TaeTee Cafe - A ForthBeam Fan Fiction

XIII. The Aroma of Vodka

Beam's POV

As the lingering light was obliterated by the rapidly falling night, the pitch-black curtain draped over the sky. The fading of the sunlight had also meant the fading of the heat. No more than an hour ago the sky was painted with hues of red, orange and pink, but all color had faded leaving only a matte black canvas with no stars to be looked upon. Night had fallen fast upon the city

The night was busy as customers enter and leave the cafe to warm their cold bodies brought upon the chilly breeze that enveloped the city. Unlike the outside, where the sidewalk cement was dead cold and shades of gray and black filled the streets, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls

Not long ago, it was just 7 in the evening but as soon as I checked my watch, it was already 12 midnight. Despite the late hour, there were some customers who were still in the cafe: one was seated on the sofa browsing the internet through his phone, another person was busy having a voice call with a friend and there was a couple sitting on one corner, stuck in their own realm 

These things are normally what my customers do when they stay in my cafe that's why I'm used to it

I checked the time, again, and it was 12:25 am

Time is surely slow today

I browsed through my phone to fight the drowsiness that was taking over my overworked body

As I scrolled through my feed, I noticed a notification. These days, I seldom receive any since I became inactive in my social media accounts, I was too busy running the coffee house and I was bustling in creating profit, to add with this, I seldom get enough sleep everyday. That's pretty much the reason why my social life became as empty as a barren land

I opened the notification and noticed that it was a friend request

*Forth Darvid Requested to Add you as a friend*

Seeing his name instantly reminded me of what he said to me a day ago, "You're cute, I like you"

I shook my head vigorously to snap me out of my daydreaming, in fact, this memory of mine is like song played on loop, it bothered me all day long as the thought of him never leaves my mind, he's always there; mentally if not physically. It's just incomprehensible. It seems like whenever he's around, even though he was pissing the hell out of me, everything looks perfect

This kind of feeling was so strange; it stretched throughout my whole body. It's overwhelming, yet it made me feel complete. It has no bound nor length nor depth; it was just absolute. It felt as though I was in a dangerous fire, yet I was completely safe at the same time. It felt as though someone had given me peace. It felt as though my heart was dancing around my chest; and a hole, I was never aware was there, had been filled. I felt so light, like I'm on top of the world yet my heart was constricting and it felt as if there's no oxygen in my lungs

It's strange – frightening even – how you can go from someone being a complete stranger, to then being completely affected by them

While thoughts came in running in my mind, the drowsiness that I was fighting earlier finally took over me. The chemicals in my blood fee more like a leech in my cranium, sucking my ability to keep my eyes open and my brain switched on. I drifted into consciousness. And then back out. The world was a blur, and random images seemed to float aimlessly around in the pool of my thoughts, as though they were being blown about viciously by a hurricane. A ring on the bell hanging by the front door momentarily brought me back to the outside world

"Sawdee krub! Welco..."

Not this guy again

As I laid my eyes on the front door of the cafe, I recognized a face that would make my blood boil every time I get to see that person, It was P'Forth. He entered my cafe at this hour

The harsh scent of drink can be smelt from this person. His once white long sleeves was stained and his hair messy. His eyes had a strange sunken look and were threaded with scarlet so densely that they appeared pink. His cheeks glowed under broken veins, his actions were slow, clumsy. I saw him struggling to keep his balance, and I know he's struggling to keep it. His legs were not working as he tell them to. Neither do his hands. Or his fingers. Somewhere, deep inside I know that his brain is sending signals telling his body what to do. Whether or not his body is listening is a different story. I can feel that his own body was doing what it wants. Can I stop it? We all know the answer to that. It's doing as it pleases. 

What's with this guy?  

I looked upon him with laughter in my eyes

He's drunk. Very drunk

As he was staggering to stand on both feet, he voiced out words that were quite inaudible yet I understood, "I'Beam! What are you looking at? Come and help your drunk husband!"

The moment he said those words, everyone in the cafe turned their heads towards the source of the clamor. Confusion quickly exhibited on their faces upon thinking that why would a person decide to go to a coffee shop at this hour after having rounds of bottles of beers and yelling 'husband' at the barista and treating him as his wife where clearly the barista, me, was clearly a guy

For a minute, I was stunned with what he said: "Come and help your drunk husband!"

What the? Who said that you were my husband? And if there IS a husband, it's me and not you!

Due to his intoxication, he quickly sat down on the steps of the door, the loud bang that was created by the force of the contact of his bottom to the floor jolted me. He leaned his head on the wood area of the doorway and dozed off in just mere seconds. His eyelids dropped and there was a slight lolling to his head, drunk after a session of night-time drinking without a doubt

I quickly left the counter and came to forth's aid

As I tapped Forth on his shoulder, I said..

"Ey I'Forth, didn't I already told you to never show your face in my shop again?"

He grunted. No response. I only heard the sounds of his heavy breathing as he pulled my arm. I ended up sitting next to the drunk-good-for-nothing person. I flicked his forehead and said 

"Why would you even come to my cafe drunk? You know that this is a 'Coffee' Shop not a Bar"

For a second I though that hell was gonna break loose the moment I flicked his forehead, but good thing that he didn't felt it, in fact,  he did not react or even move a muscle. He was very intoxicated that his sensory nerves became numb and couldn't feel any pain at all. He just opened his eyes and glared at me.  As I looked into his, I could feel him searching deep into my soul. Eventually, the heave that have been gradually increasing on his eyes and the tiredness that was trying to command over his body took control of him. As his eyelids finally slipped closed, his head lolled unto my shoulder; I smiled. The rest of him slowly leaned into me, the rest of his body going limp. I fixed his ruffled hair and the strands sticking out from the group. Without the complex workings of his conscious mind, he looked so vulnerable and childlike. His breaths were even and calming, and the expression on his face was no longer stressed but relaxed

The position we're in, where the both of us was sitting on the steps of the front door of the cafe, with his head on my shoulder, under the dim light of the crescent moon together with the flickering bulbs of the streetlights was picture-perfect. No other words can accurately describe the situation that we were in

As I saw his eyelids move, it was becoming obvious to me that the cold cement of the front door accompanied by the chilly breeze of the midnight air was making him uncomfortable. In middle of the eerie and sort of tranquil moment that both of us were trapped in together, it was time to come to an end. I drew my lips inches away from his ears and whispered 

"Let's get you home" 

To be continued..