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She shrugged off her coat and took her usual seat, mildly disappointed at the lack of the warm greeting she had grown accustomed to hearing upon entering the coffee shop. But she was met with the sound of footsteps before she had the chance to reach for her phone.
“You’re back!” Sophie exclaimed as Keefe emerged from behind the counter.
Despite his making fun of her for disappearing during finals week, her friend had somehow failed to mention that he was in fact leaving for the holidays.
“I am!” he ran a hand through his hair. “And before you say anything- it was sort of a last-minute plan. I was originally supposed to stay back.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Mhm. Sure. I believe you.”
“You’re actually insufferable.”
“Y’know, it’s okay to admit that you missed me, Foster.”
“So how long is it gonna be until you’re gone again?”
Keefe laughed. “Don’t you worry. I’m not going anywhere until the end of the semester. I might even stick around once school’s out.”
Sophie let out a long, dramatic sigh, earning another laugh from him.
“If I’m going to put up with you any longer, I think I deserve a coffee.”
“We’ve barely just started and you’re already nursing your addiction? Did you already forget our little conversation about New Year’s resolutions?”
He was met with nothing more than a glare.
“Sometimes I think you only come here for the coffee. Like, does our friendship not mean anything to you? After all we’ve been through, I figured- fine. But I’m getting this for you because I want to, and not because you can actually look really scary at times-”
“You work here! This is your job!”
~~~
“So, got any good classes this semester?”
Sophie was too distracted by the steaming cup in her hands to hear Keefe’s question. The walk from her dorm to the café in the peak of winter had been less than pleasant.
“Hey,” he waved a hand in front of her. “Earth to Sophie?”
Her head shot up, “Yeah?”
“Do you have any good classes this-”
“No. Don’t even get me started on my schedule. It’s terrible. I got stuck with two eight a.m. classes. Two! And one of them is a calc class! Why do I need to take a calc class! I’m a psych major! I don’t even have an issue with calc itself, but it’s about the principle! And the fact that it’s at eight in the morning! I barely made my ten a.m. classes last semester!”
“That sounds… rough.”
“It is! The fact that- why are you smiling?”
“My earliest class this semester is at ten.”
“I despise you.”
“Oh. And I have nothing on Fridays. Did I mention that?”
She punched his arm.
“If I wasn’t this cold, I’d pour my drink over your head.”
Keefe blinked.
“If you weren’t- Foster, did you walk all the way here!?”
She slowly sipped her coffee, avoiding eye contact.
“It is actually negative two billion degrees outside. What’s wrong with you?”
“Hey! I had a coat!”
“You’re still cold!”
“But I have coffee now! I’ll be fine!”
“So you left the warmth of your dorm to walk to a coffee shop in mid-January to get yourself a coffee to warm yourself up after deliberately getting yourself cold?” He quirked an eyebrow. “If you wanted to hang out, you could have just texted me instead of barging in at my place of work.”
“Speaking of which, how do you still have a job? You never seem to be doing it?”
“If I’m being completely honest,” Keefe looked around, and then whispered dramatically, “I think I’m just being paid to spend time with the owner’s son. I don’t think he has a lot of friends.”
“Just because I’m in the back doesn’t mean I’m deaf, Keefe. I know you haven’t entirely grasped the concept of object permanence yet, but better late than never.”
Sophie let out an amused laugh.
“I can see why.”
Dex groaned, “Hi Sophie. Once again, I can still hear you.”
She yelled out a halfhearted apology before turning back to Keefe.
“How do you know I’m not paid to hang out with you?”
“Where do I even start? If anything, you should be paying me for even getting to be in the same room as me. I mean-”
“Nevermind. Forget I asked.”
He grinned.
~~~
“How do you plan on getting home?”
“Hm?” Sophie didn’t bother taking her eyes off her book.
“Foster. Look outside.”
“What-oh.”
Upon looking through the window, she was instantly met with a flurry of snow. The ground had already been blanketed in white, and the sky showed no signs of lightening up.
“Yeah.”
“Did you, uh, happen to drive here?”
He rolled his eyes.
“You have got to stop coming to this place in sub zero temperatures without an escape plan.”
“I’m sorry all of us don’t bring our cars to college!”
“So am I.”
“You’re so dramatic!” she shot back. “My dorm is practically on your way home!”
“Yeah. I know. I just like messing with you.”
“One of these days, I’m going to throw something at you. And you’re going to deserve it.”
“As long as it’s not today. That hardcover looks like it would hurt. Is that the sequel to the one you were reading a few months ago?”
Her eyes lit up as she prepared to launch into a detailed description of her novel, “Yes! I can’t believe you remembered! It picks up right where-”
A loud crash interrupted her.
“Hey Keefe?” Dex called out.
“Yeah?”
“You remember that one jar of syrup on the top shelf that wasn’t completely closed?”
Keefe rolled his eyes and replied to Dex, “I’ll be there in a sec!” Then back to Sophie, “As much as I’d love to hear what you were about to say, duty calls. Tell me in the car?”