Café Encounters

[Jihae]

MOONSTRUCK ★

"Two truffle mochas with extra whipped cream?"
"That's for us!"
"Here you go ladies! Enjoy."
To the two ladies that continue to frequent Moonstruck just to see a barista's face, please just enjoy your drinks.

It was another busy day at Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe, a medium-sized, royal blue adorned, chocolate ridden cafe located in the very heart of Portland Oregon. Joshua Kim had been working at this bustling establishment for over 4 years, but just being inside it, handling all the mochas and lattes, had always been a new experience each time he walked through those polished glass doors. The cafe itself was based around rich and fine chocolate hence the name, he himself just handled the drinks and gave out the chocolate his coworkers made late at night.

"That'll be $2.50. Thank you so much!"

Joshua loved his job. He loved the truffles, the tumbled hazelnuts, the gourmet hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. He loved it all. He never thought that chocolate would be his calling, but it was, and he was very content with the job he had. The cafe was adorned with expensive furnishing despite the price of menu, the chairs leathered and comfortable, the tables a dark wood and polished with Lysol. The walls were an opaque beige, every so often a large royal blue stripe was painted vertically to give the room a sense of majesty and formality. At the front of the store was where Joshua was the most familiar with. The display fridge just lined up with chocolates of different textures, sizes, color, and decoration. Each and every day he came in and something was always different, the surprise of new chocolates and new drinks to create always kept him on his toes, which he loved to bits. The job was everything he had hoped for.

"Excuse me, but if you wanted a picture of me, you can just ask. I don't bite!"

Except for the people. He understood that he was gifted with Aphrodite's genes of beauty, but he absolutely despised it. He wasn't one to flaunt his face or show off his body, but the attention he had been receiving made him look like some Alex from Target wannabe. Despite all this attention, being nice to people was always a priority. He loved people, he loved recognition, just not this kind of recognition. He'd much rather prefer getting compliments on his drinks and chocolate rather than how cute his smile was or how nice his hair looked today. He just didn't quite get it. How people could be so infatuated with visuals rather than talent. This sort of mindset, he believed, didn't classify him as negative or closed off, it was just the opposite. He loved seeing other people's views of the world and the society around it, even though the views may be uncomfortable to him. He would be lying if he said he didn't like those compliments about his looks, but he just didn't like it when it was the only thing people saw about him.

"Keep up the good work Joshua! You're doing really good with the customers today!"
"Thank you so much!"

Those were the compliments he had wanted to receive since Day 1. The appraisal of his work made him go home feeling satisfied. It was a long and busy day, continuously meeting regulars and petite women wearing clothes that belong on a tumblr page. On the occasion, a cute guy would stop by, grab a drink, and leave without another word, making him feel more curious about what he wanted in life. His hours consisted of the same old thing. Greet people, take their order, create the order with sublime perfection, give the order, receive the payment, then greet them again as they leave Moonstruck. He loved the simplicity of it all yet at the same time he wanted something a bit different. He was constantly chilled out by the music that played throughout the cafe, the tune balancing out his inner bubbly excitement.

"Would you like to try our new drink today? It's called a Milk Mayan Cocoa, and what it is, is this really delicious cocoa with our Mayan chocolate. It's steamed with milk and if you want, we can put a little bit of whipped cream with chocolate shavings for you." He offered cheerfully with a smile and a wink. It was always his pleasure to serve the people he tended to with a happy attitude. He knew nothing else but to treat people with utmost joy and respect.

"That sounds amazing! Let me try one."
"You got it miss!"
New samples were a bit different, he guessed.

ambience.

————————————
joshua. twenty-three. barista.
————————————

 

[CrystalTears]

"If I could see, if only for a second, I'd want to see you first."

There were a few things that were consistent no matter what day of the week it was, no matter how much the clock happened to be.

The sounds of steps against something solid, whether it be the sounds of gravel being crushed underneath his weight or something softer like his socks against the carpet. Then there was the sound of people. Bustling busy in the streets, chatting and muttering, screaming into phones or children begging for a toy. And lastly there was the everlasting sound of a tap. It didn't hold a certain rhythm, it was rather sporadic and unpredictable. It was the sound of Ethan's cane. The one that constantly tapped against the ground, the ever changing sound of the "tap" changing depending on the surroundings, giving off the enviroment like how a bat located prey in the dark. He had heard this sound for nineteen years already. In more ways than one, Ethan was grateful he was born blind. It would be sadder to know what he didn't get to see, to miss it. It was hard to "miss" something that he didn't even know. No doubt the world was a beautiful aesthetically pleasing place to the eyes, Ethan was far from the type to cry over spilt milk.

Being blind gave him many advantages as well. He learned the streets better, he had to in a way. Getting lost was almost impossible if he kept to the streets he knew, turning into regulars at a couple of small cafés and restaurants. However there was one small chocolate café that he visited every day. It was more of a routine at this point. Moonstruck Chocolate Café. There was something so satisfying sitting in the small building enjoying a cup of chocolate. The employees were great and the guests as well, the atmosphere was always so welcoming and pleasing. Ethan always wished he could see the café, just a small peek at the building that was filled with love for the chocolate drinks that were being served, which were always worth whatever the price tag said.

Ethan stopped when the familiar scent of melted chocolate entered his nostrils, turning around to face the sweet alluring scent before pushing the door open. The chiming of a bell welcomed him into the little shop, the bustling of the busy streets were deafened by the walls the moment the door closed behind him. His ears instantly felt a bit more at ease now that he was able to hear his surroundings better. With practiced ease he guided himself over to the counter, tapping his cane against the floor to listen for anyone in a line. It was still early, so it seemed as if there was no line here yet, but he knew all too well how often there would be a consistent line of two to three people for hours. Even if it was a small café, it was highly popular, and Ethan couldn't blame a single soul for getting addicted to the drinks they served, he was no better after all.

He placed the cane up against the counter and shrugged his jacket back onto his shoulders properly, feeling the soft fabric of it with his fingers. It was mostly how he chose clothes, if not Ash or Minnie did it for him. He trusted their fashion senses, somewhat. "Hello." Ethan greeted the barista of the day with a kind smile. "Could you recommend me a drink today?" Ethan mostly always ordered like this. The recommendation of whoever was working at the counter that day, it wasn't exactly the easiest to read the menu. However he had never been disappointed with anything he had gotten served before, and Ethan was sure that he wouldn't be today either. "Would it be too much to ask of you to escort me to a free table? Or at least point me in the right direction?" He was blind, so most people were very forgiving when Ethan walked up to an occupied table, but personally Ethan found it a bit embarrassing.

Having someone escort him over to a free table or tell him where a table was available was always help that was appreciated, even if Ethan wanted to be as independent as he could. Probably why he walked alone, despite multiple people he knew not approving of it.

"Blind Butterfly"

Ethan Price

19 years old - Florist - Student

 

[Jihae]

☁ joshua kim

I'm so far from perfect.
You still loved me when I so far from deserved it.
If I'm so brave, why does looking you in the eye take every ounce of my courage?

Even when the sprinklers cried on us we didn't mind,
We had the rest of our lives to be dry.
So we stayed until the edges of the sky turned light.

And I whispered in your ear that this moment is already a poem, and even if that moment meant nothing to the universe,
You're the closest thing to God I've got.

I'm so far from perfect.
So far, it's been worth it.

@CrystalTears

Hearing the sweet chime of the bell perked him up from behind the counter. "Hi, welcome to Moonstruck Cafe!" Joshua called out, trying to take a look at the person who had just walked in. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat seeing who it was.

Another one of Joshua's coworkers was about to take the sweet blind boy's order until Joshua rushed over to stop him. "No, no no, Tyler, I've got this one." He quickly rushed over to the cash register, looking at the teen with bright eyes. He didn't know the boy's name or anything about him, but just from his quick judgment Joshua liked everything about him, especially his naive and cherubic personality every time he walked through those doors.

"What can I get for you this time?" He responded, his wide smile reaching to his voice. Hearing that the teen wanted a recommendation, his mood immediately peaked, suddenly talking as if he had won the lottery.

"Well what we've got today is this really good drink I tried before the cafe opened this morning. It's this really yummy Milk Mayan Cocoa, and what it is, is this really awesome hot chocolate drink that's made from our rich Mayan chocolate. The milk is steamed, and if you want, I can put cool and soft whipped cream and milk chocolate shavings for you. Would you like that?" He was a bit more descriptive with selling the new drink, trying to give the cute blind boy a bit of help imagining what it looked like.

"You don't have to pay for it right now. Do you mind if you just stand over here for a bit and wait?" Joshua reached over the counter, grabbing the regular by the shoulders with a gentle touch and moving him a bit over to the right, just to clear the way for the other customers waiting to order. Joshua noticed that he was a bit taller than the young man, that little fact already proving that he needed to take care of him with pure sincerity as much as he could. "I'll escort you to a table once I'm done with your drink. Please wait for me."

For some unfathomable reason, Joshua rushed to make the drink, his excitement over the moon. Pouring the contents into a medium sized, white porcelain cup perfectly, he sprinkled a little bit of milk chocolate shavings into the drink, as well as the whipped cream, before adding more of the shavings on top. He put the filled cup in a square white plate, the sweet smell of the recommendation bringing him pure happiness. Before walking to the regular, he quickly grabbed two medium sized chocolate bars from behind the fridge rack, both of his hands full and diligent. With a sweet smile, he walked over to the teen, standing right beside him to give him a gentle nudge. "Alright, I'm here, grab onto me."

He waited for the cute blind boy to grab onto him before walking cautiously to an empty table for two, trying not to spill the drink. On the way to the table, he looked at the grandiose, polished, and wooden grandfather clock at the far right of the room, the time signaling 2:30PM. He smiled to himself, only wondering if it was fate or some strange coincidence that he would be on break.

"Alright, we're here!" He chimed, leading the teen to his chair before sitting right across from him, wiping a finger against the glass table to remove a fingerprint another customer had left. "Well, I'm on break for half an hour so you don't mind if we hang out for a bit, do you?" He looked curiously at the boy, passing over his drink and chocolate bars. It didn't make sense to him that the regular would be called a boy in his mind, knowing that he could possibly be 2-4 years younger than him. Joshua leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and looking at the 'man' sitting across from him. A faint rose blush rose to Joshua's cheeks, finding that he was kind of attractive. He cleared his throat, smiling and leaning forward a bit. "You've been here every single day, but I have no clue what your name is! It's only polite for me to know, right? What's your name? So I can stop calling you 'Cute Blind Boy' in my head. I'm Joshua."

 

[CrystalTears]

"If I could see, if only for a second, I'd want to see you first."

The voice that replied to his own request was familiar, yet unfamiliar. He couldn't recall whose voice it was, but he knew that it belonged to someone he might have overheard talking before or perhaps he had taken his order once or twice. Ethan was a regular and remembered most of the employees' voices like someone would recognize a face, but for some reason it was hard for him to remember if they knew each other. Past acquaintance or not, he enjoyed his voice. Ethan would "judge" people like others would judge how he looked. There were voices that weren't too pleasant to listen to, voices that sounded like someone was scratching the surface of a blackboard with their nails, and then there were the more pleasant and smooth voices. It was little to go by to really judge someone by, but Ethan always listened closely.

This particular voice was. . . pleasant to say the least. He could feel the enthusiasm melting over into the voice, the way happiness seemed to dominate the tone and choices of words. It was like music to his ears, incredibly pleasing in comparison to the loud sounds of cars and people he had just been surrounded by. He was well aware that it wasn't a thing to be able to "hear" someone's smile, but this were one of those times he sort of just knew that whoever he was talking to, was smiling. It spread over to Ethan's own lips as the explanation of the drink ended, imagination already giving him a very good picture of how it looked. "I would love it. It sounds wonderful." Ethan replied, stopping himself from digging into his jacket's pocket when he was told he could pay for it later. The grip on his shoulders guiding him a bit more to the side, which he kindly allowed to guide him.

The hands on his shoulders were warm --probably from handling the warm drinks-- and a little bigger than his own perhaps. His fingers seemed more slim and longer, the grip showing off a tiny bit of strength in the barista, though the grip in itself didn't hurt at all. "No it's fine. Please take your time." Ethan smiled before the hands disappeared from his shoulders.

As he waited he tapped his cane against the floor a few times, listening to the sound of the softened tip go against the wooden floor in a rhythm for once. It didn't take long at all before the barista had returned, telling him to grab onto him, which Ethan did and was soon enough escorted to a table shortly after. He found the chair with practiced ease and pulled it out for himself, before putting the cane down on the floor. "Of course I don't mind." Ethan answered as he reached out for his drink, finding the handle directed towards him and slipped his fingers into it to lift it up. It smelled really good. A nice and strong chocolate scent that wasn't overwhelming, it was still strong, but the scent held a natural sweetness to it. His lips touched the edge of the cup, his upper lip met by the coldness of the whipped cream, before he snuck in a little sip of the chocolatey drink.

What a great recommendation! They always were great, but this drink was quite addicting after only one sip. It was still a bit hot to drink, so Ethan snuck in another quick sip before putting it back down and listening to Joshua. "I'm Ethan. It's really nice to meet you." He introduced himself and reached out his hand, retrieving it when he they had shook hands. The skin against his own had been surprisingly smooth, well-taken care of. Some baristas had rougher skin, but Joshua's skin had been very smooth and nice to the touch. "I live fairly close to here so it's easy for me to drop by and get myself a drink. Plus, the drinks you make here are so addicting I would probably have winded up here one way or another." Ethan complimented the drinks with a slight chuckle. "Cute Blind Boy" huh? Suppose that was probably the same thought that Ash or Minnie had the first time they had met too.

"Have you worked here for a long time? I recognized your voice, but I couldn't recall if we had met." It was a bit strange since he did come by everyday. At this point Ethan did think he had met all of the employees, though of course there was no real way to know.

"Blind Butterfly"

Ethan Price

19 years old - Florist - Student

 

[Jihae]

☁ joshua kim

I'm so far from perfect.
You still loved me when I so far from deserved it.
If I'm so brave, why does looking you in the eye take every ounce of my courage?

Even when the sprinklers cried on us we didn't mind,
We had the rest of our lives to be dry.
So we stayed until the edges of the sky turned light.

And I whispered in your ear that this moment is already a poem, and even if that moment meant nothing to the universe,
You're the closest thing to God I've got.

I'm so far from perfect.
So far, it's been worth it.

@CrystalTears

The simple motions of any customer trying drinks that he made personally always gave him a bit of anxiety. Joshua knew in the back of his mind that the drinks were always made to perfection due to hours and hours of training, but he couldn't help but think that maybe one of these days a customer would take a sip and have the look of pure disgust on their face. Seeing a customer's smile, most especially seeing Ethan's lips pull into an innocent grin, made him sigh happily and in relief. Joshua leaned a little, resting his elbows on the glass table to relax and unwind a little.

"I'm glad you like it." He replied, his voice deeper than usual, a hint of maturity and etiquette reaching through his vocal chords. Seeing Ethan reach his hand forward, Joshua shook hands with his newly made friend, thanking god that he had put lotion on this morning. After shaking hands he leaned back in his seat, ears perking as he listened to how Ethan made his way towards his work. Interesting, he thought. He had never really encountered a customer who had told him about their monstrous journey towards the front doors of Moonstruck Cafe, but it was always nice to indulge whenever a person decided to come up to him and shoot the breeze.

"That's pretty cool! The building's been here for a while, so it only makes sense that you'd walk your way in here sooner or later." He bit his lower lip and cocked his head to the side, listening to Ethan's question while trying to find a way to answer without taking up the majority of his break.

"Um, yes! I've worked here for a long time. I've been working at Moonstruck for about 6 years ever since I graduated high school. It's really fun working here, I enjoy the smell of everything, don't you? I think it's because I like chocolate too much." A loud chuckle escaped his lips before he cleared his throat to answer the rest of Ethan's questions. "We have met a couple of times, but I'm mostly behind the counter making all of the drinks. I think Tyler has met with you more than I have since he's the one we trust the most with putting on a happy face all the time, but he's a really nice guy. That's why he works here! All of thebaristas here are really nice and help with everything." His tone of voice turned from that deep voice into his usual cheery happy-go-lucky tone. He leaned into the table again, a big smile appearing on his face.

"So what do you like to do for fun? I like to go swimming sometimes since I was a competitive swimmer in high school and played water polo... Do you swim?" Pausing, he pressed an index finger up to his lips, wanting to give Ethan a quick warning before the two immersed in their conversation.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I just wanted to let you know that um, you're kind of the first blind person I've ever met. So if I say anything wrong please don't be mad at me."

 

[CrystalTears]

"Will you stay by my side? Will you promise me? If I let go of your hand, will you fly away and break? I'm scared, scared, scared of that."

Ethan Price

Ethan had visited many different cafés over the time, but there were none that held the same atmosphere as Moonstruck Café. It was always so cozy, as if coming home from a long day at work or a hard day at school. Welcoming and warm, it was no surprise that such a place had been here for quite some time, probably seen some renovation plenty of times over the years. It was a shame that Ethan did not have the pleasure to view the evolution, but he could certainly enjoy the many drinks that would be offered here.

Joshua had worked there for six years? Ethan couldn't help, but feel a bit rude for not recognizing his voice right away since he had been a regular for quite some time, but perhaps it was Tyler that had serviced him most of the times now that he gave it a second thought. Tyler's voice was definitely a little bit more familiar to him. He joined in on Joshua's chuckle when he mentioned the everlasting scent of chocolate. Though it was never overwhelming nor unwelcome, it was always nice and a trademark of the little café, Ethan had gotten pretty used to the sweet scent always coming from the building.

He was about to answer what he did when it came to his own hobbies, but a gentle finger against his lip made the words stop in his throat before he chuckled. Most people would be nervous when talking to him for the first time, scared that they'd say something insulting. The phrases: "I see" or "have you seen" or anything like that was usually avoided like the plague, but Ethan had never really cared much. Perhaps it affected him less because he was born blind, but he did know that some blind people were really sensitive towards their handicap. Ethan had accepted the fact that he was blind a long time ago, and by now he didn't really mind if anyone thoughtlessly pointed out something for him to see, he'd just ask for a description instead.

"You don't need to be nervous." Ethan reassured Joshua with a kind smile, bringing the warm drink up to his lips once more to take yet another sip of it. It truly was addicting, he might have to ask for the name again so he could order it on top of his mind the next time he came around, though trying something new was always so exciting. "I won't get mad no matter what you say. I'm luckily not very sensitive when it comes to being blind, so you shouldn't worry about it at all." Ethan reassured the barista. "I actually swim a little bit, but it has been a long time since the last time I did so. I might be a bit rusty." He answered with a slight chuckle, putting the cup back down on what seemed to be a glass table, possibly made out of something else, but it was his best guess.

Speaking of swimming, now he was a bit unsure if there were any pools nearby. He hadn't gone to one, and he had lived there for a pretty long time, but going to the pool alone was like asking to be drowned and being blind didn't make it any easier. If he had to pick something out to be the worst when it came to being blind, it probably was the way he had to depend on people all the time. Going somewhere alone was close to impossible if he didn't know the way like the back of his hand, like the path to this cafe. "This might sound a bit weird, but. . . Do you mind describing yourself to me?" Ethan decided to ask Joshua. It was always nice to know how the person you talked to look like, everyone had to enjoy that to some extent. "It doesn't need to be long. I'm simply curious." Ethan added to his request. Joshua was so pleasant to talk to, that he couldn't help himself from getting a little bit curious about the barista he was having a conversation with.