Coffee-Stained Romance, Chapter Four: Comics and Coffee

Chapter Four: Comics and Coffee

Other than her job at Coffee Haven, Kelly actually had a second job. This one she considered her ‘real job,’ though it wasn’t full time nor was it looking to be. She worked at the Arlington Road Convention Center. This was the job her Associates Degree had gotten her. Well, that and her Uncle Joe who ran the Convention Center. Plus, her job wasn’t exactly exciting. Basically, she worked on the webpage, which was run by her cousins Ronnie and Alexis. She took pictures and wrote copy. It wasn’t exciting, but it was something for her resume.

This afternoon, all she had to do was take a few pictures of the comic book convention. It wasn’t the first time she’s had to do something like this, but it was in fact her first comic book convention. The floor was filled with a cavalcade of people, most of which were in their teens on up. Girls and boys in Goth-y clothes; some punks. College kids with super-hero t-shirts leaning over boxes of comics, digging intently with focused concentration on finding a long-lost issue or something. Older guys with briefcases and print-outs, laughing and talking about Star Wars. And – much to her shock and surprise – no one, not a soul, dressed in a super-hero costume. No one was dressed as a character from Star Wars or Star Trek or as Batman or Spider-Man or anyone else.

As she snapped random photos, she wondered if she could relate to anyone here. She was a closet Star Trek fan and could be pretty hard-core about it when she wanted to be. That being said, Kelly had only been to two Star Trek conventions and that was nearly ten years ago. This was different.

There was an unusual smell in the air – something like sweat and b.o. mixed with old paper and dust. It was strange.

Kelly took her last picture . . . then saw someone familiar and decided she could get one more.

“Say cheese!”

There was a flash and she suddenly had a picture of Todd looking startled as he bent over a box of comics.

“Whoa!”

“Hey,” she said, lowering her camera.

“Hi. What - what are you doing here?” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen her earlier.

“I do some web press for my uncle. He runs this place.”

“Web press?”

“Kinda like PR.”

“Oh yeah.”

The two had seen each other in class every Tuesday and Thursday, but other than the occasional small talk, their interaction had been light. They hadn’t seen the other at Coffee Haven at all.

“So what are you doing here?” she asked him. “I didn’t know you were into comics.”

“Heh,” was his only reply. His face turned a little red in the cheeks and he uncomfortably rubbed the back of his head. “Well, yeah, I’m actually a pretty big geek.”

Kelly grinned. “Cool.”

“Yeah, I guess. I was actually helping a buddy run his booth, but since the convention is closing up here soon, he let me wander. I’ll be coming back tomorrow, though.”

“Oh cool,” she said again. “Did you get your paper finished?”

“Almost. I just have to write it.”

She laughed a little. “It’s due Monday.”

“I know. I’ve got tomorrow yet. After I’m done here, I’ll write it up.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.”

A big guy stepped between them, his chubby fingers dancing across the box of comics with a grace that his large body wasn’t able to reproduce. Todd stepped around him, his search for JLA # 32 abandoned. Kelly watched the man’s fingers, then turned to Todd.

“How is yours coming along?”

“I’ve just got go over the rough draft with a fine-toothed comb again, and then just work up the final copy.”

“Well done.”

“Thank you.”

A pair of guys pushed by them, ignoring Todd and Kelly completely on their way to find some hot Anime babes.

“You want to get some coffee?” Todd asked suddenly and as soon as he said it, he saw a surprised look on Kelly’s face.

“What’s that?”

“I . . . I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee. There’s a Starbucks right down the street.”

She smiled a little, then rolled her eyes in thought. Todd waited, ready for a rejection. “Uh, yeah, sure. I just have to get this to me cousin real quick,” she said, lifting up her camera. Quite accidentally, the flash suddenly flared, catching Todd’s expression of joy at the acceptance of his offer.

“A moment captured forever,” Todd laughed.

“I guess so. Listen, how about I meet you there in, like, twenty minutes?”

“Sure thing.”

“Awesome.”

Kelly gave him another small laugh, then walked away. He watched her, surprised at his own initiative in this matter. This was completely outside his normal realm of acting. But as he grabbed his last minute comics, he smiled in spite of himself.

That sunny Saturday afternoon, Starbucks was enjoying what they would consider a slightly more than average busy period. Two trios of teenage girls chatted. A woman that Todd guessed was in her early thirties sat at the other end of a long row of curved windows, talking seriously into her cell phone. Two guys nearby were talking about work while one of them held and played with a baby. A college student – Todd guessed – was sitting by himself with a laptop and a tall stack of thick books.

He sipped on a Grande White Chocolate Mocha and waited for Kelly to show up. He didn’t bother bringing in his comics, though part him thought he might as well just in case she decided not to show. He hoped that she would, but he also knew that sometimes some women creep out easily.

“Hey,” she greeted, appearing by the table like a phantom. “I’ll be right back.”

“Hey. Okay.”

Kelly went up to the counter and ordered. Todd sat there, his heart beating a little faster, trying not to stare. Instead, he looked outside. Across the street, signs for Applebees, Wal-Mart, and IHOP stood up proudly, trying to get the attention of those traveling on the highway that exited just a little down the road. The afternoon sun was glowing warmly against the clear, blue sky that was distracted only by the occasional puffy white cloud.

“Do me a favor?” Kelly said as she sat down what looked to be a Tall something. “Don’t tell my boss I’m here. I think he’d kill me.”

“Why is that? Is he one of those anti-Starbucks guys?”

“Not really, but he constantly accuses them of stealing our customers since they put one in the Hub.”

“Ah. I guess I can understand that, though to be honest, I prefer Coffee Haven. It has a certain quality to it.”

“Unique?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

She nodded confidently. “I love coffee houses. I mean, I like Starbucks and Caribou Coffee and the like, but you can’t beat a privately-owned coffeehouse.” She paused and looked to her drink. “I have a bizarre interest in coffee.”

He snorted a little. “I have a bizarre interest in comics. It’s not a big deal.”

“But at least comics are normal.”

“Ha! Glad you understand.”

“Heheh, well, okay . . . it’s not like everyone is into comics.”

“They should be. They’re good.”

She drank some of her coffee. “I guess not everyone’s into super-heroes.”

“Comics aren’t just about super-heroes.”

She snapped her fingers. “Oh yeah, yeah. What are those shows on after Family Guy on Adult Swim? Anime? I guess there’s that.”

“Oh well, yeah, there’s that, but that’s something else all together. Comics aren’t just about science fiction and fantasy and super-heroes. It’s a very elaborate form of storytelling. Everyone just looks at these clichés and at these ideas that stem from that stupid Batman show from the 60s. Comics – super-hero comics – stopped being ‘Bam! Pow!’ decades ago.”

“Oh?”

“Yes! It’s about a marriage of literature and art. It’s a form of storytelling that is engraved in human history. Cave man paintings? Hieroglyphics? There are some people that consider those a primal form of comic storytelling. They’re far more than the average person gives them credit for.”

“You’ve had this little rant saved up for a while now, haven’t you?”

“Well . . .” His face blushed just a little. She smiled. It was cute. “I guess so, yeah.”

She sipped her coffee. “Well, I never really thought of comics like that. I was dragged to a few super-heroes movies. They were pretty good, I guess. The X-Men movies were good.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they are. The comics are good too.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I can – I can loan you some.” He took another drink of his coffee. It was starting to cool, becoming a little sweeter as the syrup settled and the coffee cooled. “But, uh, like I was saying, there’s more than just super-heroes. There are tons of other genres. My philosophy is that for every movie or television show or book, there’s a counter part in the comics for them.”

“And what comic would you suggest for me?”
“I don’t know what you’re into.”

“I love movies. Old movies, especially, but I like a lot of different movies. And coffee, like I said.”

Todd paused, thinking hard, but bringing up a lot of blanks. “Hmmm, uh, let me think here. Road to Perdition, the one that was adapted into a movie with Tom Hanks? That’s a good one. Maybe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”

She shook her head passionately. “No, no. I don’t think so. The movie was terrible.”

“Oh, yeah, the movie is a pile of shit, but the comic is fuckin’ brilliant.”

“I can’t imagine that.”

“It’s true! Trust me.”

“Okay, well, what else?”

“Blankets, maybe. It’s pretty great. Artsy, but good. If you’re into that.”

Her eyes lit up. “I think I’ve heard of that, actually. It was reviewed on NPR.”

“You listen to NPR?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a dork. But I love it.”

“Isn’t it just all talk radio or something? I know they play at Coffee Haven all the time, but I usually tune it or listen to my iPod . . .”

“Ha! IPod, heh, Mr. High-Tech . . .”

“It’s freakin’ sweet, is what it is.”

“Maybe. I can’t afford one.”

“I got it for a birthday present, actually.”

“Oh, I see.”

They both paused, silence filling in. Kelly drank and looked outside briefly. Cars zoomed by. The silence was a little uncomfortable and Todd searched hard for something to talk about. He figured she had heard enough about comic books.

“You-you do know what the date is, don’t you?” she asked timidly.

Todd nodded solemnly “Yes.” He paused. “Where were you?”

She lowered her eyes. “Home, sick. I remember lying in bed when the phone rang. It was my Dad, telling us that a plane hit one of the towers. Between the time he found out and we turned on the TV, the second plane hit. You?”

“School. They tried to continue on with classes, but most of the teachers wanted to watch it all happen as much as we did. One of my teachers actually had a daughter living in New York.”

“Bet she was worried.”

“Yeah. She got a call from her in the middle of class. Grabbed her cell phone and answered it. I remember, it was a big deal because no one was allowed to use – or even have – a cell phone in the school. But she knew we wouldn’t say anything and it was pretty ‘fuck you’ to the administrators if they got on her about using the phone in class. But yeah, her daughter called, and she answered and she just broke down crying when she got the call. Her daughter was near ground zero.”

“Now we’re at war.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I remember being all gung-ho for the war in Afghanistan. Now look at this mess in Iraq.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I have a brother over there.”

Todd started. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s . . . not easy. He joined up so he could hunt down Osama. Now he’s running around Baghdad or wherever.”

“How does he feel about that?”

“He hates it. It’s not what he signed up to do and it’s not like he has much say. Thank God he only has one more year of this, and then, he’s out.”

“Crimeny.”

“It’s Bush, though. That fucking idiot.” She paused and looked at him, worried that maybe that was too much. Instead, he had a look of sadness mixed with curiosity and uncertainty. “Sorry. I’m a pretty hard-core Democrat.”

“Ah, well, so am I, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Yeah. I’m definitely not a Republican. I mean, I believe in God and all that, but eh, yeah.”

“Since when did Republican become the same thing as being Christian? I hate that. I’m a Christian too, but I can’t and won’t support Bush. All he’s trying to do right now is throw out all these so-called mid-western values to appeal to Christians. All this bull-shit about abortion, the space program, and gay marriage. It’s all just crap to win over voters.”

He avoided saying anything to contrary, though Todd wondered just what in the world the space program had to do with mid-western values. He also avoided saying that the Democrats were doing a very similar thing to what Bush was doing – appealing to left-winged values in the hopes of winning over their votes. He worried about offending her, but also, he worried about revealing that when it came to politics, he wasn’t very passionate.

“Just as long as we can get out of Iraq,” he said after a pause.

“Well, that’s the bitch of it, Todd,” she said now a little louder and it was only the very few times she had ever said his name. “It’s not just getting out of Iraq, y’know? It’s not like World War Two or Korea or even Desert fucking Storm. We just aren’t to raise our fingers in the air in the shape of a ‘V,’ declare victory, then head on out with a perfect mother-fucking country sitting there. We are stuck there. We are so god damn tangled up with these insurgents and rebels and fucking terrorists that we are stuck there for years. Bush can stand on a stupid air craft carrier and yell out ‘Mission Accomplished’ and fly a stupid jet as though we’ve captured Saddam and Iraq is the perfect country, but - ” She stopped, her heart thundering, her breathing heavy. A nearby couple were staring. She looked to Todd, her face burning with embarrassment.

Oh my God, he’s going to go running out of here at any second, she realized.

“I’m . . . sorry about that. I’m just – you can’t get me started on that subject without expecting me to get all sorts of worked up.”

He waved his hands. “It’s – it’s okay. You want to change the subject?”

She nodded. “Please.”

“What’s your major?”

“English, I guess. You?”

“Graphic Arts and Illustration.”

“You’re an artist?”

“Trying to be.” He picked his cup, which was now empty. “I actually, heh, am trying to launch webcomic, but I don’t know a damn thing about building a website.”

“My cousins run my uncles website for the convention center. I could ask them to help you.”

“Oh, thanks. Yeah, hook me up with their e-mail.”

“Sure.”

“So . . . English? Anything you can do with that?”

“I don’t know. I want to be a writer. I have a few blogs and I actually have my Associates Degree in Technical Communication.”

“What’s that?”

“Writing, like, for websites and catalogs and technical manuals. It’s . . . okay, I guess.”

Todd started ripping the overlap of the coffee sleeve off. “Where did you get your Associates?”
“Stark State. Every heard of it?”

“Nope.”

“That’s okay.”

“Big plans for tonight? Saturday night, y’know? Going out to party?”

“Nah. I gotta work tomorrow morning.”

“You?”

“Nope. I gotta work a few hours in the morning, and then I’m back up here around 12.” He slapped the table like a drum.

“Where do you work?”

“Manny’s Merchandise,” he said with very little enthusiasm. “It’s an outlet store.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“My Dad owns the chain.”

“Wow. I bet you’re pretty loaded, huh?”

“Haha, nope. Presidents of those places don’t make as much money as people think they do.”

“But enough to get an iPod, right?”

“Ha, yeah.”

“So what’s on your iPod?”

“A lot. Belle & Sebastian is frequent right now.”

“Who and who?”

“You’ve never heard of Belle & Sebastian? That’s – okay, that’s it. I’m officially making you a CD. And I’m giving you comics.”

She laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I’ll give you some Ultimate X-Men and B&S and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. You’ll have it Tuesday morning.”

“Okay.” She laughed again. “Sounds good. But what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What am I giving you?”

“I dunno.”

“I’ll think of something,” she said, eyes looking outside again. She sighed a little as the conversation dwindled into another awkward silence, though it was less uncomfortable this time. “I should head out soon.”

“Me too. I supposed to do some grocery shopping today.”

“I did mine yesterday. Is it just me or was the prospect of doing your own grocery shopping better than actually having to?”

“Agreed. It sucks.”

Kelly smiled broadly and stood up. “Welcome to adulthood, I guess.”

Todd joined her. “Thanks.”

The pair stepped outside.

“Tuesday?” he asked.

“Tuesday,” she answered.

Todd and Kelly walked to their cars and as they got in, there was a breeze that carried with it the first hints of autumn.