Back when Starbucks and other chains started making fancy coffee mainstream for the masses, I lived with two other guys in a sprawling apartment north of Boston. One of my roommates was Randy, and we used to make a regular thing of heading to the coffee shop before going to Boston and sailing small boats in either the Charles River or in Boston Harbor.
Ernie always ordered a large latte with extra foam. His goal was to sit by the window where he could watch the regular barista working at the counter. Her name tag said “Patrice”, and Randy made a big point of greeting and chatting up Patrice. For her part, Patrice never seemed to do more than smile faintly and hurry to continue to produce drinks for clients.
One day, we talked Tony, our other roommate, into joining us. After we got our drinks, Tony noticed Randy giving a big smile and thumbs up sign to Patrice, who didn’t seem to notice. Tony asked Randy, “What’s up?” To which Randy replied, “She’ sweet on me!”
Tony smiled and mentioned that, considering how little attention Patrice paid to Randy, it was a kind of strange way of showing interest. But Randy insisted that Patice clearly had the hots for him. Finally, Tony insisted on proof. “Sure,” said Randy with a big grin. He then took the plastic lid off his latte and showed us a heart in the foam at the top. “See!” he stated. ” She’s got it for me!”
Not knowing exactly what to say, Tony and I simply removed the lids from our coffees and showed Randy the foam hearts on the top.
Randy turned to look at Patrice with a look on his face which seemed to say, “How could you do this to me?
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You all burst his bubble 🙂
Good story….thanks
r. Carreras, you’ are a good storyteller with a tinge of hidden inner ache in them and tons of humour. Ought to publish them.
Thanks
OK…in was 9/11/2001. I met a friend at a coffeehouse near the university where I taught in San Diego. He worked their part time. The girl behind the counter was a pretty, tattooed redhead with bright blue eyes. My friend had a crush on her. He took the opportunity of being a customer to let her know and she looked at him, shook her head, and pointed at me. She had a HUGE crush on me. She MEANT the heart on the top of my latte and slipped me a note. I had to tell her that I’m irredeemably straight but I thought she was beautiful and if I leant in that direction? Oh baby… She reached across the counter and hugged me. The note said, “If you change your mind” with her phone #
My friend was so pissed at me. Like I had something to do with it?
Oh and PS. I got pulled over on my way there by the cops who’d typed in my license number wrong and thought I was a drug-smuggling gang-banger. They were surprised when i got out of the car and put my hands on the roof, etc. Pretty dramatic day all around. “Sorry ma’am. We’re really sorry.”
What? you’re not smuggling anymore?
I quit that back in ’19 🤣
Yeah, leave it to the kids!