The Barista who didn't like Coffee

Coffee Tastes Bitter

predicament: noun

/preh-di-kuh-ment/'

A difficult, unpleasant or embarrassing situation.

eg:After looking back on today's events, I realized I'd landed myself in quite a predicament.

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I knew something was off when I stepped into Starbucks and was met by something that was probably the world's most noxious mixture of cologne. Paulo snorted when the God awful odor hit his sensitive nose, and my heart sunk when the realization of where I'd encountered this before hit me just as hard- from the apartment opposite mine.

No freaking way.

There, at Brenda's usual station, getting instructed by Stan, one of Brenda's former coworkers, was a tall blonde boy who seemed extremely interested in what Stan had to say and kept bobbing his head at intervals. As I stood with my mouth gaping open, Stan patted Aiden on the back, who smiled brightly at him, and walked away. Ignoring the two people in line, I stormed past them towards the counter. Apparently I hadn't been noticed by Aiden till about two seconds ago, because he looked like he'd shat his pants at an alarming velocity when I grabbed the front of his shirt-who knew he owned one of those- and yanked him forward, causing him to ram into the country with a satisfying bump I was sure would leave a bruise.

"Wha-what are you doing?" He asked, bewildered, clearly not over the fact that I was there.

"Me? What are you doing?" I snarled, obviously not over the fact that he was.

He gave me a nasty look and pried my fingers off him. "I work here, you ignorant shoe bag," he said, louder than intended probably, because Stan materialized next to him. "Monty," he said with a patronizing tone that made me cringe, "what did we say about calling the customers names?"

I raised my eyebrows at Stan and the smile on his face that was painful to look at, and then at Aiden when he grudgingly said, "To not to."

Stan huffed, seemingly under the impression that he'd turned around the life of a misguided youth, and returned to his station. "And get that horrid ring off your lip, you look like a hell's angel."

Aiden met my eyes and I chortled. "Monty? Nice," I said, looking pointedly at his name tag.

Aiden narrowed his eyes at me, moving his lips about but not saying a word. Just when I was going to make a remark about his silence, he spat his lip ring at me.

"Good evening," he grinned widely," and welcome to Starbucks, you ignorant shoe bag," he added with a sneer.

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"So how's packing going?"

I held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I opened up my laptop and set it on the table in front of me. "Oh my god, it's so awesome," Brenda said, sounding breathless, "I mean, it's hard work and I hate it and all, but its so awesome."

I smiled to myself and said, "Well, if you need any help just give me a ring okay? We both know you could use my wide handyman skill set."

Brenda giggled on the other line and it set off tiny butterflies in my stomach. I'm going to miss that- watching her whole face lift when she laughs, her eyes crinkle in the corners, her slightly wonky teeth showing in her bright grin...