A cup of coffee

I ducked into the coffee shop, and appreciated again the interior. The store, named "The Smug Mug," was locally operated, and a dark little hole of a place. The windows were tinted, so it was fairly dark inside, no matter what the time of day. The counter to order and receive drinks was on the left immediately as I walked in the door; to my right, there were a handful of tables and chairs in the center of the room, a series of booths on the far wall, and a handful of couches and reading chair clustered around small coffee tables towards the back. As I said, it was very dark inside; there was no ambient lighting, except behind the counter, and a scattering of lamps around the room provided spot lighting at each table, booth, and chair. I ordered a cup of coffee (just a "regular mug," as it was labeled on their menu), and went to take a seat at one of the booths. The booths were plain and small, with benches on each side of a center table just wide enough for two people on each side to be able to squeeze in, but not so wide that it felt anything other than cozy with just one person per side. The backs to the booth were high, perhaps six feet high, and the side of the booth, the pieces of wood facing the room, also wrapped further around than one might expect, such that when approaching a booth, you couldn't even really see the people inside, you could only see whether or not there was anything on the table. Each booth had its own lamp, and every lamp in the place was different, a ragtag collection scraped out of garage sales and flea markets. I enjoyed this coffee shop because I had three distinct choices of environment; the quiet and personal booths, the comfortable and laid back couches and chairs, and the open and communal tables.

I slid into an unoccupied booth, pulled a book out of my bag, and began to read. The book I was reading, O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato," was quite interesting, and I was quickly completely immersed in it. I was thus completely oblivious to my surroundings, until a small plate containing two small cups was set down on my table. I looked up, and was surprised to see Riley sliding her way past the high-backed sides and into the booth. She sat down opposite me, and grinned. "Mind if I sit here?" she queried, and I shook my head. She looked at the back of the book, nodded her head as if in approval, and looked at the lamp, as if deep in thought. Without taking her eyes off the lamp, she reached down, and lifted a cup of espresso of the plate below her, and downed it. Not pausing, she picked up the other cup, and downed it too. The espresso gone, she continued to stare at the lamp. I looked at the lamp as well, trying to figure out if there was something interesting about the lamp that I was missing. Seeing nothing, I looked back at Riley. Now, she was staring at me, and there was something about her stare that was intense, steady, and downright unnerving. Riley had large brown eyes, and I swore I could detect a hint of a smile in them, despite her expressionless face. I could tell that this was some sort of test of wills, so I didn't back down; I continued to gaze right back at her, for what seemed to be almost a minute.

"Would you consider yourself a risk taker?" she suddenly asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know if I'd say that," I replied. "I don't mind taking risks, but I'm not usually very motivated to do so, for what it's worth." I was unsure where she was going with this.

"What motivates you?" she asked. She was now looking me up and down, as if sizing me up.

"Not much right now, but it could be anything. I'm pretty bored right now, with not enough to do, so I would say I'm motivatable. Not that that's a word." I was a little surprised I was even able to admit to myself the level of my apathy, but it was true.

"This is a travesty," Riley proclaimed, sliding to the side of the booth bench, and standing up. "Everyone should be motivated. You should be on fire, excited, all that garbage. Do you have plans tonight?" I shook my head. "Good. Meet me back here tonight, say, at 10. Is that cool?" I nodded. Riley smiley broadly. "You don't talk much, do you?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned heel and walked away.