Falling in Love (Short Story)

Falling in Love Part 1

 Vair had talked to her therapist countless times about her dreams, they had been occurring the whole month and were getting more and more screwed up. She was never a big fan of conspiracies but it didn't seem like a coincidence that the new cafe in town had shown up the exact same time that this had started. She kept telling herself that it was just an unfortunate turn of events, that was before the visit. She knew she was off her meds, she should just go back to sleep. Of course that might mean she wouldn't wake up again.

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Beep, Beep, Beep. The alarm clock rang obnoxiously. It danced around in her head until Vair's eyes were open to turn it off. She sat up with a groan and knew she needed to take her medication. She was sort of thankful she woke up, she was never too excited about it. Stepping into her slippers, Vair walked for a few seconds and turned around to take them off, they weren't comfy anymore. On her way down to the kitchen the paintings were friendly and waved good morning, her brother was asleep on the couch.

Vair's mom was in the kitchen. She looked as though she was cooking but the stove wasn't on, "Good Morning honey! Did you sleep well?" Mom asked her, but she knew better than to respond, it hurt to leave her mom waiting there with a hopeful expression. But... it wasn't real.

She never liked taking her meds, they only ever tore her heart out. Vair looked around her empty apartment for any sign of life, there was barely any left in herself, let alone around her. She missed her mom's home cooked breakfast and her freeloading brother's laziness, but she walked down the hallway and paid respect to both of their urns. Then, she was out the door.

The streets of Trenton, New Jersey were gray, the people were gray, nothing stood out, nobody raised their heads at this hour in the morning. No one wanted to talk to Vair, frankly Vair didn't want to talk to people. The traffic was horrible and everything was so loud, yet the scenery was so quiet, the walls weren't screaming at her with colors, the street vendors were not screaming at her in general.

That's why Vair was very surprised when a flash of neon green caught her eye, it was the newest cafe's building. On a window, big bold letters spelled out, "HYERING". The lettering was wrong, no wonder they were 'hyring', someone couldn't do their job right. It wasn't the job opportunity that intrigued her, it was the pop of colors on the window, plus Vair needed some coffee. The door didn't look like it had a bell on entering but as she walked through the door it made an electronic beep beep. The interior had a very futuristic look to it, the walls were embedded with dramatic blue lights and there were tables that appeared to be floating scattered across the lobby.

There was a tv on the wall behind the counter, there was no menu, just a list of people's names, peculiar, but it must be an order queue. A blonde woman stood behind the cash register, she was clumsily fumbling with something under the countertop, Vair rang the service bell. The barista's head shot up and collided with the metal counter, Vair gasped. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?" She felt bad for startling the woman. The lady was tall and had strange dark brown eyes, almost black, they were the most beautiful sight Vair had ever seen. She stopped in her tracks and sucked in her breath, with an awkward smile the barista said, "Coffee? On me..." she looked as if she was going over what she just said like she was making sure it was right. "Yes, I'll pay." She finished and Vair gave her a small smile.

The tables were very reflective, like a perfect mirror. The barista appeared to be the only one working, so when she came by to drop off Vair's coffee, Vair stopped her, "Do you have an application form? I would like to work here." The barista gave a confused look as if she wasn't sure what to do in this situation. She must be new. That's what Vair guessed. "Y-you can just work here, no...application needed." The barista spoke cautiously, which confused Vair.

So after having coffee with the strange barista, Vair checked her phone, even though she was in the middle of the city, there wasnt any signal, her phone was acting up. This has happened before so Vair wasnt surprised, the barista kept looking at her subtly and then her eyes would dart back to the table. Vair went over to the counter and tried to walk into the storage room to find a uniform, but the barista threw herself in front of the door and frantically said, "OH! We dont have a uniform. Vair could have sworn that she had a uniform on, but now that she looked she was wearing sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt.