Upside Down

Chapter 1

The small café, named The Floating Dandelion for reasons only the owner knew of, was situated in between an old Italian restaurant and a bakery that was ran by an elderly couple who had most likely owned the place since their youth. Despite its size, the café was busy enough to make more than enough money to support its owner who was actually quite surprised by how well it did. She believed this was because of her regular customers who would come in everyday and usually order the exact same things.

For example, a young businessman would often come into the building and order the same combo of a strong coffee and a lettuce, carrot and chicken sandwich every day. He barely ever said anything though and before she could even think of what to say he was already out the door. One of the more interesting regulars was a young woman by the name of Lovina Vargas. She would always come in every weekday to order a coffee and nothing else along with it. From what the owner could tell she had quite a strong personality just from the way she would look around the room with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.

Today was no exception as Lovina pushed open the glass doors into the café and made her way towards the front counter. She wasn't scowling like she usually was when she waited for her coffee but instead her face was rather blank, conveying no emotion whatsoever. Since there was a queue to order so she lined up behind a rather tall man who was speaking rather enthusiastically to the owner of the café. Some people should learn to shut their mouth when there are people waiting behind them. After the man had finally finished ordering it was Lovina's turn to place her order.

"Hello Lovina", said the owner cheerfully, "what would you like today?" The Italian woman smirked and already began to dig through her purse for the money required.

"The same as usual Margret, a coffee" answered Lovina, sliding the money across the countertop, "Just put it under 'tomato' as usual." Margret took the money and placed it inside the cash register.

"Of course Lovina, it should be ready soon" she stated. Lovina nodded in reply before sitting down in her usual seat towards the back of the building. As she waited she watched the various people carry out their daily lives, analysing them. It had become a habit to think about people's lives when watching them ever since her sister and her used to do it as children when they waited for their parents to come back from the supermarket and were forced to wait in the car. When she was a child though, she was able to imagine fun lives for these people, but now, all she could manage was how depressed they must feel carrying out the same routines over and over again everyday of their lives. She was just like them though, doing the same thing every day, never moving, never changing.

"One coffee for tomato!" called one of the workers as she held said beverage up in the air. Sighing, Lovina got up from her seat and went up to the front counter. That was when it happened. As she reached out to grab the cup she felt another hand slid on top of hers.

What?

She instantly drew her hand back, as did the owner of the other hand. She instantly looked to the side to see who this hand belonged to. It was the man who was in front of her in line earlier. He looked a lot different now she wasn't facing him from the back. Piercing emerald green eyes pierced into her amber ones, a look of utter confusion spread across his face. His shock was so obvious it was almost funny.

"Sorry, I must've heard wrong. I swore she said the coffee was for 'tomato'. Sorry to bother you!" exclaimed the mysterious man. He went to turn and walk away but Lovina's voice stopped him.

"Wait… you ordered a coffee under the name of tomato too?" asked Lovina. The man looked back into her eyes trying to process what she had just said. Within ten seconds, the man's face went from shocked, to confused, to blank, to a large grin. Much to Lovina's shock, he burst out laughing, holding his sides due to the intensity of it. His laughter resounded throughout the shop, causing some of the customers to look at him even.

"I can't believe it, that's such a weird coincidence! We both ordered it under the same thing!" he cheered between bursts of laughter. Lovina started at the man, not quite sure of what to say in reply.

"Another order for 'tomato'" called the young worker, now holding both cups of coffee in her hands. The man stopped laughing; suppressing it down to mere giggles, and took one of the coffee cups out of the young girl's hand.

"Wow, I never thought stuff like that was possible!" he exclaimed. Lovina paid no notice to him and muttered a quick thank you before taking the cup out of the young girl's hand. Just as she was about to walk but to her seat she felt a hand grab her wrist, making her turn around instantly.

"Don't grab my wrist!" she yelled shaking her hand free from his grasp. The man laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"I was just going to ask you if you wanted to have your coffee with me" said the man with what seemed to be a slight pout. Lovina stared at him in disgust before turning away and returning to her seat trying as hard as possible to ignore him. After a few minutes, it seemed like the man had given up but when she heard the sound of a chair scooting closer and closer to her she knew she hadn't succeeded in getting rid of the persistent man. He reminded her of one of those parasites that you see on the Discovery Channel except maybe slightly less annoying.

"What is it now?" she snapped.

"You know, you shouldn't be so mean to people when you first met them" lectured the man, even doing the cliché finger wag. Just what she needed, some strange guy in a coffee shop telling her how to live her life. That was definitely what she wanted to listen to today.

"And you should mind your own business" she retorted, taking a sip of her coffee. The man seemed discouraged for a few moments but it seemed as though a metaphorical light bulb lit up in his mind and he knew what he was going to say, much to Lovina's dismay.

"So why did you order your coffee under 'tomato' anyway? I did it because I love tomatoes! Did you know I have a tomato plantation at my house? It has all sorts of tomatoes! Cherry tomatoes, truss tomatoes, roma tomatoes, pear tomatoes, globe tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes…" he said. The man continued to ramble about the varieties of tomatoes that he owned. If Lovina could tell you one thing about this man it was that he owned 'a whole lot of fucking tomatoes.' She considered that maybe he had some kind of tomato fetish of sorts which in itself was slightly strange. She then began to wonder how exactly that would work in a sexual encounter and shuddered at some of the mental images that went through her brain. She never wanted to picture a tomato that way again.

"And the Roma ones are my favourites! Oh, I almost forgot, why did you put the order under tomato again?" asked the man.

Lovina sighed, "I really like tomatoes, that's why. Why the hell do you care anyway?"

"Because!"

"Because?"

"Because I want to be your friend!"

"Why the hell would you want to be friend with someone you randomly met at a coffee shop?

"Well, I guess why wouldn't I want to be? Having friends is good right? So why not make more of them!? I think this world is just full of people that are waiting to become your friend! Don't you agree?" explained Antonio enthusiastically. His eyes practically lit up like diamonds as he spoke about the 'wonders of friendship.' Never in her life had Lovina met someone as utterly vexing as this guy. It was like he had the innocence and wonder of a child wrapped up inside a twenty-something year old man's body.

"You've got to be shitting me" Lovina stated in reply, "You're messing with me aren't you? What exactly do you want?" The man pouted and took a sip from his drink.

"I just want to be your friend" he muttered. He has more mood swings than a fucking girl, Lovina thought. A mere ten seconds ago he was so happy and now he looked like someone had stabbed him in the heart with a rusty knife. He was seriously too much, way too much!

"Well if you're going to make friends with someone at least say your name first, bastard" lectured the Italian girl.

"Oooh, okay! My name's… wait… I can't tell you that! Just call me… Tomato Man!" exclaimed the supposed 'tomato man.' Lovina face-palmed and glared at the man.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Can't you just tell me your real name?"

"No, sorry! If I do I'll get in a look of trouble!"

"Trouble?"

"Yeah, lots of it!"

"What, are you like some murderer or something that's hiding from the cops and can't tell people your real name in case they turn you in?"

"No, no way!"

"Then tell me."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"I can but not here!" he blurted out.

"Then where?" she asked. 'Tomato Man' reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, quickly typing in the password. He glanced from side to side as if he checking to see if anyone was watching him then slid the device across the table, right in front of Lovina's eyes.

"Add your phone number to my phone" he whispered. He had been talking so loudly just before so why the need for whispering now?

"Give my number away to some stranger? As if! How am I supposed to know what you'll do with it!" spat Lovina.

"Trust me; I'll explain later. If you don't want to then I won't force you to. But this is the only chance you'll ever have to know my name" teased Antonio with a grin. Despite what her brain was yelling at her, despite the fact this man was practically a stranger, Lovina typed her number into the device under 'Lovina Vargas'. He muttered a 'thank you' and typed his number into her phone under 'Tomato Man'. With that done she quickly left the store, not looking back once.

She only wanted his number so she can tell the police who practically sexually harassed her at the coffee shop. That was it. That was definitely the only reason.

Author's Note: I don't even know what this is. Smooth moves Antonio, smooth moves. Pimpin'.

- Etenia Fenalith-Lilicent