Page 17 of Demon's Desire

“No way!” She gasped and kicked her feet again. “Where are you going? When are you going?!”

I laughed, practically beaming at her. “He said a place called Short and… Oh, fuck! It was a coffee shop, he said it was on this side of town. It was Short and…”

“Short and Steamy?” Kelly asked.

“Oh! Yes, that was it!” I grabbed my phone and opened my calendar to put that in before I forgot again. “He wants to meet at one tomorrow.”

“Girl, that coffee shop is a two-minute drive from here,” Kelly pointed out.

“Wait, what?” I blinked and looked over at her. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah!” she nodded. “We passed it a couple of times today. It’s literally right down Sheridan! What a coincidence.”

“That is so cool!” I smiled. “Good, so I can walk there instead of Ubering. I didn’t want to bring it up in front of Torie and Mica. Obviously, this has to be the worst night of their lives. But I am so excited.”

“You should be!” She laid down and smiled. “I cannot wait for all the details.”

“I can’t wait either.” I plugged my phone back in, reaching over to turn off the light.

I had a really good feeling about this. I mean, Elias didn’t have to actually be anything. He didn’t need to be my boyfriend or a one-night stand, he didn’t even have to be a date. But he did feel like a sign. He was a sign that I was on the right path and making the right decisions. And if he did turn into something more than that… Well, I wouldn’t mind.

5

The next morning was slow. Luckily, Kelly figured it would take us a couple of days to get settled in, so she wasn’t starting work for a few more days. Mica’s vet was only open Monday through Friday, so he was off the hook today and tomorrow, and Torie went ahead and called in to her waitressing job. I, of course, was still unemployed. I got up early and made everyone breakfast, grateful that we’d had the foresight to go grocery shopping yesterday. I made a ton of eggs, toast, and bacon, and I was prepared to make pancakes if anyone wanted any. By eleven, everyone had woken up and gotten full.

Mica and Torie were feeling a lot better. Not great, but way better. The four of us sat on the pillows in the living room and ended up watching YouTube videos on Kelly’s laptop for a while to pass the time and to keep their minds off of everything. At around noon, I started getting ready for my coffee date with Elias. I know I said it didn’t have to be a date, and it didn’t… but I wanted it to be. I put on a pair of light jeans, a white tank top, and a brown off-the-shoulder sweater. I did a bit of makeup and curled the ends of my hair so I looked a little nicer, but not like I was trying too hard. To be fair, that was basically what I did on a daily basis, so I told myself I wasn’t putting in a lot of extra effort.

At around twelve thirty, Kelly took Torie and Mica back to their place to pick up their cars and bring them to our neighborhood, and a few minutes after that, I went ahead and walked to Short and Steamy. It was less than a ten-minute walk, but I’ll admit that I was excited. I hadn’t actually been on a date since sometime during Junior year of college. I’d gotten hit on a fair amount, but at some point, I was only being hit on by jackasses and people who had already dated Kelly, which was weird. So, needless to say, I was excited about today.

The coffee shop was actually adorable. It had the stereotypical, hipster, wooden deco theme: wood floors, wood walls, tables that were styled to look like chunks of trees rather than regular boards, chalkboard menus and signs, and individual bulbs hanging from the ceiling that served as light fixtures. It was a very normal, hipster coffee shop, but it was the first real Chicago hipster coffee shop that I’d ever been to, so I loved it.

There was a guy at the counter who looked around my age who waved to me when I walked in, but I decided to go ahead and grab a table to wait for Elias. I sat at the two-person table closest to the door so he wouldn’t have any trouble seeing me. It was around twelve forty-five at the moment, so he had plenty of time to get here. I pulled out my phone while I waited and started looking up jobs in the area. I was most qualified as a bartender, but I looked at a few other types of jobs too. Baristas, retail, data entry, that sort of thing.

I quickly got sucked into a hole looking at restaurant jobs. I was completely floored. The Texas minimum wage was still $7.25 for regular employees, but for servers it was only $2.13. The server minimum in Chicago was $7.50! For every other job, the minimum was $13! I swear, every hour I was more and more convinced that this town was magical. I mean, in a good way, I hoped. Not in a spirits and ghosts way.

I looked up from my phone when the chair across from me was pulled out. I quickly shut it off and smiled, ready to stand up and greet Elias, but I paused instead.

It wasn’t him. It was the guy from the counter. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt under a dark brown apron. He had dark brown skin with a short buzz cut and some of the whitest teeth I’d ever seen. He smiled at me as he sat down and set a cup in front of me. “Hey.”

“Um… Hi.” I gave him a polite smile. “I didn’t order this.”

“I know.” He shrugged and gave me a lazy smile. “I think you’ll like it, though.”

“Oh… Well, thank you, but I’m actually waiting for someone. I was going to wait until he got here to order.” I picked my phone back up to check the time and frowned slightly. I hadn’t even noticed that it was one-ten already. I looked up and glanced around to see if I’d missed him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“What time is he coming to meet you?” the young man asked. “I need to know how much time I have to flirt with you before he gets here.”

I blinked and looked back at him. I found myself blushing a bit. “Um… Well, he was supposed to be here at one, but I know traffic in Chicago is bad, so I’m sure he’s coming soon.”

“Ah. I see.” He nodded, his smile pulling into a smirk. “Can I still flirt with you, then? Or are you two committed?”

“Oh, no.” I shook my head, smiling a bit. He reminded me a bit of Elias. “No, I mean, we aren’t… I just met him last night.”

“So that means you’re free, doesn’t it?” He winked.

“Well… until he gets here, I guess.” I sighed and glanced over at the door. There wasn’t even anyone on the sidewalk. I turned back to the cup in front of me and turned it. It was a clear cup, but it looked like there was coffee inside it. “So, what’s in this?”

“Why don’t you try it and guess?” He smirked. “It’s a specialty here. People love it.”