Coffee and Books 1

Chapter 10

I slouch in the backseat of the black Mercedes, letting agent Wilde drive me home. I've got a major headache, splitting my skull.
"Gary, you don't happen to have any Advil?" I ask the man behind the wheel.

"I think you can find some in the armrest," he answers.

To my surprise I find a tin box beneath a lid in my armrest. It's like a small first aid kit, containing the familiar capsules and some other stuff I don't bother registering. Wilde hands me a small bottle of water and after a little while I can feel the Advil kicking in.

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Meanwhile, at the secure S.H.I.E.L.D. location, director Nick Fury is looking sternly at the red haired woman in front of him. Between them on the table is the briefcase with the computer.
"Well, agent Romanoff?" he asks coldly. "Do you care to explain what happened back there?"

"I don't know, sir."

"You don't know?" Fury arches his eyebrows. "You don't know how a coffee shop waitress almost got you to answer questions instead of the other way around?"

Natasha Romanoff really doesn't know what to say to that. "She must have gotten me by surprise, sir. I'm sure she's harmless."

"We'll have to see," Fury answers. "Meanwhile, put her on the watch list."

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When the car stops in front of the coffee shop, Yvonne is just taking the chalkboard sign inside. The interrogation at S.H.I.E.L.D. took up the whole afternoon, it's closing time already.
"Hello dear! Just in time for dinner," my aunt greets me when she sees me stepping out of the car.

"Great, I'm starving. I'm just gonna take a quick shower and then I'll be over."

My uncle has made a casserole and it tastes delicious. I'm really hungry, not having had anything to eat since breakfast this morning. In the car I decided I wasn't going to worry my family with the truth about my visit to S.H.I.E.L.D., so when Yvonne and Lisa ask why I had to come in, I just tell them the story about getting security clearance.
"I guess Loki and Thor are like royalty, so security is tight."

"It took them the whole afternoon to give you a background check?" Lisa asks me.

I shrug. "Bureaucracy."

"Well, it sounds like a whole lot of trouble, just to serve someone coffee," Yvonne pitches in.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I was fed up with it too. They took my whole free afternoon!"
I take another bite of my casserole, thinking about how I didn't ask for any of this to happen.  "You know what, it's just not worth it. Those Asgardians are nice," - or maybe Loki not as much, I think to myself - "but they sure are a handful."

Lisa and Yvonne nod in agreement.

"They are real celebrities all of a sudden, did you notice?" Lisa says. "I've seen them in the newspaper, in magazines and even on tv."

"Loki said something about a publicity campaign, to get the public to know them better," I reply. "I guess all the media attention is a part of it."

Uncle Lars gets into the conversation too, telling us there is an exhibition about Norse mythology opening at the MET next week. "And I also heard there will be a gala at the end of this month, with Thor and Loki being the guests of honor," he adds.

"Well, they sure have a full agenda," I reply, silently wondering whether Loki will be able to attend the festivities. Last time I saw him today, he was taken away in handcuffs by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

After dinner I excuse myself and turn in early for the night. I fall asleep almost instantly, the whole ordeal has exhausted me.

I wake up in the middle of the night. I dreamed about Loki in the parking garage, reliving those scary moments over and over again. As I lie there, staring at the ceiling, I try to make sense of it all. I can understand why Loki didn't want to be handcuffed, he did nothing wrong at first. At least, as far as I know. But there is a little voice inside my head that says there must be more to the story, a whole lot more. I don't know what it is, and after seeing how Loki attacked that agent, I'm not sure if I want to know.

I spend my first day off mostly in bed, sleeping in until noon and then having brunch in bed. The weather is good, so I do some reading and crocheting on the roof terrace. Sometimes my mind wanders to Loki, when I look at the red bench across from me, but his smile always gets replaced by his menacing looks from the parking garage. So I try not to think of him, it's probably for the best if I put it all behind me.

The next day I finally get to Skype call my mother again and hearing her stories about her vacation in Finland is a nice distraction. I show her the blanket I'm working on, we talk about the family, it's nice.
She tells me how she and William are going to make their way down around the Baltic sea next. That's a big journey, but before he became the director of his own trucking company, William worked as a truck driver and frequently drove to Poland, Romania and other countries in the Eastern part of Europe. He even went to Russia, so I trust him to make the trip safely.
Mom also tells me about the sleighride they went on, on a sleigh with Huskies. She promises to email me some pictures later.

I tell her about Thor and Loki, but in the terms of 'I met people from outer space, I serve them coffee and they are really nice'. No use in worrying her if I'm gonna keep my distance from them from now on.

I also go clubbing with Thomas, although I make sure not to drink as much as last time. He takes me to a place where drag queens perform and we have so much fun all night. There is a 'female' version of Thor, called Thoress, who really steals the show as the Goddess of Thunder.

After a few days I feel like my old self again. The whole Loki-thing really drained my energy. I make a resolve to not let that happen again. He may be handsome and fascinating, he also has a very dark side. I've had my share of dating bad boys in the past, but I suspect Loki can make Joey and his secret coke addiction seem like a trifle.

My batteries fully charged again, I go back to work. Emilia is chatting my ear off about her new boyfriend, Juan. She shows me pictures of him on her phone and I tell her they look cute together. She also tells me Chad came by again, with one of his friends. He was bragging about how People magazine bought some of his pictures. I'm glad I missed that.

The week goes by quite uneventful, and I like it. The biggest drama comes from Mrs. Willow, who thought she lost her cat, only to discover she had shut him out on the windowsill. The poor animal had sat there for hours.
I go through the week smiling, enjoying the chats with customers and the sun outside, all the while humming softly to the music playing in the café.