Chapter 2: The Café

I soft chiming sound goes off as I open the door to the Café and I'm instantly hit with the sweet aroma of coffee and breakfast foods. It brings me back to when I still lived with my parents now that I think about it.

The place looks pretty old school, like a diner from the 1960’s. The chairs and seats are a vibrant red color. The walls and ceiling are painted in a bright white and look incredibly smooth. The floor is hardwood from what I can tell, being a slightly lighter shade of brown. The decor and overall vibe of the place is what I believe people in the 50’s thought would be the future if that makes any sense. I don’t know, it’s kind a hard to really pinpoint what it looks like, but I like it nonetheless.

Looking around, it seems the place isn’t super packed. All I really see are old couples and a bunch of teens at the front eating. So it wasn’t hard to spot Rachel almost immediately, and that goes the same for her.

“Sophie! Over here!” She says as she waves her hand in the air with a big smile on her face. Rachel has long hair that she usually wears up in a ponytail or bun. Right now she decided today was a bun day, but she has some strands of hair going down the sides of her head, which to me personally looks really good on her. She is wearing this gorgeous, yellow sundress and denim jacket. I can’t help but notice she looks really hot in that outfit, but I can’t possibly say that to her face.

“Come on! What are you staring at, dummy?” She says to me after a couple seconds of me blankly staring at her without moving. “My fucking god, you idiot!” I say to myself. I have a bit of a habit of staring at people for too long, taking in all the detail like some kind of weirdo. I can feel a bit of a blush wash over my face, I’m so embarrassed.

“N-Nothing, sorry!” I answer as I try and refocus on the world around me. I quickly walk over to the small booth she’s sitting in and take the seat right across from her.

“How’s it going, girl? Been a hot minute since we last talked,” Rachel asks.

“I’m fine. Kinda all over the place mentally, but fine,” I reply as I reach for the menu. I quickly skim through the options, but nothing is really speaking to me right now.

“What’s got ya’ feeling all over the place? I mean, you just graduated!” Rachel asks as she too peruses the menu.

I… It’s nothing, no big deal…” I say. I have a feeling that if I vent about my loan problems, Rachel is just going to worry about me just as much as I have been worrying about it. So maybe I can get away with not talking about it for now.

But as I look through the menu, I can see in the corner of my eye a look of confusion and worry on her face. “Oh no, please let there be some kind of distraction!” I plead to whoever can hear me.

And remarkably, a distraction, all yet a brief one shows up! A waitress walks by us and flips a piece of paper over on her flip book. She’s a cute looking red head in a black colored uniform with the Café’s name on the left breast pocket.

“Good morning you two! How may I take your order?” She asks us both with an enthusiastic smile on her face.

“Ahhhh… what do you want, Rachel?” I ask.

“Hmmm… I’ll take the omelette with bacon bits, and a small coffee please!” Rachel orders. Damn, an omelette sounds really good right now. Maybe I should get the same thing as her?

“Great choice! Now what about you? What do you want Ma’am?” The waitress asks.

“I’ll just take the same thing as her… But hold the bacon bits! Also can I please have an orange juice?” I ask. I already had coffee this morning, and I’m not a huge fan of bacon.

“Great! We’ll have your orders out shortly!” The waitress said before walking away, presumably to the kitchen.

Now we’re left alone again, waiting for our food, but unfortunately Rachel has the same look as last time again. I look down at the table to distract myself from her, but it’s no use.

“Sophie… what’s bothering you?” Rachel asks. Her tone lowers and her smile shifts to that of a concerned frown.

“It’s nothing… you don’t have to worry about it,” I reply, hoping to move the conversation away from this topic. But no matter what I do, I can still feel her eyes dart into my soul, trying to figure out what’s wrong.

“What do you mean? You can tell me anything, I promise!” She replies back. She seems very eager to help me, and at this point it’s becoming a losing battle to try and hide this from her.

But before I can decide what to do next, Rachel grabs my hands and holds them in her own, lightly squeezing them and rubbing her thumbs across my knuckles. Her touch feels warm and comforting, that feeling spreading all the way across my body as I can almost feel what she's going to say next.

“Please, please let me help you Sophie… At least let me hear you out,” She says with a softer tone than normal. I’m at the brink of tears right now, but this girl is just so sweet I can’t hide my problems anymore. God I’m such a mess, but she deserves to know what I’m going through.

“It’s… about my debt. It’s 100k and I haven’t even thought of the repayment plan yet and it’s been taking over my entire morning, but…” I say in a quite frantic tone. I can feel myself breaking down as I speak, but the only thing keeping me grounded is her. Her eyes and her soft smile keep me tethered to reality for some reason.

“Oh my! That’s awful! How did you get it to go that high?” She asks, gripping my hands tighter.

“I don’t know… I think I was just stupid and now I’m paying the price hehehe…” I respond. Suddenly, I feel Rachel yank my hands closer to her chest. I look up and see a face of anger.

“You are not stupid! None of this is your fault! You did what you did to pay for college, and that’s ok!” Rachel almost shouts at me, but not in a commanding and mean way, but almost reaffirming. I honestly don’t know what to say anymore, so I just but my head down and tear up a little. Not out of sadness, but in joy or relief of someone telling me things are going to be (somewhat) alright.

“T-thanks… I needed that…” I say in a muffled, almost groggy voice as I let all my emotions out. God I really am a mess! Maybe I should get some therapy or something.

“Hello ladies! Here’s your orders! Do you need anything else?” The waitress says. I sit back up, face most definitely red from embarrassment and me being overwhelmed to see what she brought. The omelettes look absolutely beautiful and hopefully just as tasty. She places both plates and glasses on the table, forcing me to sit up straight.

“Thank you so much! Oh, and I’ll be paying for both orders if you don’t mind,” Rachel says as she pulls out her wallet from her purse.

“That’ll be fine, Ma’am! Have a wonderful meal!” The waitress says before walking away once more.

“Rachel… you didn’t have to do that for me…” I say as I rub my eyes. I probably scuffed some of my makeup, but at this point it doesn’t matter.

“No! I insist! I’m not sure how I will help, but I am going to help you with this no matter what!” Rachel says. I can’t with this woman, but god is she just amazing. I feel so bad for having all of this be somewhat pushed onto her, but it does help that she’s willing to do all of this for no benefit of her own. All I can really say is thank you before I start scarfing up my meal.

Some time goes by as Rachel and I eat and talk about my debt problem. I want to say we spent a solid half hour just talking. The omelettes were as good as they looked, and I for sure am going back for more in the future. But right as we finish our food, Rachel proposes another activity for us to do today.

“You know, there is a bar close to your apartment that just opened a couple weeks ago,” Rachel says with a bit of slyness in her voice.

“A bar? You’re not suggesting something I’m thinking of, right?” I reply.

“Come on! It’ll be a nice treat for you before you go back to the job search! Besides, maybe you’ll find someone there to make contact with?” Rachel argues.

A bar visit doesn’t sound bad at all. In fact, I haven’t been to one since I graduated from college a month ago. But I’m not too sure I want to get wasted with the financial baggage I have right now. What if something bad happens? I wonder if I’m too much of a worrywart at times, and I guess this is just an example of it.

“Hmmm, ok, I won’t **** you to go if you don’t wanna. But the offer still stands if you want to hit me up later tonight,” Rachel says before getting up from her seat. I watch her walk past me, heading to the front entrance of the Café. I’m so conflicted on what I want to do, but something deep inside of me not only wants to make Rachel happy, but also make myself feel distracted by all of this.

“Fuck it!” I say to myself. I get up and walk back up to Rachel right before she opens the door. I grab her shoulder and spin her around like a Disney Princess.

“Let’s go to that bar tonight!” I say with a bit too much confidence, sounding a bit corny for my liking. But it’s all worth it to see her radiant smile beam at me. She pulls me in for a hug and jumps up and down, giggling like a school girl.

“I’ll be at your house by 8! We’ll take an Uber together, alright?” She asks, and I simply nod in response.

We say our goodbyes and I head back home. As I drive, I plan out exactly what I’m going to wear that evening, with the only thing on my mind being Rachel. And maybe she’s right, maybe I’ll find someone or something to push me into the right direction!