Mocha Me Crazy

by Kristen Flowers

  That left me staring at Hunter who was looking back at me with an amused grin. My cheeks flushed red as a few images of my fantasy from last night flashed in my mind. I tried hard to push the dirty thoughts to the back of my mind. The last thing I wanted to think about was what he looked like naked. I tried to remind myself that he was the type to high-five Cal and make some vulgar joke if he found out I fantasized about him the night before. I rang him up, but was so preoccupied with not thinking about what was making my cheeks burn that I rung up his refill wrong.

  “It’s, uh, it’s actually a White Mocha Americano refill,” he gently corrected me.

  My cheeks grew even redder. I was already starting to get flustered. Thank God, my hand wasn’t shaking when I reached across the counter to take his money. “I will not be asking for your name this time. I’d like to save us both the embarrassment.” I said as I pushed the cash register drawer closed.

  Hunter smirked, clearly unable to help himself. “That’s a shame because I have an even better one than yesterday. I thought about it just for you and, by the way, I wasn’t the one embarrassed yesterday.”

  My eyes narrowed as my face turned in to a mini scowl. He could clearly see my irritation.

  “Do I uhh,” he held up his empty coffee cup in the air, “Mocha you crazy?”

  I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him to refill his drink. I tried my hardest to hold back the smile that started to spread across my cheeks from his corny joke. Luckily, I was turned around so he couldn’t see it. I didn’t need to repeat his order under my breath like I usually did. If the embarrassment of ringing him up incorrectly wasn’t enough to drill the order into my mind, the man himself certainly was.

  “So, how long have you worked here?”

  I put the coffee refill on the counter and, completely ignoring his question, said, “If you’d like cream it’s over there.” I pointed to a small station in the corner of the shop.

  He looked at me with his eyebrows slightly raised and an amused smile curling at the corners of his lips. For once, he didn’t say anything. There were no inappropriate jokes or smart remarks. Something about that struck me and I gave in.

  “And I’ve been here for a month now,” I said in a tone that made it clear I wasn’t looking to further the conversation.

  That wasn’t enough to deter him. He was far too cocky to be put off by a tone of voice. He wrapped his hand around the coffee cup and leaned in, “Guess I wasn’t lucky enough to come in during one of your shifts until yesterday.”

  “I guess that means you know where everything is,” I told him curtly.

  Hunter leaned in closer. I could tell his arrogance saw this as a challenge. I was a challenge and getting me to talk with him wasn’t enough. The man might as well have had the words, ‘I will get you to go out with me,’ written on his face. What he failed to realize in his cockiness was that those sorts of things didn’t work on me.

  “I do, but if you’d like to give me a tour to keep your memory fresh, I’d be happy to be your guinea pig.”

  “My memory’s just fine,” I told him.

  “Among other things,” he said as his eyes lingered on my lips and then swept over my hair.

  I cleared my throat and scanned the coffee house, pretending to check up on the two or three other customers sitting down. Nobody needed anything and it didn’t seem like there would be new customers anytime soon. I tried to think of a way to get rid of him without being too rude. After all, I still had to remain professional.

  “Well, it’s a shame, but I’ve got to get going. There’s a lonely dog out there waiting for me.” He said before taking a slow sip of his coffee.

  Alice finally emerged from the kitchen after he left. I threw her an annoyed look for leaving me alone with him before mumbling, “I’m going to take out the trash.” I gathered up the trash bags and walked through the back door to the alleyway to throw them into the dumpster.

  I had just slung them inside the dumpster when I saw Hunter running toward me with a worried look on his face and an old dog in his arms.

  A leash trailed behind him and I instantly knew it had to be NotCat.

  Something was very wrong.

  I watched as Hunter breathed the cold air in deep. He was holding his best friend’s injured dog in his arms. He promised to take good care of NotCat and now…

  Now he was holding a dog in pain. Now his best friend’s companion of many years was whimpering in his arms and his breath was growing shallow. NotCat trembled slightly at first and then stilled before shaking again. The pain and the cold weren’t a good combination, especially for an old dog that had already gone through so much.

  “Please,” he cried out to me, “He- he needs help! We need…”

  “What? What happened?” I ran up to them confused and worried.

  I took a look at the dog in Hunter’s arms. His fur was a bit dirty and matted in some places. His mouth was open with his tongue hanging out, seemingly struggling for breath. I noticed one eye looked clouded and I wondered if that was a pre-existing condition or if it was caused by whatever had just happened.

  “We need to go to the vet,” he told me hurriedly, “He was hit by a car!”

  “Oh shit-” I breathed out.

  “It’s- it’s too far to walk, especially in his condition,” He was clearly trying to remain calm.

  “I- oh my- I know. I know. Let me help you. I’ll help you.”

  “What happened, old boy? How did this happen? How could I have let this happen?” Hunter held the dog closer to him.

  I was relieved to see the dog was still breathing, but I could see his leg was hurt and was clearly causing him a good deal of pain.

  I looked up at Hunter, then back at the dog, “I’ll help with him, with this. I- I can clock out early.”

  I looked at Hunter again and felt something warm at my core. He cradled the dog so close to him and the concern was obvious in his eyes and panicked voice. Hunter nodded and made a muffled noise that I could have sworn was him holding back from crying.

  I rushed inside to clock out. It was still an old-style machine with a paper puncher. I almost crumpled my time sheet in my haste, but eventually managed to get it through. Then it occurred to me a ride needed to be ordered sooner rather than later.

  Worry welled up inside me. What if the nearest ride took too long? I stared at the machine to clock out and shook my head and tried to think. I pulled out my cell phone and ordered an Uber to the coffee shop’s location. By some magical stroke of luck, there was one close by.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” I cried out in relief.

  Just as I grabbed my jacket, Alice came in. She gave me a confused look and then moved her gaze over to the jacket I was putting on.

  “What’s going on back here? I heard you shout something and now you’re making a run for it? Going after Hunter huh?” She chuckled.

  "Alice now's not the time," I said as I forced my arm through the sleeve of my jacket with lighting precision.

  She could sense the urgency in my voice. “Okay, so what’s going on?”

  She was looking at me like I was crazy, but maybe that was because I was so frantic. Maybe I did look like a crazy person. It didn’t really matter, at least not in that moment.

  “I- Look, I can't… There isn't time to explain right now! I just, I have to go!"

  “Oh, okay. Well if you need anything-”

  “Right. Thanks!”

  I made my way towards the back door before turning to give her a quick, apologetic look. Alice gave a small nod and I stepped back out to the alleyway. Hunter was leaning against the wall and cradling NotCat, his scarf draped over the dog.

  “How’s he doing?”

  “Not too great,” he said. There was worry written all over his face.

  “The ride should be here any minute,” I explained, “You wait here. I’ll tell the driver what’s going on and have him pull around back here.” I darted off and, sure enough, my phone started vib
rating. I ran up to the window and told the driver there was an injured dog that needed to be taken to the vet. “Don’t worry,” I assured him, “He’s being held in someone’s arms. It’s too far of a walk in his condition.”

  “That’s fine,” he said, “I’ll rush as much as I can!”

  “Great,” I shouted as I ran back to the alley, dodging a few snow piles.

  The driver followed me closely in the car before coming to a halt. I yanked the back door open and Hunter piled in with NotCat. I ran to the other side and sat down quickly, yanking the seat belt on and shutting the door in one motion.

  “We’ll get you there just as fast as we can, old boy. Just hold on for me, okay? Hold on for Cal,” Hunter whispered near NotCat’s ear.

  “I’ll rush it,” the driver reassured us.

  At this point, I finally turned to Hunter, “What happened?”

  “I walked outside and that’s when I saw him– I mean, I saw NotCat. He was already limping at that point. Right away I looked up and that’s when I saw a gold SUV screeching around the corner. It was obvious whoever was in there was hurrying to get out of the alleyway and out of sight. There weren’t any other cars around. So that has to be who hit him, right?”

  “Probably,” I replied.

  “Assholes.”

  “How can they hit a dog and just drive off? What the hell is wrong with people?”

  “People who think their time and money are too valuable for a dog. I don’t know. It’s messed up but… Cal. Cal wasn’t answering his phone because he’s in that movie and how am I supposed to tell him this when he finally does call me back?”

  “Well, hopefully-”

  “He trusted me,” Hunter interrupted, “I was supposed to take care of his dog and now I’m rushing him to the vet.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I tried to comfort him.

  “He even warned me about the collar. He told me to watch out.”

  “You can’t blame yourself.”

  “If I’d just gone outside sooner or at least checked up on him, I would have known. I could have stopped it.”

  I looked at Hunter sympathetically, but he was staring straight ahead. He wasn’t really talking to me; it was more like he was talking at me. He was letting everything out because he felt responsible. It was an accident, but as I looked down at the injured dog in Hunter’s arms, I understood why he felt that way.

  He turned to look at me. I had a hard time hiding my own worried look. Even though I hadn’t really known the dog, I was stressed about the situation. I was worried he wasn’t going to make it. Hunter gulped and held NotCat a little tighter to his chest.

  “One time,” Hunter said, “We were camping. NotCat was out, sniffing around, you know how dogs are. It was a calm day and it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Then we heard a loud yelp. There was a moment of silence before we heard his frantic barking. We ran to check out what was going on. Just then a huge mountain lion ran away through the bushes. Even though he had a scratch and was bleeding a little, he chased off a damn mountain lion!”

  We both broke out in laughter as we looked down at NotCat with a smile.

  “He’s a tough doggy. He might be old and blind in one eye but… He’ll pull through.”

  “He’ll pull through,” I repeated in a whisper, just as the car stopped right in front of the emergency entrance to the vet center.

  There was no waiting in the vet clinic. It was clear NotCat’s situation was urgent, so he was rushed in to be checked. The vet came in to check him and felt his leg.

  “Lucky day for you,” she told the dog in a lighthearted voice, “No broken bones, it seems.”

  “Just a bad injury?” I asked.

  “A little,” the vet said, “But it could have been much worse considering he was hit by a car, right?”

  “Right,” Cassie breathed out in relief.

  The vet’s assistant entered the room and was given a list of items to bring in. The assistant was a young pretty woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She smiled at Cassie and I, but her gaze lingered longer on me. She didn’t even bother being subtle about it. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like Cassie was irked by it.

  “It won’t be too much to put the old boy back together?” I asked with a smile as I scratched his head.

  The vet chuckled, “He’s hardly being put back together. He’s a tough doggy.”

  “That’s exactly what he said on the ride over.” Cassie laughed.

  The vet looked at the two of us and smiled, giving a small nod. Her assistant came back quickly, pushing a small cart that had all the requested supplies. The assistant looked over at me before asking the vet if she needed any help.

  “No, thank you, Karen. You can get back to entering the lab results from earlier.”

  “Good luck to your very cute doggy,” the assistant told me with a rather brazen flirtatious smile, “He’s in very good hands.”

  “Thanks,” I smiled back at her.

  Cassie looked straight at NotCat. She looked like she was trying to focus only on the vet’s work and not the conversation I was having with the assistant.

  “Think she was talking about the vet or me with the ‘good hands’ comment?” I leaned in and asked Cassie under my breath.

  She turned to look at me. As soon as she spun around I could tell she wasn’t prepared to find our faces so close together. A smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. Cassie jerked her head back and then turned to look at the vet. It would have been embarrassing for her if the vet saw this awkward exchange but, luckily, NotCat was keeping her preoccupied. Cassie cleared her throat and shifted in her chair to be a little further away from me.

  “I’m sure she was talking about the vet,” she told me curtly.

  I held out my hands out like I was some kind of hand model on display, "I don't know. I think these are pretty good hands right here."

  Cassie scoffed and turned her attention back to the dog, “You should be focused on the dog, not on flirting.”

  “Who’s flirting?”

  “I was talking about the assistant,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Sure you were,” I laughed, turning to look back at NotCat. Cassie opened her mouth to object, but I interrupted her as I spoke to the vet, “You work quickly. I can tell you know what you’re doing. Thank God!”

  “Thank you,” the vet said as she continued to work, “I’ve been doing this long enough that I’d hope I know what I’m doing.” She laughed before she went on, “So how long have you two had him?”

  Cassie shook her head, “Oh. Oh, no.” I shot her a look, “He isn’t our dog.”

  The vet paused briefly to look at us like we were a pair of crazy people. Was it really that crazy if we brought in a stray dog, though? Maybe. If there were people who were fine hitting a dog and driving off, it was unlikely that someone would rush in a stray with such worry.

  I laughed, “The owner’s my best friend. He’s at the movies and hasn’t bothered to answer any of my calls.”

  “Ah,” the vet said, “That makes more sense.”

  "This won't be too pleasant a surprise when he does call me back, though."

  The vet smiled sympathetically, “At least you’ll be able to deliver the news wrapped with a bow. The dog should be just fine.”

  “Thank you so much,” Hunter told her genuinely.

  The vet smiled and excused herself, “I just want to run a couple quick tests. We can never be too sure, you know. We’ll be back before you know it.”

  “She was acting like NotCat was our child when we first came in,” Hunter laughed after the vet left the room.

  “I could never be with a guy like you.” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Why not?” He sounded slightly offended.

  I practically glared at him. “You’re just… Well, you’re too ‘free spirited.’ Honestly, you make me think of my mother.”

  “Well that’s not something a guy wants to ever hear,” he joked.


  “Oh, you know what I mean,” I snapped.

  “Well, just so you know, I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as ‘free spirited’.”

  “Oh no?”

  “No,” he said, “But I would describe you as too serious.”

  “I don’t recall asking you how you’d describe me,” I told him quietly.

  Even if it came from a guy like him, I had to admit, the words stung. After all, I was still recovering from the conversation with my mother where she lectured me about needing to enjoy life.

  “Guess not, but I also didn’t ask if you could ever be with a guy like me,” he countered. “You strike me as a classic Vail, Colorado girl through and through.”

  “And what exactly does that mean?”

  “Too serious. It’s almost like you don’t know what ‘fun’ means.”

  “Excuse me? I have plenty of fun.”

  “You do? What do you do for fun? And don’t tell me it’s skiing.”

  I scoffed, “I do ski, but I also do plenty of other… crazy things.”

  “Like?”

  I exhaled and rolled my eyes, turning to look at the door where the vet had left with NotCat. Now would be perfect time for her to come back. Of course, I couldn’t will that to happen, but I also had nothing to say to Hunter. I was at a complete loss for ideas. And that lack of ability to reply to his question made a realization slowly dawn on me.

  I started to realize just how boring and serious I actually was.

  My thoughts must have shown on my face because Hunter chuckled. “I told you so.”

  I scoffed again and shook my head. I had to think of something, anything, to say. This wasn’t the way the conversation was supposed to go. This wasn’t the way my day was supposed to go. Everything was just so wrong and out of place. It was unruly and I didn’t know how to straighten it all out.

  “What? Are you mad because I caught you in a lie?”

  “A lie? What lie?”

  "You said you've done plenty of crazy things," he reminded me before a smirk took over his lips and he leaned in closer to mutter, "Women tend to play this little game. They like to lie and pretend they have more experience than they actually do.”