Part 10: Coffee-o-mancy
[Needs editing]
There was always much to be told about a man's coffee order and that had what spiked their later afternoon chat. The group of five women waited eagerly at their table by the entryway for the blond hulk to place his order, their ears keenly tuned to his hoarse voice as he spoke at the counter, "A grande, extra hot, decaf soy latte with extra foam, please..."
Jassi, their office admin, gagged and Tanya the IT intern twisted her face with unforgivable disgust as Meera said, "Awh! So gay...Wrong city Blondie..."
"I just hope he doesn't put his pinkie up when he sips from his cup" Jassi added and that triggered a fresh bout of laughter from the women.
Geet sat with her back to both the door and the counter and so she relied on the other women to do justice to their prime view seating by giving her a fair description of the customers who came in for their late afternoon caffeine fix.
"It's really hard these days to find a coffee order that stands for a man's man..." She said adjusting her ring and wincing at once, "But I still say going out on a coffee date is rather a revelation that most women dismiss and instead shoot for the big disappointment dinners. Only to feel embarrassed and alone at the end of it..."
"Who are you and what did you do with my friend?" Meera chimed, shaking her head with disbelief.
Tanya hooted low, "Well, we have the date doctor in the house..."
"Please!" Geet took another sip and waved off the attention that she didn't expect to gather.
"I think Geet is right" Jaasi agreed, "Small things about a coffee order can surely speak a lot about the person"
"Notice if they add honey or sugar or Organic brown sugar and that should tell you if he is a tree hugger, casual about his food or..." Geet quoted with her left hand and added, "your own neighborhood lobbyist for Organic foods"
"And if the guy orders soy, then run the other side out the door...You can never tell which side those men are batting for" Meera contributed holding her stomach as a deep tickle of a laughter started in her belly.
"Have you folks checked out this 'What does your coffee say about you' poster?" Geet, pulled up the webpage on Meera's phone and passed it around for their next course of amusement.
The others giggled and tittered too when Geet felt partly drawn to the silly humor in the conversation, a small smile on her lips, when another side of her still felt lost, immersed in a losing battle with the part of her body that had turned red as a tomato by then.
She'd perhaps always known that no zing could take away what had come to be in that moment. It was surprising her body would come alive with a simple touch and how mutinous it can be over her sanity and reclaim all of her slavish senses to have them all chanting with a maddening need. That it wasn't all dead and needless as a scattered twig she had once thought it to be.
There had been no guilt whatsoever. Even as she had rummaged every moral fiber that she was made of, she couldn't find one that would wipe away her contentment that her body could react in ways she hadn't known before.
It felt darker that it was brought about by a man who wasn't her husband. Perhaps, this was the dark side of her soul that she hadn't acknowledged yet. As long as she didn't put words to define what or why or by whom, she was safe in the dismissal of that formless presence she felt deep inside. It was only a matter of time, she told herself, before she would bring those proscribed feelings down to their knees. New York was to blame; there was a strange impulse in its air. Or perhaps in the water, that made her into this other woman she couldn't bring herself to identify with.
"Shush..." Meera hushed their laughs and Jassi's face flushed. "Oh! Shit" Tanya muttered as they all collectively brought her back from the reveries she often slipped into off late. It took her a moment to notice a man in a familiar green shirt walk up, from two tables away from their own, to the counter with a coffee mug in his hands.
Even as she was turning, she heard him order, "I will have a large black coffee, please..." It struck her that same instant that he didn't bother with the fancy coffee shop diction and she knew he wasn't feigning ignorance to that part either.
Just then she remembered another article she'd read about coffee order predictions.
Large black: You are a boss. You probably ride to work on a tiger. Nobody knows your middle name.
How true...She wondered as her hand shot up to the ring, but in a moment of deliberation she brought it back to hug her coffee cup on the table. The aching persisted and now it had morphed into something she failed to recognize and so, she instead focused on figuring if he had been in the shop before them and heard their ruckus of a conversation. She racked her brains and couldn't come up with an image of him following them or entering through the door. Turning her head back to the women at her table, she met their caught-in-the-act looks, when Meera prompted again, "Let's get going..."
Heels cluttered on the tiles and they scuttled towards the door without a word. But once they had reached the last crossing that took them to the side of their office building, her hand felt reasonably empty with the exception of the coffee cup in the other hand. She'd not carried her purse and had instead tucked her lone credit card into the pocket of her grey skirt with which she'd paid at both Zing and the coffee shop. That left the mobile phone which she was aware was safely left on her office desk, next to desk phone. It could have been the wind on her face that felt heavy and coercive, secretly forcing her to go the other way than the one she was taking. But she was certain it wasn't the wind, though she also knew she couldn't be honest and acknowledge there was something more meaningful at play. She saw the lights switch from amber to the green walking man symbol and that split second was all she needed to make up her mind.
"Umm! Meera..." She held onto Meera's arm before she could take a step onto the road, "I think I might have left my mobile phone back in the shop. I will have to go check just in case..."
"I have a meeting in another 10 mts. I have to go...Sorry" Meera spoke in a hurry as she sped back to cross in time before she lost the signal. She didn't bother explaining that she didn't need Meera's company in that daunting task of wanting to strike up a conversation with him. As annoyingly shy as she was, she was sure she would never bring up the topic she wanted to broach in Meera's presence.
There wasn't a plan so to speak, but her heels tapped on the hard concrete of the side walk with an equal measure of reluctance and an eerie anticipation, she couldn't fully understand. And so when her eyes caught him striding towards her in the opposite direction, she didn't know what or how she was going to chat him up and she nearly let him pass her. But it was just her luck when he looked up from his mobile phone when they were about to cross each other and after a short beat of a knowing look at her, he began coughing loudly. Clearly, the hot liquid had gone down the wrong tube and that was as good enough a reason as any to reach out when he'd stopped right beside her from the discomfort he was feeling then.
All her relief from not having to come up with a lame excuse for a talk was short lived when she studied that his gaze flew somewhere to the left of her face. He was still coughing when she saw the beginnings of a faint smile kick up his lips.
Shit! Her cheeks heated up with a flush.
Why hadn't she thought about the part that may be he was more perceptive and not so indifferent as he seemed?
"Nice ring..." She heard him say even as her heart dropped all the way from the 63rd floor.
Edited by 6th.Element - 12 years ago
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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