Burned Tongues and Spoiled Coffee

Sipping her hot, black coffee, Jane winced: she’d burned her tongue again. She’d been getting a lot better about not burning her tongue lately, but sometimes she got distracted by something and forgot the three and a half minutes of waiting time she usually prescribed herself. Nursing her sore tongue tenderly between her teeth, Jane looked toward the door of the coffee shop; she was waiting for someone, and he was late.



Her preoccupation in wondering where he was is what had distracted her from caution in the first place before her poor taste buds were scorched. It was good coffee of course, and Jane looked morosely down at her mug; another cup she wouldn’t be able to enjoy properly. Against her will, Jane felt irritation rise in her stomach.



“Where is he?” She thought to herself.



Over the years their friendship, Mitch had always been extremely reliable, being the obsessive compulsive over-acheiver that he was; (quite the opposite to Jane’s natural tendancies.) The last few weeks had been different though, and this was the third time in a month that Mitch was late meeting Jane for their weekly, summer coffee dates. As the irritation grew a pit in her stomach, Jane continued to sulk as her glance moved to the front of the cafè every few minutes. She idly turned the pages of her magazine and absent-mindedly reached for her coffee cup again.



“Crap.” She exlaimed under her breath, wincing. She’d forgotten her burned tongue, again.



~~~~~~~



“Josh, we’re almost out of soy milk. Go get some from the cooler in back please.” Aaron said while filling up a cup of coffee for a customer. Aaron’s coffee establishment received a steady stream of customers everyday, despite the many other cafès and Starbucks located in the city’s business district. And of course, there were several regulars loyal to Aroma of Grace, including Jane, Aaron’s niece.



Josh returned to the counter bringing two cartons of soy milk with him from the back. It was almost the weekend - they’d use up both carton’s in five days easily. Thanking the latest customer and giving him his change along with his latte, Aaron looked around the shop quickly. At a small booth close to the espresso counter Jane sat facing the front of the shop, her brow furrowed and her tongue stuck between her teeth. Aaron smiled to himself; the poor girl must have burned her tongue again. Taking a rag with him, Aaron walked out from behind the counter.



“Josh, keep an eye on the customers for me, we have a bit before the lunch rush.”



The kid smiled in response, and planted himself at the register as he waited for another customer. (Along with a Sudoku puzzle book to keep himself occupied.)



Aaron walked around the cafè, clearing and wiping down tables. As he passed Jane’s booth, he smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder in an affectionate squeeze. To his surprise, she jumped as though startled.



“Oh, sorry Aaron. I guess I was a little distracted.” Jane smiled up at her uncle, but he didn’t fail to the notice the still present furrow between her brows, nor the quick clance she made toward the door. Glancing at his watch, Aaron began to understand what was bothering his niece. Mitchell was late again, and he knew Jane had no idea why.



“You okay honey?” Aaron asked.



“Yah…yah, I’m alright. I burned my tongue again.” Jane replied, wrinkling her nose and glaring at her coffee cup. Aaron smiled, she was so much like her mother, his sister, Anne. Flipping another page of her magazine, Jane sighed and cast another quick glance toward the door. When he saw a cloud was growing on her face, Aaron’s smile faded to a look of amused sympathy. Looking up at him and seeing his face, Jane’s green eyes flashed slightly.



“What? What are you looking at?”



“Come on Jane, what’s really the matter?” Aaron asked as he manuevered into the seat opposite. “I know that you know it’s not just your burned tongue.”



Jane stalled a moment, picking at her cinnamon scone. Finally, she burst out in frustration.



“Where is he?!? There’s something weird about him this summer Aaron, ever since the end of the school year. It’s getting really annoying, I’m tired of him always being late. I feel like I never see my best friend anymore. And yes yes, I know that’s not completely true. But it still bugs me. Why do boys have to be so infuriating?”



Aaron smiled sympathetically as he reached over to briefly pat her hand. Jane’s stormy face softended a bit as slow tears began to well in her eyes, though she tried to hide them as she pulled her mug closer and stared down into it. For himself, Aaron knew exactly why Mitch was acting differently that summer; the poor kid was in love with Jane, and had been for years. Aaron knew the changes in Mitch had - in actuality - begun long before the start of the summer; Jane had just been too self-absorbed to notice. (Recovering from the end of a three-year relationship can do that to a girl. Especially when she gets dumped the week before prom.) Aaron also knew that even though Jane cared about Mitch much more than she acted, they were feelings she wasn’t about to admit to herself, much less to anyone else.



Not wanting to embarrass Jane, Aaron waited until she had gained control of her emotions before asking his next question.



“Have you tried talking to Mitchell about it?”



Jane shook her head.



“Does he even know you’re upset?”



Jane laughed dryly. “How could he? He’s never around long enough to notice.”

“Well,” Aaron began, rubbing his chin in cautious consideration, “maybe you should try talking to him. Being silent and passive aggressive obviously isn’t working.”



Aaron eyes as he looked at his niece were loving and gentle, but he knew someone needed to be honest with his niece who, like most seventeen year-olds, was rather selfish and oblivious to most of the world around her. Sure, he loved her and was very proud of who she was. He knew God had given her a good head on her shoulders, she just hadn’t learned how to use it yet. He didn’t want to see either her or Mitch ruin their friendship for simple lack of life experience and wisdom



After hearing Aaron’s last statement, Jane’s head had jerked up in surprise, but she was silent as she thought about what her uncle had said. It bugged her, she didn’t like thinking that maybe her reaction wasn’t reasonable.



Jane felt an urge within her to ask her uncle if he really thought she was being passive aggressive, if she really was handling the situation badly, but something inside her just wouldn’t allow the question to begin on her lips. Before she could master her anxiety over being wrong, the bell on the door to Aroma of Grace jingled the announcement of a new customer. Looking towards the door quickly, Jane saw Mitch walk through the door. Aaron looked over his shoulder when he saw Jane’s reaction and wasn’t surprised to see Mitchell there. Getting out of the booth seat he squeezed his niece’s shoulder again, whispering quickly in her ear, “just think about what I said, ok? We can talk more tomorrow.”



Jane nodded and smiled at him, but she was starting to nervously shift everything around on the table top. She couldn’t stand it to let Mitch know that she’d been so impatient while waiting for him. Doing her best to make it look like she hadn’t seen him come in yet, Jane took another sip of her coffee, (thankfully it was no longer hot enough to burn,) and rifled as calmly as she could through the fashion magazine in front of her. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mitch approach the counter and greet Josh, ordering his usual americano with extra almond amaretto flavoring.



Soon Mitch had his drink ordered and paid for, and saying a quick hi to Aaron he made his way over to the booth he and Jane always shared when they got together for coffee. Jane kept her eyes focused on the magazine in front of her, though she really had no idea what the article she was open to was talking about. Only when Mitch was sitting down across from her did she look up.



“Hi.” Jane said, sipping her coffee again.



“Hey.” Mitch responded, clasping his hands together and looking back towards the espresso counter quickly to see if Josh had finished his americano yet. He hadn’t. As Mitch’s head was turned slightly away, Jane took the opportunity to study her friends profile, and she was taken by surprise by the intensity in his blue eyes when he turned back to look at her, though he quickly tried to hide it. She looked down at her magazine again quickly, though she couldn’t fail to notice the nervous way her heart was pounding. She hated the pit of irritation and now anger that continued to grow in her stomach. She thought that once Mitch arrived she would feel better, but now she actually felt worse. Deep down she knew her uncle was right in that she needed to talk to Mitch about how she was feeling, but she didn’t know how to go about it. Pressure began to build in her and she knew her face was starting to turn red. She wouldn’t be able to hide her feelings from Mitch now.



“Clive Mitchell Bennett!” She finally burst out, her green eyes flashing and once again filling with tears. “I’ve been waiting for you for half-an-hour. Where were you?” Taken aback, Mitch just stared at her in surprise, before his own face hardened into a look of confusion and anger.



“Why’d you call me that? You know I hate being called by my first name. And you didn’t exactly make it sound better but using the whole thing, none too quietly either.” Mitch said, leveling an accusatory glare at his best friend, though he felt bad the minute he saw the tears in her eyes. Jane tried to hold the tears back, wiping at the ones that had already slipped down her face.



“You still didn’t answer my question.” She said pointedly.



“I’m sorry, I was just running late. It’s not like you’ve never been late to meeting me for coffee before. When you were dating Matt I knew to never expect you to be on time for anything that we had planned.”



Jane’s neck stiffened, and she immediately pulled her hands off the table as her tears dried up in anger as Mitch’s words and the mention of her ex-boyfriend cut through her defenses of decency. For himself, Mitch was immediately ashamed of what he said, but he was growing too angry to really care anymore. The two friends glared at each other for a minute, but were interrupted before either could say anything by Josh arriving at the booth with Mitch’s espresso. Jane took the opportunity while Mitch was turned to thank Josh to gather her magazine from the table top and stuff it in the bag next to her on the booth seat. Mitch turned back in surprise to see her shouldering the bag strap and sliding out of the seat.



“Wait, where are you going?” He said, his eyebrows slanting in confusion, his eyes softening and losing their angry glint.



“You obviously didn’t think much about getting together with me today, so I’m just going to make it easier for you and leave so you can enjoy your coffee alone.” Jane said, indignantly tucking a stray bang behind her ear. “I was perfectly prepared to enjoy my coffee by myself today, and I would have, if I hadn’t burned my tongue. God knows I’ve had to get used to it lately, as you’re hardly ever on time anymore. I’d hate to spoil your coffee too.”



Bewildered, Mitch sat stunned for a moment as Jane hurried toward the cafè door, quickly waving goodbye to Aaron and Josh as she did so. Hearing the bell jingle over the door cut through to Mitch’s senses and he slid out of his seat as fast as he could and hurried after Jane. Running out the door, he looked around, dismayed to see Jane’s back already receding quickly as she rode away on her bike.



Shoulders slumped and hands in his pockets, Mitch made his way back to his booth, ignoring the glances cast his way by other Aroma of Grace customers. Sitting down heavily at the booth and wrapping his hands around his mug, Mitch wished fervently that he hadn’t mentioned Matt to Jane. He’d known it would only make her angry, and it’s not like thinking about Matt made him all that happy either.



Mitch sighed with discontent, then lifted his mug to his lips and sipped. He quickly jolted and muttered an expletive under his breath. He’d burned his tongue.