Niles rushed into Café Nervosa and sat down in the same secluded booth where he'd sat just days before, crying his heart out over Daphne.
Daphne...
Just the sound of her voice inside his head caused his heart to ache.
He looked around the café and then pinched himself in the hopes that any second now, he'd wake up from this terrifying nightmare. Unfortunately, the only thing that it
accomplished was a painful redness and a wrinkled shirt sleeve. And the even more painful reality that his world had been turned upside down.
He sat in silence trying to figure out what it could all possibly mean. But before he could sort out his thoughts, the barista approached him. He groaned when he
recognized her from before, when she'd managed to ruin his favorite drink by dousing it with cinnamon. It definitely wasn't the first time they'd gotten his drink order
wrong.
"What can I get for you?" The barista asked, looking much too happy to see him.
"I'll have a latte with the faintest-."
"...whisper of cinnamon. I got it." The barista said, smiling as she wrote down his order.
Well, that was certainly strange...
When she was gone, he resumed his brainstorm session by taking out a pen and paper;
Frasier married to Lillith
Dad never got shot
Lillith actually pleasant
Frederick hugging his uncle
Mariners win Super Bowl
Maris-
His hand trembled as he wrote the name of his dreaded ex-wife. He stared at the list, trying desperately to figure out what it all meant. Dear God... He'd forgotten the
most important point of all...
Daphne non-existent.
A lump formed in his throat when he wrote her name and once again he found himself unsuccessfully fighting back tears.
She was most certainly existent in his heart.
"Here you are, Dr. Crane." The barista said, giving him a cheerful smile as she handed him the drink. A familiar aroma filled his senses; one of cinnamon that wasn't too
overpowering.
Just as he was about to take a sip, something made him stop and examine the drink. It was just as he feared... For sprinkled on the top was the faintest hint of
cinnamon.
He took a sip and sighed. It was without a doubt, the most perfect beverage he'd ever consumed.
An unsettling feeling swirled inside of him as he slowly began to realize what had happened.
He rose from his chair in a well-known state of anxiety, trying to catch his breath. It all made sense now...
"THAT'S IT!" he yelled, startling himself with his own outburst. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Feeling more dejected than ever, he sunk down into the wooden chair and covered his face with his hands, unable to stop the tears from coming.
"Whoa!" said a voice from beside him.
He looked up to see a young red-headed girl staring at him... with a ridiculous coffee cup hat atop her head.
"Alex wasn't kidding when she said you were crying!"
"I beg your pardon?" He asked, not bothering to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"Do I know you?"
The girl blushed. "Um... Well, no. But you might know my best friend, Alex?"
"Alex..." he repeated, trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar. "I don't know any Alex!"
"Oh, sure you do!" the girl said with a smile that was much too wide. "She was just in here a couple of days ago. She told me that they don't serve cheeseburgers and
root beer and I told her 'Well of course they don't! It's a coffee shop, not a burger stand! But then again she is a wizard and... Oh no..." She looked at him in horror, her
hand clamped over her mouth. "She's really gonna kill me now! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Oh, this is bad! This is so bad!" She groaned.
"Who are you?" Niles asked, wishing she would just go away. "And more importantly, what are you doing here? And even more importantly, what on earth are you
wearing?"
The girl smiled proudly and looked herself up and down.
"Oh this? I created this especially for this occasion! I call it my coffee ensemble!"
"Coffee ensemble?" Niles repeated.
"Yeah! See? I have a plush coffee cup hat, dangling silver coffee cup earrings, a matching green and blue coffee cup print shirt and skirt, and white socks with coffee
cups on them! Oh and brown-ish shoes... I forget what the real color is called, though."
"Coffee?" Niles asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.
"Yeah, that's right! Boy, Alex told me you were smart and it wasn't that I didn't believe her but now I can see why she'd say something like that, what with your fancy
suit and-."
"What are you doing here?" Niles interrupted.
"Oh, well, Alex sent me! She wanted to make sure you were okay! Isn't that the sweetest thing?"
"She sent you? What, like by magic or something?" Niles scoffed.
"Well yeah. I mean she is a wizard and ... Oh no... Not again!" she said with a groan.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"Oh, I'm Harper Finkle!" Harper said excitedly as she extended her hand.
Niles looked at her, wincing at her ridiculous ensemble as he shook her hand.
"Dr. Niles Crane."
"Wow, you really are a doctor!" Harper said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Miss Finkle, why don't you give your friend Alex a message for me. Tell her that I'm not sure how this happened, but ever since she insisted on helping me, things have
changed. And NOT for the better! Or more to the point, SHE'S COMPLETELY RUINED MY LIFE!"
Startled, Harper stepped back. "Whoa! What's with you? I thought you'd be happy!"
"Happy?" Niles yelled. "You call this happy?"
Harper winced. "Oh no... ALEX! GET IN HERE NOW!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Within seconds Alex appeared out of nowhere. Niles recognized her instantly; It was the annoying dark-haired girl who he'd spoken with before. The girl who
ruined his life.
"Harper, what's the problem?" Alex sneered. "Mason and I were about to go howl at the moon and-Oh hey!" she said, smiling at Niles. "How's it going?"
"It's going horribly!" Niles yelled. "So why don't you wave your magic wand and fix it?"
Alex's jaw dropped. "Wand? How did you know I had a... HARPER! How could you? I told you not to tell anyone!"
"I know... I'm sorry!" Harper whined. "It just... slipped out!"
Alex sighed audibly. "It's fine. I'll fix it. But why did you interrupt my date with Mason for me to come all the way back here?"
"I think you'd better ask him." Harper said, pointing to Niles.