“Cafe?”
Mana and Mari look at me with a confused face.
“Yes. Brugière invited me yesterday. If you guys don’t want to, I can tell her later.”
“No no no, it’s okay for us, right Mana? I mean what about you Vil? Will your parents allow you to join them?” Mari asks.
Her face is full of worry.
“I think if you guys come with me there’s no problem with it. I can tell Gerry not to pick me up. It’s not like they would ask about me everyday.” I reply to them.
“Wait… didn’t we already plan this Friday we are going to prepare a math quiz?” Mana says remembering our study plan.
“How about we study together at a cafe? Also I heard Brugière mention that they have really delicious pancakes with caramel syrup.” I look at Mari and she gets my signal.
“Vil can teach us anywhere Mana! Also I’m so excited about this cafe! They said this cafe has the most delicious pancakes!”
As I thought, Mari will get the bait.
Mari, you are the best for these things.
Mana still looks at me worriedly.
“If the place is not crowded or noisy, I think I can teach all of you guys.” Convening them.
“It settled then!” Mari replies immediately.
Mana replies with just a nod.
“Alright. I will tell Brugière about this after school.”
**Friday after school**
We are waiting at our usual place for Colombain, Brugière, and Léger.
Brugière told us to wait there because Colombain and Léger drove their own vehicle to the school.
I feel my phone vibrating from my pocket.
Someone calling me.
Brugière.
“Good afternoon, Brugière.”
“Hello Vil, we have already arrived. Colombain with white lamborghini and Léger with the same color BMW. You can go with Colombain then the twins come with us.”
“Alright, thank you Brugière.”
Hang up the phone and tell the twins that they already arrived.
We hear Brugière's voice from the BMW.
She waves at us to come.
When I’m on my way to Colombain car, he is already at the door of the passenger seat.
He opens up his door to let me in.
“Thank you.” I say to him with a little smile.
He replies with a smile and nod.
His car smells strangely relaxing for me.
Somehow this smell is not rare for me.
“Good afternoon, Valter.” Colombain get into the car.
“Good afternoon.”
“How are you today?” He asks me.
“I’m feeling great, Colombain. Thank you for asking.”
“That’s the same for me. How’s you feeling about going to a cafe? Brugière told me you haven’t come to any kind of it before.” He tries to keep up the conversation.
“I do wonder though about this kind of place. They said that I’m going to love it because it’s calming and relaxing.”
“Well… we usually choose a place that’s not too crowded. Léger also dislikes some crowded or noisy places like you, Valter.”
“Really? Mari told me this place has the most delicious pancakes. Why is it not crowded?” Asking him with a curious voice tone.
He laughs a little from what I said.
“Haha… yes, sometimes this place is crowded though. But the manager is really close with us. I guess he can lend us to the VIP room if you want to, Valter.”
Colombain paying so much attention to me.
Only to say that I dislike it, he tries to comfort me in another way.
Maybe I’ll endure it a little if it is a little bit crowded.
“I need to take a look for it first. If it annoyed me, I’ll tell you guys immediately.”
“I hope you love this place, Valter. We also called this place our basecamp.” He says.
Basecamp? What a cute nickname though.
“How often do you guys hang out together?” This time, I'm the one who ask him.
“Hmm… let’s see." He taps the steering wheel "I guess twice a week? But sometimes three times in a week.”
“You guys really love these kinds of places.” replying to him.
“Hahaha true. Sometimes we tried other places though. Almost all the cafes we already visit in this town.”
“What are you usually ordering for Colombain?” this is my second question.
“Hmm let’s see… I guess coffee with a lot of cream or milk. For tea, I usually ordered Jasmine tea. Oh! Did you know that they can draw something on top of the coffee? Like one of my favorite types is the seahorse.”
Colombain looks excited when talking about this.
Seems like this topic is one of his favorites.
“Seahorse? How did they draw it?” I look at him with a confused face.
“From what I know is, they used milk to make the shape of it.” He explains.
A milk?! How can?!
This is so strange for me.
I don’t even know anything about this.
On the other hand, I don’t want to look absurd in front of Colombain or anybody.
Keep up the figure, keep up the figure.
Trying to calm myself down.
“Interesting.” almost cracking my voice.
Then the moment of silence fills the car.
Did I respond too coldly?
But to be true I don’t want to expose another of my weaknesses.
For example not knowing any of these things.
I don't know where the place is but Brugière said it only takes eight to ten minutes to get there.
“Say Valter, did you accept Célia's invitation with any reason?” Colombain breaks the silence.
“What do you mean Colombain?” I look at him with the same confused face.
“I mean I don’t actually know how you look at me but don't we have something? The three of us.” He says nervously.
Everyone’s really thinking about that night we made.
But there’s no rules about any of this right.
There’s no single mistake that I hang out together.
“I don’t think we have rules that we can’t get close to each other though.”
“Yes I know about that. But do you really accept it without any reason?”
Somehow it’s frustrating me though.
Why can’t he believe me that I just want to hang out with the others?
“Colombain. What kind of person am I in your mind?” I say coldly to him.
Almost like my voice tone if I’m talking to Mr. Sneg.
Looking at him but his response somehow is not what I think.
His face turns a light pink.
Evening effect? Or there’s something else?
But his face also changes into something that I can’t even read.
What’s wrong with him? Did I just say something annoyed him?
“Well… for me, you are a wonderful person, Valter.” Finally Colombain replies me.
His voice tone changed a little bit from before.
It looks like something different from him before we have this conversation.
Averting his eyes from me.
Is it because the colour is orange? Does he always act like this around me?
“Say Colombain, what do you…”
“Ah! Here we are. This is the place where we usually hang out together, Valter.”
Because of that I jolt a little bit from my seat.
That's really surprised me.
His voice raises a little more than before again and the face colour is still a little bit pink, maybe a bit redder.
When he parks the car, he rushes out of the car just to open up my door.
“Thank you, Colombain. But you don’t have to do such a thing for me. We’re friends here.” I respond to him.
The colour of his face returns to the normal colour.
No more pink shape.
“It’s fine Valter. I usually did this to others.” He says then closes the door.
“Alright! Here we are! Welcome to our best cafe in the world!”
The cafe has two floors.
First floor for the indoor and the second floor half of it is outdoor.
It seems cozy even from outside.
Hopefully, there’s only a few people in there.
This place is not too small or big.
The wind blows also feels so refreshing from here.
I think I love this place.
“Hmmm… I can smell the pancakes coming from this cafe!” Mari says excitedly and raises her voice, almost like she’s shouting.
“Who's ready for pancakes?!” Brugière continues her from behind.
“Let’s go in already!” Both of them say that and rush into the cafe.
Mana and Léger wave at us then follow the other two.
Well... they left me again, alone with Colombain.
But I guess they already trust our new friends and love this place.
Seeing how excited they are, already enough to make me happy as well.
“Should we join them?” Colombain asks me from behind.
“Maybe I’ll take a slower walk to get in there. I want to enjoy this kind of sensation and view.” replying him.
“Alright. I’ll accompany you, Valter.”
I’ve never felt something like this before.
The smell from inside the cafe.
It’s quite nice for me.
Maybe I’ll join them more often with the twins.
Also the twins look like they really enjoy coming here.
But still, I can feel someone still stared at me.
Well, I’m a Valter after all.
There’s no way someone wouldn’t notice me and maybe for them it’s rare for me to come to this kind of place.
But I don’t care about it for now.
I just want to enjoy this luxurious moment.
When we reach the front door, Colombain opens the door for me once again.
The time I step into the room, I’m astonished from how this place greets me.
The smell of fresh coffee is a lot better than my place.
Relaxing piano and violin music.
They also have the stage to perform live music.
It’s more than I expected.
I’ll add this place as one of the most favorite places after my own bedroom.
“Soo… what do you think?” Colombain asks with a little teasing voice.
“It’s perfect and lovely. Thanks Colombain for inviting us to this kind of place.”
That shape of pink on his cheeks came back to him.
“Haha… don’t thank me. The one who invited you is Célia.”
I can hear his laugh a little bit nervous.
“Still. I need to thank you guys for this.”
He smiles softly at me.
How this person treats me so different from the others, even my parents.
Then I replied with my own sweet smile.
“Viilll… you need to order the pancakes! I can smell it soooo delicious!” Mari says from the casier.
“What do you guys order?” I ask the twins.
“Mari and I got the same order, Vil.” Mana replies.
I’m looking at the menu cafe on top of the counter.
Rubbing my chin to think what I’m going to order.
Maybe I can get recommendations from the twins.
I look back at my shoulder only to find Colombain standing beside me.
He’s waiting for me to take the order.
“You want to order first?” I ask him.
“No no.. you can go first, Valter. I don’t mind.”
“Hmm… I don’t know which one I want to try. They look really delicious and make me want to try them all.” I’m looking at the menu curiously.
He chuckles from my behind.
“Hahaha… I see I see. Do you want me to pick it for you?” Colombain asks.
“Sure.” replying to him.
“Maybe you can try the red velvet cake. Especially the crepes one. And for the drink maybe you can try the milk tea.” he suggests.
Furrowing my brows when he says ‘tea’.
Maybe it’s fine If I’m telling just one of my weaknesses.
“To be honest Colombain, I don’t really like drinking coffee or tea.” I say to him.
“Oh? Really? Hmm… let’s see… " He looks at the menu once again.
That's it? That's the only response from him?
At the moment, I thought that he will at least judge or laugh at me.
Why is it so hard to predict his reaction towards me..?
Ah! How about brown sugar with fresh milk? You can add topping on it, like boba, grass jelly, pudding, and the others.” That's his second suggestion.
“Boba? What’s that? And pudding in a drink?” I ask him with a confused voice.
He looks at me with a surprised face.
At this moment, I realize that I just opened another card of my weakness to him.
Then he chuckles a little from my response to him.
“You can try the brown sugar boba. Maybe you’ll love it.” He tries to convince me.
“Alright." Try to reply him as normal as before "What about you Colombain?” I ask him.
“Hmmm… maybe I’ll order boba too this time but mine is milk tea. And for my food, maybe I’ll choose the cheesecake.” he replies.
After we are done ordering, we are going to our seats.
The others look like they are having so much fun together.
I take the seat right next to Mana.
Then, Colombain follows me to sit beside me.
After a moment passes by, the waitress comes to our table with our drinks.
When the drinks come, I raise one of my eyebrows.
What’s this black thing? Can I really drink this?
Small chuckles beside me.
Just realize that I might ruin my figure again.
“That’s the boba, Valter. The boba in here is really soft and sweet. Trust me.”
Does it really taste like that? Well, Colombain said it’s sweet.
When I take a sip of it, the taste of fresh milk combined with brown sugar is really sweet.
Every single sip from it, I love this very much.
The taste of the boba is melting inside my mouth.
I love it so much! I want some more!
Colombain notices my surprise look when I drink it.
“See? It’s good right? How does it taste?” he says.
“I loved it very much. The boba is so soft! Can I have some more of it?”
He looks at me with a surprised face once again.
Whoops.. My figure ruined.
But his reaction was opposite from my thought.
He smiles softly at me then raises his hand to call the waitress.
He’s not judging me? Why though?
“Excuse me ms, Can I have more boba?” He says to the waitress.
“Of course we can Colombain.” The mistress replies.
“Please put it into a small bowl so we can share it together.” He adds it.
The waitress responded with a smile and nod.
“You guys can request anything here? Even more boba like that?” I ask him.
“Of course we can! Célia told me that I can order double pancakes!” Mari answers.
She’s too excited about her pancakes.
“Mari please don’t eat too much. Remember we need to study after eating this.” Mana tries to warn her twin.
The three of them look at Mana.
Did they forget about the upcoming quiz?
“Study? You guys planning to study for what?” Brugière asks.
“Math quiz.” I answer her.
“Dang I completely forgot about that. Gofar, do you remember about this?” Léger asks Colombain.
“Yes. Actually, I’m planning to study on saturday night .” Colombain replies.
“You should have told us sooner!” Brugière and Léger raise their voice a little to Colombain.
Colombain startled a little when they did that.
“How about we all study together right now? You two can use Mana book or mine then Colombain can shared book with Vil.” Mari says
When Mari says that, Colombain looks back at me.
“Is it okay, Valter? I mean.. you know what I mean right?” He asks with hesitation.
“There’s no rule about can’t teach or be friends with each other right? I guess it’s fine.” I reply to Colombain.
“Alright. If you are okay with it, I would love to study with you guys.” Colombain says.
Then the waitress comes to our table once again to serve our food.
“Well… the study can wait! I need to finish these beautiful pancakes first!” Mari starts to dig in her pancakes.
Red Velvet Crepes.
There are so many layers in one slice, cream on every single layer, and on the side of the cake there’s a lot of cheese.
I’m sure I made the same face when I drank the boba before.
It’s cheese cream. Dang I love cheese so much!
“So? How does it taste?” Colombain asks me.
He probably notices me once again or maybe this time he’s waiting for me to eat it?
Nevermind of it, this cake is so delicious!
My figure already ruined twice before.
Maybe today I don't really need to keep up my figure.
“Perfect. Best cake I ever eat. How can they make it so delicious?! I like every bite in it!” replying to him.
“I’m glad you love it. Mine is cheesecake though. Not so bad from yours.”
I take a look at his cake.
It looks full of cheese though.
The bottom layer base is made from crushed cookies.
On top of it is a mixture of cheese and it looks so soft.
Then the last part, there is cheese cream again with strawberry fruits.
I want to try that one too!
With that, Colombain already read through into my mind.
“You want to try it?” He offers his cake.
“Well… It looks so delicious. And I love cheese very much.”
Then he cut his own cake into a smaller size.
He tries to feed me with his own fork.
“Here.”
Then I eat it without any hesitation.
The cheese and the cream melting inside my mouth.
“How is it? Which one better?” He asks.
“I love them so much. But I guess red velvet won my heart.” replying to him playfullly.
“Aww… Cheesecake got rejected.” Colombain says with a teasing voice.
I let out a small chuckle.
“Well one more bite maybe I’ll choose cheesecake next time.”
This time, I’m the one teasing him.
“Alright. You need to get the best bite of it then" He says then scoops the strawberry with the cake "with the strawberry.”
Once again he feeds it to me.
The taste of strawberry just fit perfectly with the cake.
If I’m going to order it, I’ll let this be my last bite.
The cake makes me forget the people around me.
For the twins, they are too busy eating their own pancakes.
Brugière and Léger are watching us.
Looking at Brugière, she has that wide smile on her face.
“What?” I respond with a confused voice to them.
But to be honest, I don’t know why they are looking at us.
Is there something wrong with us?
“Nothing, nothing. It just Colombain watering his seed huh?” She says with a teasing voice.
With that, Colombain replies immediately with his voice raises a bit.
“Shut up, Célia!”
Don’t get any single clue of what they are talking about.
But Colombain makes that face again with the pink on his cheeks.
It’s redder than before.
Well… nevermind. I love this cake! Maybe I’ll get another slice of cakes later.
Comments
Post a Comment