Cafe du Noir

Beeeep. Jeremy’s alarm blared, abruptly awakening him from a deep sleep. He slammed his hand down hard on the clock and pulled himself out of bed. 7:30 as usual. By 7:50 he was out of the shower and by 8:00 he had left the house. The crisp morning air felt good in his lungs as he briskly headed towards his favourite coffee shop-Du Cafe Noir, a little shop which could really only fit three customers in at one time.

 He remembered discovering it last year on a dreary morning after Jenny had gone. He had been aimlessly wondering when it had started raining, Jeremy had simply needed shelter and ducked into the nearest doorway. A bell had dinged as he opened the door and was greeted by a smell of coffee and rich cakes and something else he couldn’t place his finger on. After ordering a black coffee and a sausage roll, Jeremy took the only seat near the only window.  He watched as people ran and walked quickly outside trying to avoid the rain... or maybe they were just busy, or looking for distractions. He was deep in thought when a girl, who must not have even been ten years old, placed a coffee in front of him. She smiled and thanked him then walked back into the kitchen. Jeremy stared after her unsure what to make of this bizarre waitress. Perhaps she was a dwarf?

 It wasn’t long before Jeremy’s visits became a weekly and then daily occurrence, he soon discovered that the young girl was one of Dave’s daughters. Dave owned the shop and his only staff was family, nobody seemed to mind this and Jeremy had grown to enjoy listening to the three girls stories about school and other things. Dave and his family had certainly pulled Jeremy out of his slump. Now over a year later, Jeremy felt as if he was family. Dave even began to ‘forget’ to charge him for his sausage roll however Jeremy felt guilty about this and insisted on paying. He would hate to be the reason as to why Dave went bankrupt; it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the shop was running on the bare minimum.

Jeremy walked through the shop door, feeling like he had come home. He headed over to his table only to stop dead in his tracks. There was someone else sitting there. He didn’t know what to do. It’s not like he had never seen another customer in here before but no customer had ever sat at that table before. He couldn’t very well walk up to this woman and ask her to give up her seat, so he settled for a table in the far corner. It was probably a onetime thing, after all this woman was dressed in a suit and on a fancy phone, she belonged in Starbucks.  Jeremy ate his sausage roll and drank his coffee as usual, though he felt slightly put off as he had no window to look through and he kept finding himself watching Starbucks Suit. He was fascinated with how busy she appeared to be, talking on the phone while focussing on something on her laptop. She didn’t even appreciate the window. What kind of horrible job could she have that she couldn’t even relax at this time on a Monday morning? Jeremy left a tenner on his empty plate, as he did at the start of every week and then left to go to work. As he passed the window he took another look at Starbucks Suit and he felt sorry for her. How unfulfilling her life must be.

By 3:00 that afternoon Jeremy strongly hated Starbucks Suit. How dare she take his table! He couldn’t believe he felt pity for her; she should have been banished from the shop. She probably didn’t even tip the family; she probably complained and forced Dave to make her coffee after coffee until it was up to her Starbuck standard. Jeremy left working firmly hoping to never see that horrible woman again. He was not that lucky. For two weeks Starbucks Suit was at his table, every morning, laptop out, phone on her ear and sipping on her coffee the entire time without giving a second glance to the window. Jeremy sat across the shop glaring every single morning, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. He really did hate this woman.

The third week came around and Jeremy made a vow to put his foot down. This woman had disrupted his entire life, he lost sleep over it and his performance at work was less than satisfactory due to the fact he couldn’t concentrate. Starbucks Suit had become an obsession and it was getting unhealthy.

Beeeeeeep. 6:30. Jeremy’s body clock was not used to this slightly earlier hour however he forced himself out of bed. He had to beat her to the shop and get his seat back. Jeremy rushed through his morning routine and was out the door by 6:50. When he reached the shop, Jeremy was surprised to see it was closed, that thought hadn’t occurred to him. Jeremy suddenly felt like an immature kid, racing to be the first in class. It was just a table... But it was HIS table. Jeremy waited in the cold for about 15 minutes before Dave opened the door to him. The table by the window looked so welcoming and Jeremy felt the relief of normality overcome him. He watched the window and enjoyed every bite of his sausage roll and every sip of him coffee. It was a beautiful day.

It had been about ten minutes before Jeremy spotted her bowling around the corner towards the shop. Was her phone attached to her ear? Jeremy couldn’t help feeling smug as she walked in, but this feeling was deflated as Starbuck Suit didn’t even glance at the table. Jeremy wasn’t really sure what he had expected... a public fight? Starbucks Suit was too sophisticated for that he supposed, he still couldn’t help but wonder what she even did.... A slamming down on his table woke Jeremy from his daydream; he looked up to see Starbucks Suit sitting down across from him, as if he was invisible. His mouth fell open and for a very long time he gaped. Who did she think she was? Had nobody taught her manners? Jeremy eventually recovered from the initial shock and proceeded to awkwardly clear his throat. She glanced over the top of her glasses. And smiled. She smiled. Jeremy was so mad, he found himself kicking his chair backwards and storming out of the shop. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the street that he realised he forgot to leave his Monday tip. Damn that vile woman.

For the rest of the week Jeremy continued to beat her to the shop only to have her sit down as if nothing was unusual about the situation. Jeremy really didn’t know what to do anymore, every morning she sat there and smiled at him as she talked on her phone and typed on her laptop. He didn’t even know her name. Before he knew it, Jeremy began to notice things about this woman. He noticed how sad her eyes looked, even when she smiled at him, he noticed the frown that always seemed to be on her face, he noticed the dark bags under her eyes. He wondered when she last had a good sleep.

The following week Jeremy decided to sit in the table back over the other side of the room because in all honesty he was sick of this petty game. She could have the window table if it cheered her up, however it turned out not to be this simple. Starbucks Suit simply sat at the table away from the window. He couldn’t get rid of this woman!

Before he knew it another week had passed. This game had been going on for months, Jeremy was so tired.  So that Monday when she sat down he smiled first and for the first time since this ridiculous situation had began he swore he saw a light in her eyes, just for a second before her focussed switched back to the task at hand. That night Jeremy slept like a baby. Hatred was a heavy anchor to carry and it seemed that by smiling at this woman he had managed to lift it.

The following morning when the woman entered the shop, Jeremy had already ordered and as she sat down he stuck out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Jeremy, I don’t think we have met”.