Typical Morning for the Cafe
The bell over the door to the cafe dinged, “Welcome to Southern Comfort! I'll be out in one moment!” Nico called, the cafe was decorated with pride flags and string lights. Small lamps at each table provided the majority of the light for the small dining space.
“Just me boss!” Charlie yelled. He had started working at Southern Comfort Cafe six months ago and had loved every minute of it, even if the rushes sucked. With only two employees, three if Jerry had a break from her thesis, Nico and Charlie did everything from baking to baristaing. Nico was, in Charlie’s opinion, the definition of the southern gentleman, from the accent to the attitude. He couldn't always tell when they were being serious and was still learning the different tonal inflections of the many ‘Bless your hearts’ his boss would utter throughout the day, but it made for a fascinating working environment.
“Oh thank god. I haven't even got the bread risin’ yet.” Nico came out of the kitchen throwing a towel over his, no, her, shoulder. Charlie checked the pronouns on the board. Nico was genderfluid and had put a pronoun chart up behind the bar for employee pronouns. Charlie and Jerry's stayed constant but sometimes Nico surprised them.
“Jerry is gonna be joinin’ us this weekend, she's makin’ frybread for the new season.”
“Do I still get to decorate for equinox?” Charlie threw his cross-body bag under the counter and reached for an apron.
“Yes, you get free reign within reason... Just don't paint the whole place or put giant holes in the wall.”
“Epic, She/they or she/her?”
“Either, just not he today really. Thanks for chekin' though!” Nico grinned. That was another thing Charlie noticed, Nico never smiled, just halfway grinned from the corner of her mouth.
“Nico, have you seen my other shoe?” Jerry hopped down the stairs in the back of the kitchen. She and Nico lived together above the cafe.
“Which pair darlin’?”
“Converse. The uh, the white ones.” Jerry had one white converse on and was attempting to fasten the back of one of her earrings.
“Did you check under the couch?”
“... no…” She ran back up the stairs, tripping at the top.
“She didn't sleep last night did she?”
“When does she ever sleep? Her brother wanted to call and because of the time difference she didn't get to talk to him til’ bout’ 2 am our time.”
“The one in the military?”
“That's the one! I got to say hi to him when i went out for my jog this mornin'. We promised to send him a care package. I know her mamma and daddy are sendin’ him one but we thought he could use two.”
“That's really nice of you two.” They heard a thud from upstairs. “Think she fell again?”
“Surly not,”
They both leaned against the bar, watching the kitchen to see if jerry would come back down. Charlie had been trying to convince Jerry to let him style her hair. It was in a mullet from growing out weird after her brother cut her hair last year. She was trying to wait through the awkward growth phase, but he had a feeling she might be wanting to clean up the ends soon.
“Alright Charlie, let's get the cafe ready for the breakfast rush.” Nico pushed herself off the counter and went back to baking. Jerry ran back down soon after and grabbed two brown bags from the deep freeze. “Dont forget your late, it's on the counter,”
“Thanks, Nico! You're the best.”
“Oh, I know! Now go kick academic ass.”
“You know it.”
Charlie watched the morning routine, his first day there he had been convinced the two of them were dating, but after some pressing questions Nico explained that she was chronically single and Jerry was seeing a few people casually, no relationships just getting to know people, she was very clear about that, they had just known each other since high school and when Jerry got accepted to the PhD program here Nico had joined her move. He was pretty sure that they were both in denial but understood it wasn't his place to meddle. Yet. he was still in the plotting stage.
Jerry ran down the street, dodging people left and right while chugging her latte. She knew she was late. It had taken her too long to find all of her papers. Luckily her advisor was also running late, she caught a glimpse of the red and silver hair on the bus she was running by, if she could just beat the bus she could convince Doc she was on time for her thesis meeting. She jumped over a bench outside her department building and slid down the stair rail to the basement. She had learned her first year that using the elevator in the basement was faster than taking the stairs or using the elevator in the lobby to get to the fourth floor. She looked out the window in the hall that faced the courtyard. The Doc was just walking in the front. She slid through the door to the lab and sighed dropping her bag at her desk.
“Gemima. You're late.” the slightly accented voice came from behind her. She jumped.
“Mornin’ Doc.” where had they come from?
“Good jump by the way but you're only a minute behind you don't have to risk your limbs to get to the meeting on time. Besides, I saw your updates in the dociment. You're on track. I was just going to give you a few more books to read.” Sigrid leaned on her cane. They were having a bad joint day.
“Oh, is that all?”
“You spilled coffee on your shirt. There are some extra hoodies in the lab closet if you don't want to run home.” They smiled.
Jerry blushed. She hadn't noticed shed spilled, “Thanks Doc, ill text my roommate and see if she can being me an extra shirt.”
“Okay,” they stared at her. She hated when they looked at her like that, like they knew everything and could see through her, “you need more sleep. If you want to go home early today i can handle your 3 pm class. You have a good schedule and I would prefer my number one grad student healthy.”
“Oh, uh, don't worry I can handle it! I was talking to my brother and the time difference, 2 am.”
“Oh did your brother get re-stationed? I thought he was in California.”
“Yeah! He got new orders, he's out of the country for the next few months. We weren't sure when we'd get to talk again so, 2 am.” She scratched the back of her neck.
“Well, I'm glad to hear he's doing well. Let me know if you get a chance to talk to him again we can work something out with your schedule and other teachers so you don't have to worry about class during that time.”
“ Thanks, doc. I really appreciate it.”
“Family first.” they smiled. Their smile always reached their eyes, even if Jerry was sure they couldn't be happy, they always made their smiles real. It was unnerving but, somehow comforting.
“Oh! And there are leftovers in the fridge for you and Faham, I labeled which ones were Halal and which ones weren’t if you could let her know? Im in meetings for the rest of the day.”
“Yeah, ill text her now.”
‘It's time for ethics’
“ shit. Sorry, Jerry, I'm going to be late for my ethics meeting. Let me know if you need to leave before your 3 pm.”
“Will do!” Jerry watched Sigrid leave, they were relying heavily on their cane. They’d never explained what had happened, not that it was Jerry's business, she just worried sometimes. Sigrid did a lot for her and the other students, she wanted to help if she could. for now, though, she was going to text her lab-mate that there was food in the lab fridge.