The Coffee Wars -  A New Blend 

A trilogy of short stories all set around an independent coffee shop. Each story is filled with numerous references from one of the two things that opened my mind to the world of creativity.

He fumbled with a napkin as he looked at his text message again from Jade.

‘See you at the coffee shop at 4pm, will be wearing a Star Wars t-shirt. x’

His inner geek cheered with joy as he read the last part of the message. As Lucas stirred his coffee for the sixth time, he spotted the look on the face of one of the two men on the opposite table. He looked at Lucas with a friendly gesture of “please don’t do that”. Red faced, Lucas apologized and fumbled with his phone to check the time. He typed a message to Jade.

‘Would you like me to get you a drink? x’

The bell above the door rang as it opened, he looked up in excitement. Which disappeared when he saw an old man with a long brown hooded coat, who walked in and made his way towards the counter. He pulled his phone from his pocket, no new notifications. His eyes wandered around the shop to calm his nerves. A giant of man in a thick woolly jumper called George sat in the corner and let out the loudest yawn. Which startled everybody in the coffee shop. Even the owner behind the counter banged his head on the coffee machine, he grabbed the counter as he steadied himself. The old man removed his hood and peered over the counter at Mr Kessell.

“Don’t worry you will be alright, Bob.” Said the old man.

“Nothing like a good coffee machine, Ben, this is better than your franchised coffee shop rubbish.”

“That it is Bob, that it is, you bring balance to this crazy world we live in.”

With his clammy palms, Lucas unlocked his phone, his head dropped when he saw the time, 3:56pm. He heard a beep but nothing on his phone, but he then saw an old man pull out his phone. The bell rang and he stood up but he saw a man dressed in a black suit, who placed a briefcase on the counter. As Lucas sat back down, he heard the conversation unfold.

“Welcome to Millennium. How can I help you?”

“Hello, I am Vincent Adder here on behalf of the Empire Coffee, I have been tasked with the job of offering you a sizeable amount of money to bring you into the franchise.”

“Well tell that greedy, son of…”

“Bob.” Cautioned the old man.

“Sorry, Ben.”

“The offer is a great one Mr Kessell, I would recommend you consider it.”

“No and that is my final decision Mr Adder, now can I ask you to kindly leave?”

“We have ways and means of persuasion, Mr Kessell. We will be back.”

“My decision is final.”

As Mr Adder left the shop Lucas heard some cups get slammed down on the worktop. The doorbell rang again, Bob welcomed the customer to Millennium Coffee.

“Please, can I have a Java with milk?”

“I am really sorry but we’re out of Java at the moment. Could I get you something else?”

“A latte please, large.”

“Coming up.”

Again Lucas unlocked his phone screen, still nothing. In the corner of his screen, he saw the clock turn 4pm. His head dropped in disappointment, he just wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. The bell rang again, Lucas didn’t move this time, he had a bad feeling.

“Welcome to Millennium, oh hey Jade what are you doing here?”

“Who was that guy?”

“He’s from Empire Coffee.”

“I hope you told him where to go?”

“I did, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to meet a friend?”

“Is it one of your geeky friends?”

“It’s a boy if you must know, Dad.”

Then Lucas heard the soft tone in the response, as he turned, he saw her. Average height with curves, short chestnut brown hair, wearing Star Wars – A New Hope’ t-shirt. He smiled and she smiled back then walked over to him.

To be continued………