I'm going to look hot. Em and I are going to get our hair and makeup done tomorrow afternoon, too.
I pull open the door of the cafe, ready for the familiar blast of holiday music and the smell of brewing coffee, but I'm stopped dead in my tracks. What the heck is this?
'Hey,' Derek yells. 'Come in and shut the door. You are letting all the cold air in.' But I can't move. What happened to my Wired Joe's?
The place has been completely overhauled, or I should say it is still being completely overhauled. A crew of people I've never seen before are moving things around the store and adding various touches. The blue velvet chairs are gone and now there are several big velvety red loveseats with silver heart-shaped throw pillows. Every table is covered in a beautiful red tablecloth. The walls are covered with fabrics–all whites, silvers, and reds. Weird silver art pieces hang from the fabric. The blue, green, and white swirly covers of the lights hanging from the ceilings have been removed and replaced with red, white, and silver swirly covers. Beautiful antique-looking table lamps are set out everywhere, giving the whole store a more romantic lighting. Silver candelabras with red taper candles are set up on some of the shelves, and small canvases with quotes from famous love poems are spread throughout the store. All the tables have been removed from the north side of the store, and there is a big dark cherry-wood desk and a big Victorian-looking red velvet chair behind it. I run my finger along a large wooden sign lying on the desk, waiting to be hung. THE ESPRESSOLOGIST IS IN is artistically etched into the wood. Is this where I will be sitting?
'What do you think?' Derek asks, coming up next to me. 'Is the sign all right? We are going to hang it up behind you.'
'It ... it's amazing,' I finally say. It really does look beautiful. 'I can't believe how different the place looks.'
'It does look good,' he agrees. 'We needed a face-lift for the show. There are more touches we'll add tomorrow night. Things like rose petals on the table and such.'
I stare around the room. I suddenly feel people's eyes on me. The customers, ALL the customers, are looking at me. 'Why is everyone looking at me?' I whisper.
'Because they know about tomorrow and they know you are our Espressologist. You are a celebrity.'
'This is so wild,' I say. 'I'm going to go put my stuff down and relieve Daisy. She's giving me a dirty look. Not that that's a new thing.' I head toward the break room. I can feel everyone's eyes following me. It's hard having so many people stare at you! I'm going to have to run to the bathroom and make sure I don't have a booger hanging out of my nose or anything.
I've been taking orders for about an hour or so now and I'm semi–getting used to people staring at me. I'd really rather they not stare, but it isn't nearly as jarring as it was for the first fifteen minutes or so. I suddenly feel a whoosh of happiness as I see my number-one former regular come through the door.
'Gavin! I'm so glad to see you. Where've you been?
Did you give up coffee?' Gavin steps up to the register, leans over, and gives me a big smooch on the cheek.
'Hey, Jane.'
'Ooh la la, what was the kiss for? Not that I'm complaining or anything.'
'For finding me the love of my life,' he says emphatically. 'Simone?' I ask.
'Yeah. She's wonderful, she's just ... everything to me.
We're totally in love.'
'Oh, Gavin, I'm sooooo happy for you! Here, let me pay for your iced vanilla latte today. You know you were my first Espressology match, right?' I ask.
'No. I didn't even know you matched me until Simone told me how you hooked us up and Sarah explained the whole Espressology thing. I had to come in to see for myself.'
'Yeah, where have you been? You used to come in every day. What happened?'
He looks at me sheepishly. 'We've been going to the Wired Joe's near Simone's apartment.'
I grin. 'You two-timer!'
'I knew you were going to say that,' he says, laughing. 'So, it's like that, huh? A girl comes along and it's bye-bye, barista? Typical.' I shake my head. 'Aw, come on, don't be mad.'
'I'll forgive you on one condition,' I say. 'What's that?'
'Can you and Simone come in tomorrow night? The Gabby Girlz are going to be here interviewing me and since you guys were my first match, maybe they'll want to talk to you.
'Really? The Gabby Girlz? That's cool. Sure, I'll talk to Simone about it tonight.'
'Great. Here's your iced vanilla latte,' I say, passing him the drink. 'See you tomorrow, hopefully.'
'See you,' he says, and heads out the door.
16
'I swear I'm going to fall over right here and die of nervousness,' I announce to the room. We are in the living room of my apartment doing last-minute beauty touches before leaving for the coffee shop. Everyone is coming to the Espressology night with me: Mom, Dad, Em (though she will be working), Katie, and Ava.
'Stop moving,' Em says, breathing hot garlicky air in my face. Never a mint around when a girl needs one, is there? She's busily plucking at a few of my stray eyebrow hairs that seem to have appeared from nowhere. We're all dressed up (even Em bought a new outfit to go under her blue apron) and ready to go, but Em keeps finding things to fix on me. 'You have to look perfect. You are the star of the show.'
'Stop reminding me or I'll throw up on you right here and now, and you'll have to go home and change.'
'Well, we don't want you doing that, so I won't mention it again,' she says.
'Oh, honey,' my dad says. 'You look beautiful. I feel like I should be taking a picture of you and your prom date.' He laughs.
'It does kind of feel like that,' I agree.
'You do look stunning, Jane. I'm going to take a picture –everyone squeeze together and say 'Cappuccino!''
Mom says.
'Cappuccino!' we all yell. Click. 'Are we ready to roll?' Em asks.
'I guess it is now or never,' I say, thinking never sounds fantastic about now. Dad heads out ahead of us to retrieve the car from the parking garage. We troop down to the street to wait for him to pull around. I'm clutching my bag with my notebook and laptop inside.
'Relax, Jane,' Mom says, rubbing my hand. 'You can do it.' What a mom thing to say. How does she know that I can do it?
We pull up outside Wired Joe's and Dad lets us out. I suddenly feel like I should have rented a limo to bring me, since there is a long red carpet outside the store and it is sectioned off with red velvet ropes. There are, my god, what look like hundreds of people in line, watching me get out of the car. There is a big trailer parked right on the road, completely blocking traffic. It must be because of The Gabby Girlz. Suddenly there's a million flashes from cameras. It's like a fireworks show in front of my face.
What is this, paparazzi? Do I have paparazzi? I mean, no doubt there is a celebrity somewhere adopting a foreign baby that they should be taking pictures of, right? I'm not that interesting. But everywhere I look, people are taking pictures. People in line are holding up their cell phones in my direction and snapping shots. I stand there frozen with an undoubtedly stupid expression on my face, and I feel Em and Mom on either side of me lead me into the cafe.
