Café con Amor
Chapter 2: Seeing you again
Seeing you again
Running free along the beaches
Where our shadows first began to intertwine
Listening to your laughter
Wishing that your love could still be mine.....
Seeing you again by Dan Fogelberg
"Lets go shopping today." Charlotte said out of nowhere while munching on her burnt toast.
"Again? You just went last week." Hermione replied cocking her eyebrow at her before going back to her scrambled eggs.
"So? Come on lets go! Please?!?!"Charlotte pleaded as if she were a little child begging for more candy & toys.
"Ugh alright" she said giving in. It's not like she had anything better to do on a rainy Saturday morning. She put her plate in the sink and headed towards the bathroomShe took a quick shower and pulled on some jeans and her black leather jacket.
"Are you ready yet?" Charlotte asked waiting impatiently at the door.
"Hold your horses, the shops aren't going anywhere. Let me just grab my shoes" she answered.
"Yeah but the clothes will." Charlotte muttered.
"What was that?"Hermione said opening the door.
"Oh nothing, come lets go already!" Hermione sighed and locked the door behind her before catching up to her giddy friend.
"Good God Charlotte! You said we were going shopping, not on a shopping spree."Hermione said astonished at all the bags 5 bags in each hand to be exact Charlotte was lugging around.
"Well excuse me for having a different definition of shopping than yours." She replied clutching her bags even tighter. "How 'bout a mocha latte to cheer you up." she said signaling towards a little coffeeshop across the street.
"I'm not upset."Hermione said giving her an are-you-feeling-ok-? look
"Fine then, do you want some coffee? My treat."Charlotte asked giving her a cheesy grin.
"I don't think you can afford it."Hermione answered staring at the bags of goodies in her hands.
"Goodness women are you like this around Luke as well? Come on." she barked jokingly grabbing her hand and pulling her across the street. Once they got to the door they looked up. The sign read Café Con Amor. Hermione looked through the window. Everything was in place. The counters were clean and the tables were spotless. The only thing that was missing was.....people.
"Is it closed? There's no one behind the counter and there's nobody inside."Hermione questioned. She looked over at Charlotte who was about to open the door. "Charlotte wait!" she hissed loudly. "Come on lets find out." Charlotte whispered curiously and walked through the door. Hermione yelped a little "No!" but it wouldn't have mattered if she heard her or not, she was already inside. She rubbed her temples, "Charlotte you're going to drive me crazy" she muttered to herself before looking behind her and sneaking inside.
A little gold bell that was hanging above the door jingled making Hermione jump. After she had calmed down a little she began to realize that the café was actually quite cozy. On one side of the shop there were marble tables and cherry wood chairs for a nice drink and chat. However on the other side there were burgundy love seats and brown leather arm chairs for a pleasant read with a warm cup of coffee. She made a mental note to herself to come back when the shop was actually open. A ringing sound pulled Hermione out of her dazed state and found that it was in fact Charlotte ringing one of those silver touch bells found at hotels asking for service.
"Hello? Hello? Is anybody here?" Charlotte hollered looking left and right for a sign of human intelligence. "Hellooooooo?"
"Isn't it great mate? We finally got what we wanted. A shop of our own." The raven haired man said taking a sip of his cold beer. He looked over at his partner who was still unpacking coffee beans and spices and hadn't even looked up at his comment.
"Draco, come on man take a break. We've been going at this for hours, here" he said handing him a beer. Draco looked at the bottle and back up at his friend.
"We have less than 24 hours before opening, the shelves and counters are still empty, none of the machines are plugged in, and all you can think about is taking a break? Have you gone absolutely mad?" he said standing up, grabbing the unopened bottle and the bottle he was drinking and throwing them into the trash can in the corner making a loud clanging sound that echoed through out the room. "Come on." he said nodding his head towards the closed cardboard boxes.
The man sighed and started towards the boxes before hearing a little jingle sound coming from the front room. The two men froze and looked at each other. They figured they were just tired and hallucinating. A minute later a second jingle sound was heard.
"Did you hear that Phillip?" Draco asked turning towards the door that lead to the counter.
"Could it be customers?" he asked curiously.
"We're closed, it couldn't be" Draco reminded. Suddenly his eyes shot wide open. "You locked the door behind me when we came in this morning didn't you?" He questioned looking straight at him.
"Shit" Phillip muttered his eyes not leaving the door. Draco rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air.
"Go see who it is then" he said signaling to the door.
"You go" Phillip argued.
"You're the one that left the door open"
"So?"
"Hellooo?" said a feminine voice from the counter. Their heads shot towards the door. Before Phillip could react Draco shoved him through the door and shut it behind him. Phillip let out a little "Whoa" before losing his balance and falling face down on the floor. He quickly picked himself up and headed to the front of the counter where a familiar looking woman stood, ringing the bell.
"Hem, sorry we're clos-" he stopped and stared at the women's deep blue eyes. "Charlotte?" he asked.
"Phillip? Is that you?" Charlotte questioned, looking at the curiously familiar man standing behind the register.
"Well who else would it be?" he answered jokingly.
"Good God Phillip! I can't believe it's you! How long has it been?" she asked in complete astonishment.
"Ages definitely ages. Look at you my God, you've grown into a very...." he paused looking her up and down. Charlotte cocked her eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.
"....beautiful woman." he finished, Charlotte smiled and gave him a friendly punch.
"Hermione come here." she coaxed. "Phillip, this is my best friend Hermione" she presented, Hermione smiled politely and shook the young man's hand. "Mione this is Phillip Daily, we were the best of friends back in school." Charlotte said ever so sweetly.
"Were?" Phillip asked jokingly.
"And still are." Charlotte said in a -duh- like manner.
"So is this your place?" Hermione asked speaking of the coffee shop.
"Ours actually." Hermione tipped her head to the side in confusion. "Hey Draco, come 'ere for a sec." he called through the door to the back room. Hermione's face turned stoney. No, it couldn't be, it couldn't possibly be. It can't be, it's not it's not it- Hermione's thoughts were interrupted when a familiar tall slytherin walked through the door. It is, damn it. The two locked eyes for about a minute before Phillip broke the awkward silence.
"Err, Draco this here is Charlotte and her friend-"
"Granger" he interrupted not leaving Hermione's stare.
"Malfoy" Hermione replied.
"Do you two know each other?" Charlotte asked in confusion.
"Just a bit" Hermione said, still glaring into Draco's stoney gray eyes. Phillip and Charlotte looked at each other and shrugged. Hermione couldn't take it any longer and broke away from Draco's glare.
"Charlotte I have to do something I forgot to do, I'll catch up with you later." she said taking quick strides towards the door.
"Wait! What do you have to do?!?!" Charlotte called in worry.
"Just, something" she answered quickly, "Nice to meet you again Phillip" she added and disappeared behind the door.
Hermione was in her pajamas reading her favorite book, curled up in a blanket on the sofa when Charlotte barged into the loft.
"What in God's name was that all about?!?!?!" she blurted out referring to the incident at the café. Hermione glanced up from her book gave Charlotte a what-are-you-talking-about- look and went back to her reading.
"Don't do this to me Mione, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about" she cried reading her friend's facial expressions like an open book. "I'm getting nowhere, give me that-" she said snatching the book Hermione was reading out of her hands and throwing it aside.
"Hey!"
"Don't you hey me Hermione, I want to know what the bloody hell was the matter with you today." Charlotte argued breathing fairly quickly. "Was it that man?" she interrogated. "HERMIO-"
"YES ALRIGHT!!!!YES, I KNOW THAT MAN. HE WENT TO SCHOOL WITH ME AS WELL MAKING IT ABSOLUTE HELL FOR ME UNTIL I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM BUT THEN THINGS DIDN'T WORK OUT AND SEEING HIM TODAY MADE ME FEEL ABSOLUTELY QUEEZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione blurted, her eyes in rage and almost blowing out of their sockets. After about a minute Charlotte's hard stare softened as she walked over to her friend and hugged her tightly whispering "I'm sorry" in her ear. Hermione knew she was on the verge of tears but held back.
"It's alright" she said taking a deep breath and sitting back down on the couch. Charlotte being the best friend she was knew to lay off that topic. She sat next to Hermione, laying her head back and staring at the ceiling.
"That man, Phillip, you got his number right?" Hermione said confidently. Charlotte looked over at her and then back at the ceiling.
"Duh." Hermione stayed silent for a moment before letting out a deep cackle. Charlotte smiled and started giggling as well. The two girls laughed until they cried and hugged each other tightly like sisters. For these two, living without each other would make life absolutely impossible.
a/n: thanks to SOBs 4 Sirius 223 & Alexa Marie Potter for being my first 2 reviewers. Hope there's more to come, chapter three coming up soon. Please review!!!