The Rainy Day Cafe: Chapter 1 - A Rainy Day
Today was especially quiet for The Rainy Day Cafe. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and ironically enough, the rain pattered against the old glass windows that scattered the exposed brick walls, leaving little wet tracks as they made their descent to the puddle-covered pavement. Days like this seemed far too common now - as each evening approached, the coffee store became baron, leaving only one member of staff to count the hours down til close. The job was boring on a good day, but at least the pay was good.
Beth, the barista working today, watched and listened to the sound of the rain as she rested her elbow on the bar; her chin on the palm of her hand. She was a young slim-bodied woman, twenty to be exact, with long natural blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders with one section always pulled up into a pony-tailed braid. She had tucked it behind her ears, exposing her usually bright blue eyes which, today, almost appeared grey in the dull light of the store. She looked on towards the windows; still following the droplets down, each one taking a slightly different path to the last.
She was dressed in her favourite, best fitting pair of jeans - made obvious by the frays in the seams and how faded they had become - an old yellow polo shirt, a pair of cowgirl boots and her barristers apron which was a strange tone of brown, or "the kind of brown that actually makes you feel sick to look at", as Beth would say. Despite her complaints, the uniform never changed.
The rain continued to tap against the windows when there was a sudden thwack of the store door and a flood of freezing cold air that blew in her direction, forcing her to shield her face with her arm. Entering the store was a man, as far as she could tell, large and mysterious and wet. Soaked in fact. He stumbled forward, slamming the door behind him as quickly as he could. She could feel the cold emanating from his body.
"Rough night?" She laughed, in her Georgian drawl. He mumbled a response, slumping himself down onto one of the cushioned chairs. "You know, we have some towels out back if you wanna get dried up," she continued, "you don't look too warm".
The quiet man still hadn't looked at nor spoken to her, but she didn't believe that meant no. Stepping into the back room, she gathered two towels and brought them out into the store front. She placed them on the table in front of him and stood beside him. "Can I at least get you something to drink?"
The man grabbed one of the towels and aggressively scrubbed it over his dark, messy hair, giving Beth a chance to see his arms. Only now, she had realised they were bare. "Coffee", he grunted from underneath his towel.
Whilst he scrubbed away at his hair and neck, she took a moment to look at him properly. His arms were scribbled with a few tattoos and scars. She wondered what they meant. His hair was scruffy and hung over his eyes. It was dark brown, she thought, almost black, but that could be due to how sodden it was. He was wearing some torn, loose-fitting jeans which clung to his hips with a black leather belt. His boots looked like what she believed to be Doc Martens, though they were covered in dirt and scuffs. His beige, short-sleeved button shirt clung to his body and was paired with a black leather vest with angel wings stitched onto the back. Her initial admiration was correct - he was definitely a mysterious man.
Looking back to his face, Beth noticed he was looking at her. His blue eyes piercing through the hair that hung over his forehead and into hers, silently asking a question. She gasped, cheeks rising with a rosy heat. "Coffee! Right, sorry, I'll uh, I'll go get that for you now".
In an attempt to remain coy, she strolled over to the bar and begun making his coffee. She felt his eyes burning into her, almost begging her to turn around to face him, but she couldn't. Not after that embarrassment. She's pretty sure he just watched her check him out. Head to toe. Yikes. She wasn't even looking at him in that way though. Surely he knew that. She fumbled with the items in front of her, trying to make this coffee as quickly as she possibly could. Her hands trembled a little and she wondered why on earth she felt so nervous. She didn't even know the guy.
Beth carefully turned her head and watched the man drop the towel and grab the second, wrapping it around his shoulders. Suddenly, she wanted to know everything about him.
Turning around fully, coffee in hand, she strode towards his table and placed it in front of him. She sat opposite him and folded her arms down on the table, leaning forward.
"What's your name?"
He didn't look at her, still concerning himself with the towels. "Depends who's askin'".
"Me, silly," she laughed. Still not looking at her. "Look, that rain ain't letting up, and you're drenched, and I just made you coffee - you're not going anywhere for an hour at least. You're my first customer in hours, and an interesting one at that. I just wanna know your name".
His hands stopped. He put the towel down and finally looked at her, his eyes darting across her face, her neck; her hands. "M' name's Daryl."
Beth only smiled, pursed her lips together and nodded at him. Now she had nothing to say. The silence continued for a few moments longer.
"And yours?" His voice almost made her jump.
She smirked, pushing her tongue into her cheek. "Depends who's askin'", she mimicked, hoping to elicit some damn personality from him. His head was lowered, but he looked up at her through his hair, raising his eyebrows and smirking.
"Pff."
The girl laughed. "Okay, okay. It's Beth, Beth Greene. It's nice ta meet you, Daryl".
"Mm", he mumbled in acknowledgement. "You too, Greene".
Silence, again. She simply sat opposite him, watching him sip at his coffee, shivering every so often from the cold. She noticed he had a bag draped over his shoulder.
"What's in the bag? Change of clothes? You can change out back, if you're cold, or…" she trailed off, not entirely sure where she was headed with the sentence.
"Or..?" Okay. It was his turn to tease her now, and he was smirking at her. Great.
"Oh, pshh" she said, rolling her eyes at him. "You got a change of clothes or not?"
He lowered his eyes again and mumbled something under his breath, accompanying it with a slight shrug of his shoulder. "Ain't nothin, really. Jus' another tattered shirt".
"Well, that'll do," she begun, "the shirt you're wearing is far too wet to keep on. You'll catch a cold. Here, let me take you through to the back where you can change".
She stood up, waited for him to stand, and lead him to the back room. Only now did she realise his true size. He wasn't necessarily much taller than her, he just seemed larger, and his presence alone felt huge as he walked behind her. Beth motioned towards the door labelled "staff only".
"Here, there's also some more towels and a bathroom with a dryer through there, if you wanna use anythin'. Take your time".
He nodded at her and stepped through the door, finding himself in a cramped room filled with boxes and stationary and just generally useless junk. The door opposite him seemed more promising, as he walked forward and entered the bathroom. The room was brightly lit up and he was happy to see a shower with some body wash, more fresh towels and as she had promised, a dryer. He placed his bag on the floor and stepped out of his boots. Placing them to the side, he removed his belt, taking his pants and socks with them, and pulled his shirt up and over his head, letting his leather vest fall to the ground. He shoved them inside the dryer and selected "quick dry". Removing his boxers, he turned the dial on the shower and stepped underneath the gentle but satisfying fall of hot water, revelling in the warm steam that began to surround him. Grabbing the body wash, he scrubbed himself clean of rain and dirt and ran the soap through his hair, too. And for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt happy.
This was the best damn shower he'd had in years, and it was in the back room of an empty coffee shop on the corner of town with only one worker - Beth Greene.
His thoughts drifted to her. He wondered what she thought of him; wondered why she was so interested in speaking to him. She said it herself, he thought, I was her only customer in hours, probably the most interesting thing that's happened to her all day.
He found himself wondering about her life too - what's her story?
Not that he'd ever find out. His plan was simply to take advantage of this shower and dryer while he could and then take himself back out onto the road. He was a nobody - or at least, that's what he believed everybody thought of him - and he didn't want to continue inconveniencing the girl with his arrival.
Even though she seemed everything but inconvenienced, strangely.
After a long while, he took himself out from under the hot fall of water and wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed another, scrubbing his hair dry again and letting it fall over his eyes. He draped that towel over his shoulders as he headed towards the dryer. Five minutes left. He took a seat on the small wooden bench and closed his eyes.
Beth remained behind the bar, just on the off-chance that a customer would come in, even though she thought it highly unlikely. She glanced at her watch - almost five o'clock. Outside, the sky grew darker.
The man, Daryl, had been in the back room for around half an hour now. She couldn't help but find herself thinking more and more about him. He seemed so frightening on the exterior yet, when he spoke, he just simply flowed with kindness and a sweetness she had never known. Especially not on a man that looked and dressed the way he did. What on earth was he doing out on the rain? And what possessed him to throw himself into her coffee shop?
Through the walls, Beth heard the shower turn off. Finally, she thought, smiling to herself. She almost felt guilty showing it to him, what with the state it was in - broken tiles and a rusted shower head - but he looked like he needed it. She had no idea how anybody could enjoy a trashy shower like that for so long, but hey, each to their own.
She resumed her position against the bar, her arm folded and her chin resting on her palm, staring out of the windows to the dark street. The rain continued to tap against the windows and at times, she could hear the low grumble of thunder in the distance.
She absent-mindedly twirled her hair around her free hand, sighing and enjoying the sound the weather made. In fact, she was daydreaming so deeply, she hadn't noticed Daryl who had exited the back room and was now stood behind her, watching her watching the rain. He cleared his throat.
"I should be goin'", he said, this time fully meeting her eyes as she turned to face him. "s' gettin' late". He was dressed in the same boots and pants, but his shirt had changed - this one was a long sleeved red plaid shirt, half tucked into the front of his pants. His hair was still damp, but looked clean, as did the rest of him.
"You want me to call you a taxi or somethin'?"
"Nah, I don' live far. Thanks for lettin' me use the," he gestured behind him, "was real nice".
She smiled at him and nodded. "Okay."
Daryl headed towards the door but quickly stopped in his tracks and begun fumbling in his pockets. "Ah, shit," he grumbled. He turned to face her. "I never paid ya for that coffee. Seems like the dryer stole my change. M'sorry. I'll uh… I'll come back tomorrow t'pay ya?"
Beth smiled a real ear-to-ear grin and laughed. He noticed the way her eyes looked brighter when she smiled. "It's on the house," she told him, "but you're welcome back here whenever you like, Daryl".
He simply nodded at her. "See you, Greene".
"See you."
A/N - Thank you for reading the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review and let me know where you'd like me to take this. I'm really enjoying writing this right now.