Once outside we joined Tsehay, and I looked around our small group. “It’s just us?”
Tsehay rolled her eyes as Elias negotiated a fare with one of the taxi drivers at the hotel. “Some of the staff have family who live in towns close by and went to stay with them for the weekend, and the others said they’re too tired.” She grinned at me. “So you’re stuck with us. Are you ready to do the Eskista?” she asked as she popped her shoulders back and forth.
Elias turned around in that moment and laughed as he gestured for us to get in the car. “Leave him alone, Tsehay. He might not want to do traditional dances.”
Despite my mother being Dominican, I wasn’t the most avid of dancers, but as per usual the desire to impress Elias had me wanting to act a fool. Once inside the taxi, I said to Tsehay, who was still trying to bop her head from side to side despite the cramped backseat, “I’m up for learning. But I’m not sure I can move my shoulders or my neck like that.”
Elias turned around and grinned at us. “We’ll teach you, Desta. You have your name to live up to, after all.”
My stomach clenched every time Elias looked at me like he and I were in on the same joke. It felt intimate in a way that freaked me out a little bit. Every minute I spent with him had me throbbing with a want I knew very well I could never ever act on.
We got to the place and were seated at a tall, round table, which was surrounded by low wooden stools. I glanced around, taking in the scene. The place looked more like a big event hall than the bar I expected, and there were a lot of people there already.
A server came by soon after we sat down to ask if we needed anything. Elias looked over to me and asked very seriously, “Would you join us in a coffee ceremony?”
I was already pushing it with the amount of coffee I’d had that day, but we had off tomorrow and I was not turning down anything Elias offered me at this point. “Sure,” I said with more perkiness than warranted.
Once we’d placed our orders, we turned our attention to the big stage and the performers who were dancing in the style of one of the Ethiopian tribes. I leaned over to ask which one it was and noticed that Elias and Tsehay were talking with their heads close together. They were sitting right next to me but were speaking in Amharic, and I had no hope of understanding a word they were saying.
I almost interrupted them when I saw the ghost of a smile on Elias’s lips at whatever Tsehay was telling him. It looked intimate. From out of nowhere, a flare of jealousy burned in my gut. I wanted to be the one sharing a secret with Elias, the only person to put that smile on his face. I wondered if there was something between the two of them. And the flare turned into a full-fledged fire.
Was I chaperoning a date?
A tap on my shoulder pulled me out of the hot mess going on in my head.
“The bunna’s here.” Elias’s smile was cautious, like he could tell something was bothering me.
I tried to smile back as I turned to look at our server, who was busy setting up, and tried to focus on the many things she was doing to get our drinks ready.
Coffee ceremony in Ethiopia was not in any way figurative. It was a communal and drawn out event, performed with great care. It was all done at tableside, and it had all the trappings of a ritual.
After observing for a moment, I sank into the warmth of Elias’s body as he leaned in closer to explain, “She’s going to roast the raw beans for us.”
I was very proud of myself for not shivering when his breath fluttered against my ear. His closeness making me forget my moment of jealousy.
Once I’d gotten it together and was mostly sure a moan wouldn’t come out of my mouth, I pointed at the clay pot that looked like a giant version of one of those oil and vinegar bottles. In the most controlled voice I could manage I asked Elias, “What’s this called? My mom has a few of them at home, but I forgot the name.
Again he looked delighted at my awareness of all things Ethiopian. “It’s a gebena. She’ll set it on the coals to brew and we will have bunna in a few minutes.”
The roasting beans already smelled delicious and I inhaled deeply. “This is great. It was on my list of things to do.”
He dipped his head and pointed to the corn kernels our server was pouring out. “It comes with popcorn.”
I nodded in appreciation. “As if the coffee wasn’t already perfect on its own, you guys had to make it next-level by adding a delicious snack.”
He let out one of those startled laughs that happened when I was being particularly farenji-like. “You are very easy to please when it comes to coffee.”
I moaned when I got another strong whiff of the roasting beans. “This place is going to ruin me. Coffee will never be the same again.”
Tsehay, who had been doing something on her phone, popped back into the conversation at my coffee addiction confession. “I’m sorry, but it is true. You have tasted the best now, so everything else will pale in comparison.”
For some reason, I stared at Elias while she
