of the buildings nearby. She along with three other employees are either interns or are training as Ivory has often heard them talking about such things while they visit her café. It's Michele's day today, and usually they all have a day, but being they are four in their group and there are five weekdays. Michele takes the extra day. Like today so she can snag those extra drinks just for herself. Sara has once seen her finishing one of her drinks before she entered the building with the rest.

But none of these typical midafternoon coffee rush stories every made Ivory feel anything different. They brought her a smile indeed. But she never got a bad feeling or shock from any of these incidents. Yes, even Michele buying extra drinks just for herself was not enough for Ivory to pause and stay frozen. But today out of all days that happened. And at first Ivory could not place why, and that particular thought was bugging her. Till she witnessed the reason for her shock all over again. Its not a news or an incident. But it is simply a man, dressed in white t-shirt and navy-blue jeans, tall about 6 feet with golden brown hair all over his face in a messy fashion yet he is puling the look off. But its not what he is wearing or how his hair is that shocked Ivory, it is the fact that he looks like somebody Ivory used to know. And that particular thought made her frozen on the spot with one cup of hot liquid still in her hand. Ivory was so shocked that Sara shook her a little careful not to spill the liquid and burn her friend and employer's hand. But it did not budge Ivory, so she had to do what she never ever thought, she purposefully spilled the burning hot liquid on to Ivory's hand to pull her out of the trance.

Ivory came to with a jerk spilling more of it on the floor and onto herself. She then blinked few times still a little out of it. And had not noticed the redness that has already formed on her wrist. But Sara was already apologizing to Ivory, who just blinked at Sara. "I am so sorry Ivory. I didn't mean to burn you. You were frozen and I didn't know what to do. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to actually hurt you."

"What? What are you talking about? You didn't hurt me, Sara. Now calm down and take over here for me. While I clean this coffee and..." Ivory did not even finish the sentence as she ran inside while Shelly, her other employee took over for her in helping Sara comb through the rest of the customer. Most of them they know as they are regular but every now and then they get new people, probably tourists, who are either passing by or are here to visit both for leisure as well as business. But today Ivory could not focus on anything anymore after she saw him.

It was uncanny the similarity Ivory felt with this man and the friend she knew once upon a time. She would have called and checked but she knows she cannot. After all you cannot contact someone who is dead. And that much Ivory knows. But right now, she wishes she could talk to somebody, anybody from her hometown, Shadowland. Even though she has not talked to any of her friends recently. But they do text each other every now and then. They keep up but are not as close as they used to be in high school. Now those years were tough for Ivory and her friends. And they know that, understood that very well. Also, that was one of the reasons why the six of them promised to never return to their hometown after graduation. They have talked via text, called each other and even face timed. But never had the time to meet in all these years. And now she wants to text them and tell them...but what though. This is the part which made Ivory rethink her idea to text them. Because what can she say that a guy walked into her café who looks exactly like Hunter, the guy who died at the end of their freshman year of high school. Yeah, that does not make sense. There can be people who look like him, but then why did she get shocked, frozen to her spot, that only burning her hand woke her up. That reminded her to give cold water to her hand to help with the burning irritation which she again forgot about while she contemplated texting.

Finally, after giving up texting and washing her hand followed by ice packs to her hand she returned to the front of the café. Or to the land of the living as Ivory thought inside her mind. That was very ironical, and she knew that. Sara watched her as soon as she returned, guilt visible on her face. And also fear. Sara was thinking now she might lose her job while Ivory was thinking how to thank Sara for her quick thinking. Even though Sara has no idea how much she helped Ivory, but Ivory plans to let Sara know that her quick thinking paused Ivory from committing what probably would have been the most embarrassing moment of her life. As who knows had she remained frozen when the guy came up for the order, who's to know what Ivory would have uttered or done. 

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A/N: If you are reading this story on any platform other than Wattpad you are very likely to be at risk of a malware attack. This is the only original and safe version of the story.

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