Coffee Cakes
The rain was coming down hard on the bustling town of Portland, Oregon. It didn't always rain up there, but when it did it poured. Wendy Corduroy, even though she had only been here for a few hours, had already figured this out as she drove her truck through the city traffic. It was jam packed, but every moment it would inch a bit closer. It was almost deceptive, as even when it seemed slower than a boulder, she would inch ahead a little bit more. Still, she felt like she was making no progress whatsoever. Her impatience had her continuously looking up and down at the clock, making it feel ever so worse. Looking at it once more, the time it read at this point was 12:36 PM.
"Dammit." She says. She then pulls out her phone, which is doubling as her GPS at the moment; "In th-ree miles, turn left!" It said in its monotone, robotic voice. "Three miles in this traffic is like three hours." She moaned.
In this newfound frustration, she fiddled with the car radio. The first station she found was entirely in Spanish. "A lot of people know Spanish, but I am not one of them." She quipped as she changed it to a local college station. This station played a song she'd never heard before, but she kept it on for a bit as it was catchy.
Not really my thing, but it was a good listen. She thought before it began blaring an Adele song she'd heard plenty of. "No thank you." She said as she reached for the station tuner. "You can keep rolling off the deep end of fame now."
She then changed it a few other times, none of the songs really standing out, but the traffic was finally beginning to move more consistently to the point where she had to turn off the radio. Not too long after, she made it to her destination: Cozee Coffee, a quiet, relaxing shop to enjoy a coffee or two… well that was Dipper's description of it anyways.
This is so much… different then I expected. Wendy thought to herself as she parked. She had expected some huge, sprawling starbucks clone that was full of business. What she saw as she walked up was a small cafe-like building that looked brand new and almost devoid of activity. Even the sidewalk cement looked like it just been laid down.
Man, are there even gonna be customers in this place? She wondered as she walked in the front door. It had a little bell that rang with the door opening. It seemed unnecessary to Wendy though as there appeared to be only two employees working at the moment: One girl, with her bright blonde hair in a bun, was working the service counter and a college aged looking man was mopping the floor.
It doesn't seem all that dirty to me… Wendy thought as she watched him. Then again, I never worked custodial duties, so who am I to judge?
It made it really easy to find the person she was looking for however.
"Wendy!" said a deep, masculine voice nearby.
Huh? Oh duh! She then turned to face her friend, Dipper Pines. He was wearing her old lumberjack hat from that first summer, so long ago now.
"Dipper!" she exclaimed in joy. "It's so wonderful to see you!"
"It's fantastic to see you as well." Dipper said. "Especially you coming my way this time."
"What, you mean to Portland?" Wendy asked, confused.
"Yeah, just coming in my direction this time." Dipper responded. "I usually come your way I've always felt."
"I guess that's true, although I invited you along the way sometimes." She said.
"To almost die in a haunted convenience store?" He replied with a chuckle. Dipper's laugh, even this short chuckle, was too irresistible to Wendy and she laughed too. "Not the intention, but hey we're still standing." She said, trying to suppress her laughter a little bit, but failing handily.
"Well I still appreciate you seeing me." Dipper said. "It means a lot."
Wendy was slightly blushing, but snapped out of it almost instantly. "It was no big deal since, ya know, I was trying to get into this concert anyhow. Along the way over like you were saying." She felt unusually awkward, like she was talking more like she was cramming a paper then talking to a long time friend. Her awkwardness was dissolved by the blonde haired waitress dropping by to bring an order to them.
"Got two coffees here: one dark, the other with cream." The waitress said. "I'll take the creamed one." Dipper said. The waitress then put the other one by Wendy.
"Well you know me well; dark and bitter as the soul." Wendy joked as she took a gulp of her drink. "Oh hush, you're one of the kindest people I know. A kind soul such as yourself couldn't have a bitter soul." Dipper said.
"Depending on who you ask, I'm the quiet lumberjack or the indie axe slinger." Wendy said bluntly. "I don't know what to think of it honestly."
"They both alright, but I've always been weary of those who label others." Dipper responded. "These aren't the same people you're going to this concert with are they?"
"Oh no, totally different group." Wendy said. "Not at all that group."
An awkward silence filled the room with tension.
"So how are your studies going?" Wendy asked, desperately hoping to change the subject.
"Pretty wonderfully." Dipper said. "Archaeology was fun, but I'm definitely more at home as a writer. Maybe just not getting all the dust in my eyes is most appealing." He laughed as he said this.
"That's fantastic to hear." Wendy responded. "I wish I could say I have something going for me right now, but it's just trying to stay afloat in prerequisites. Nothing fancy."
"Trust me, I had very little fun in learning how to apply business skills to digging bones. It gets better from here seester!" Dipper said.
Wendy looked at her phone. "Shit it's already almost 2:30!" She said in shock. "How did the time pass so fast?"
"Does that mean it's time for you to go?" He asked.
"Sadly." She replied. "Sorry, I'd st-"
"Nah, go have a good time. It's what you should do." Dipper said as he dropped a $20 down on the table. "I should be going too."
And they both walked out of the shop together, a rare sight nowadays. As Wendy sat in her car, feeling guilty, she wondered one thing:
I wonder when he's gonna find out that there was no concert?
That thought rang through her head the entire trip back to Gravity Falls, that Adele song playing in the background.
