Coffee Shop - Project Media: Tea and Coffee Story

As Xavier walked home, he couldn't help but hear the lively chatter coming out of the small coffee shop on the other side of the street. He passed Café Vivienne daily, and regardless of the time of day, it always seemed to be buzzing with people. While the noise piqued his interest, he never strayed from his side of the street. Naturally, he made hundreds of excuses to justify this behavior. "It's too busy!" he said one day. "I love the plants on this side of the street!" he said another day, even though the only plant on this side of the street was a lone dandelion. "I don't drink coffee!" he said yet another day (although that one was actually true). As such, he managed to avoid the coffee shop for several years.

Life didn't seem to agree with that. One chilly autumn day, Xavier saw a bright orange barricade blocking his path on the sidewalk. Confused by the obstacle, he forced himself to approach a man with a hard hat and orange vest.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Xavier asked, brows furrowed.

"Can't you tell, pal? We're doing construction!" the man said, gesturing at the wet concrete. "Someone dropped a piano from this here apartment and it cracked up the pavement, so we need to repave it."

"How long is this going to take? I have places to go," said Xavier. He was only heading home and didn't need to be there any time soon, but he also didn't feel like being out in public. He also didn't anticipate the cold weather that day and was only wearing a T-shirt, so he was eager to snuggle up in his blankets and take a nap. His house was only two blocks away, a straight shot from his current location. "It could take a few hours, maybe a day or two in these weather conditions." Xavier's heart dropped. "Why don't you just use the other side of the street?"

"Uh no," Xavier said, shaking his head vigorously. "I'll stay on this side of the street, thank you very much. A few hours aren't so bad, and I kind of like this chilly weather! I guess it's cool to watch construction workers at work! And there's this little dandelion right here that's loads of fun to stare at. And it looks like it might rain on that side of the street. And..." The construction worker returned to what he was doing, leaving Xavier alone with no one to explain to except the dandelion and himself.

An hour went by, then two, then three, and slowly Xavier's stubbornness wore off as the sky began to dim. He fidgeted in place, and with every breath, a cold puff of smoke formed. His fingertips began to feel numb. His stomach growled. People who opted to walk to the other side of the street gave him strange looks, wondering why he was so stubborn to stay put. The construction worker even came back and handed Xavier a pair of work gloves, which did little to warm him up.

A thought passed through his head. I would've been home hours ago if I had just crossed the street. He shook his head. Wait, what am I thinking? This is fine. I can wait. I will stay on this side of the street. He looked across the street. The coffee shop emitted a warm light, and he could see smiling people inside. The promise of warmth was tempting, reminding him of how cold he was and how cozy he would be once when he reached home. But he wouldn't be home any time soon if he continued at this rate. A few minutes later, Xavier finally gave in. I'm going to cross the street! But as soon as I reach the end of the construction area, I'll cross back. No detours.

Xavier began to mentally prepare himself. He found the construction worker and thanked him, returning the gloves. The construction worker let out a slight chuckle. "Finally giving in, are you?" He said. "You made the right choice. Honestly, I don't understand why it took you that long. There's nothing wrong with crossing the street."

"I guess I've just always stuck to this side of the road...Maybe I'm just a little scared of something new," Xavier admitted sheepishly.

"Hm. Well, something new every once in a while ain't so bad. Good luck, kid." With that, the construction went back to work once more.

Xavier turned to face the street and took a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. He was going to give the other side of the street a chance for the first time since he moved there six years ago. His hair began to stand on his neck, and he couldn't tell if it was because he was freezing or because he was afraid of what he was about to do next. He looked both ways. The coast is clear, he thought to himself. He took his first step into the street, and soon enough he was met with the sight of the coffee shop, right in front of him.

Curiosity took the best of him, and Xavier found himself staring inside. The shop had a rustic aesthetic with its polished wooden furniture and the string lights hanging from the rafters. On every table was a glass vase of fresh pink and white flowers, and the walls were painted a creamy color like the creamers used for the coffee. Some of the booths had cushions that looked as soft as clouds, and a group of people were snuggling with blankets near the stone fireplace. The liveliness of the shop was stark in comparison to the near silence of the city street outside, where Xavier continued to lurk in the darkness.

As he was about to start walking home, a familiar bubbly voice cut through the air, and he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Hi Xavier!" said the voice. Xavier turned around, and standing there was a girl with twin braids and a bright smile. "It's me, Lydia! I'm in your Calculus class." Xavier recognized her almost immediately. She sat on the opposite side of the class from him and was well known for being active in school clubs and participating in class. They never interacted, since he was an adamant member of the go-home club who insisted on sitting in the back and focusing on his work alone, but he knew she was generally nice to everyone. On the other hand, he knew that she enjoyed hanging out with new people and trying new things, and he was afraid that would rub off on him.

"Hey Lydia..." he said nervously, scratching his head. His mind raced as he tried to find explanations for why he couldn't go into the coffee shop.

"I've never seen you around these parts before! Do you come here often?" Lydia asked, staring him in the eyes. He felt even more nervous.

"Well, I always take this route home from school! I usually walk on the other side of the street, but there was construction today," Xavier gestured to the ongoing construction across the street.

"What a coincidence! I always walk on this side of the street!" said Lydia. She then looked at the coffee shop, a shimmer in her eyes. "Have you never been to Café Vivienne then?"

Oh no, thought Xavier, and oh no indeed. Tell the truth, and Lydia would drag him inside to try it. Tell a lie, and Lydia would still drag him inside just to hang out. There was no escape. So, Xavier did the most sensible thing he could think of: running home. That idea didn't work, and Lydia snatched his arm before he could get very far.

"Xavierrrrrrr, come on! Let's go hang out! I'll buy you a drink!" she smiled at him as she led him to the door.

"But I've never been here before!" Xavier wailed, struggling to free himself from her surprisingly strong grasp.

"Well, then we can go together! There's nothing to be afraid of!" She opened the door, but Xavier promptly shut it and scrambled for another excuse.

"But I don't like their wooden chairs!"

"Then we can sit on one of their couches! They're quite comfy, you know." Lydia managed to pull the door open and nudge him inside, but he continued to cling to the door. The café customers began to notice the commotion and simply stared at the strange scene. Xavier was running out of options.

"But I don't like coffee!"

The whole café gasped, then grew silent. Lydia then whispered into Xavier's ear.

"Neither do I!" She giggled quietly. "I just drink tea."

Xavier stopped struggling. Now that he thought about it, he'd never tried tea from a café before. The only time he ever had tea was when he stole sips from his mother's cup as a child. He'd long forgotten how it tasted, but surely he only did so because it tasted good. Seizing her opportunity, Lydia successfully brought Xavier to one of the armchairs near the fire and sat him down. She left, then soon returned with two mugs of freshly brewed tea, which she gently set on the coffee table. She proceeded to sit on the chair opposite of him and eagerly waited for Xavier to try his drink.

Xavier picked up his cup and observed it for a while. It was warm in his hands, but it was more of a comfortable warmth than a painful one. His numb fingertips came back to their senses soon enough. The smell of ginger cinnamon emanated from the rich auburn tea. The nostalgic scent of pumpkin spice tea was mesmerizing and reminded him of autumn itself, with its bright orange and red leaves and warm blankets and cozy fireplaces and scarves and boots and sweaters and hats.

He hesitated awhile longer, then slowly lifted the cup to his lips to take a small, skeptical sip. Not long after, he was enveloped in the zesty flavor of the tea, the spiciness perfectly balancing out with the twang of the honey that Lydia added to the drink. He felt a pleasant warmth as he continued to drink, the rest of his body recovering from the cold he had stubbornly endured for three hours. Why didn't I try this sooner? He thought to himself. This is amazing!

"It's pretty good, isn't it," Lydia smiled as she watched Xavier chug it down. When Xavier finally forced himself to put the cup down, he nodded furiously. "I remember the first time I came here. I always passed Café Vivienne on the way home, but I didn't like coffee, so I'd never go in. I'd make excuses like 'I'm going home late due to clubs, so I don't have time' or 'the style of the place isn't my style' and whatnot. But one day, my grandma wanted to meet up here, and she wouldn't budge on the subject, so I reluctantly agreed. I hated the coffee, and I still do! But my grandma bought me pumpkin spice tea instead, and I fell in love with it! Kind of exactly how you did just now." She paused for a moment, and then laughed to herself. "I was such a fool. I had no idea tea existed before I came here, or that there were different types of pastries, or that there's a wide variety of cookies, etc., etc. Why would I have known? I always stayed inside my own little bubble. That's why ever since then, I've made an effort to try new things and broaden my horizons. So let's go discover some new things together, okay?"

Thoughts behind this piece:

In all honesty, this was not the direction I intended this story to go. I just wanted to write something that described tea and what makes it so majestic to me (I've never had a coffee before, hence the characters' hate for coffee). I think a poem would've been easy to write, but I wrote a poem last month, so I was aiming for variety. But then I thought, "how do I write a story about appreciating tea?" I originally thought about writing from the perspective of a frequent customer in their favorite coffee shop, describing the lively environment of the café and their observations about the other customers of the coffee shop and why they liked tea so much, but I couldn't figure out how to make a story out of that. In the end, I ended up writing from the perspective of someone new to coffee shops (which I relate to more, since I rarely visit them despite liking them) who doesn't like experiencing new things.

I think this is kind of appropriate, as I'm starting college tomorrow (at the time of writing this post). Something that I learned over COVID is that you never know when you'll get the chance to try something again, so may as well try it now (with discretion, of course). In my sophomore year, I remember telling myself that I'd be more outgoing in my interests junior year: I'd join more clubs, I'd hang out with friends more, I'd meet more people, I'd dance at the Guadalupe Mass, etc. And then COVID hit and interrupted all of those plans! Yeah that was highly inconvenient and stressful. However, it did make me appreciate my time with others more. So senior year, I was very outgoing and was open to trying a lot of new things, and it felt very nice! I made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun, and I even fell in love <3. I think being open to new things really improved my life, so I'm going to keep doing it going forward, and I encourage you to do the same! Is there anything you've always wanted to do, but you felt too shy or scared or nervous? There's no time like the present, so I say go for it! :D

Random side note, I also made the drawing! It's pretty basic but I like it.

Thanks for reading! Have a splendiferous day!

- Jonalie <3