Intangible

[3] Salted Caramel Frappuccino

       They see each other every day for the three weeks following New Year's. Sebastian always orders a black coffee, and Eli always values the simplicity of the order and the companionship of the boy who orders it. The routine ends when Sebastian doesn't come around on a Saturday, and he shows up the following Sunday with a grimace—the first one Eli's ever seen on his face since he first started coming into the coffee shop.

       "You look like death," Eli tells him honestly, and Sebastian scoffs at him.  "So," Eli draws out, "your usual, with cream and sugar?" He's joking of course, but Sebastian looks murderous nonetheless.

       "Hey, you alright?" Eli asks seriously, immediately allowing the worry to show on his face. He gently grips Sebastian by the sleeve of his sweater, startling the boy from his thoughts. 

       Sebastian sighs and runs a hand through his disheveled dark hair. "Sorry, man. It's just I have this thing and it's messing with my head pretty bad." 

       "What sort of thing?" Eli asks, keying his order in with sharp punches as he looks at Sebastian. He can take his time and make conversation today because it's two in the afternoon, which means that the shop is unbelievably slow. The only people in today are the usuals, already seated in their typical spots and resolutely drowning out the rest of the world.

       Sebastian presses his right hip to the counter and huffs. "Well basically, Stacy persuaded me to go talk to her younger cousin, Darren, because he's," Sebastian puts both his hands on his hips and speaks in a high pitch voice, in what Eli figures is his Stacy imitation, "questioning his sexuality and he needs a knowledgeable person to speak with about that stuff, Sebby. And you're the only person I'm comfortable with permitting to talk to him because he's quite introverted and you're so...well you. Therefore, I figured you could help break him out of his shell. Maybe you can help him out, tell him what to say, what to wear, whatever. You're always such a big help and I would be forever in your debt if you just did this one tiny little thing for me."

       He huffs in what Eli assumes is annoyance before he lowers his arms back to his sides and starts back up again.

       "I keep telling her that I'm not her gay yoda, but that's still the same job she's made me take up ever since the first day we met. Oh, nobody wants to go shoe shopping? Take Sebastian. No one wants to take a trip to the day spa to get facials? Take Sebastian. Everyone refuses to go see Breaking Dawn Part 2? Take Sebastian and make him fork out the money for popcorn. She's the devil in disguise, I swear."

       "So you're sure you're not her gay yoda? You aren't one with the force now?" Eli asks, his lips twitching with amusement.

       "Oh shut up, you're enjoying this too much already, I can tell," Sebastian groans; he passes his debit card over the counter when Eli gestures for it. "The problem is that I don't really know anything about how to handle a 'gay crisis' or whatever she's calling it. I mean, it wasn't a big thing for me. It was one of those things I just knew, y'know? Like, I knew my favorite color was blue, that the Cubs were my favorite baseball team, and that I definitely had a thing for Johnny Depp growing up—still sort of do, actually. I'm the last person that should be giving advice about life choices. But yeah, I offered Darren a few sort of tips yesterday and now it's absolutely time for my own personal brand of heroin to block out all of that. So please give me a massive dose of what I came here for."

        Eli realizes Sebastian's referring to the coffee, but that still doesn't stop his heartbeat from picking up at the idea that he's what Sebastian's talking about. "So does this make me a drug dealer, then? Passing out coffee to the local addicts isn't really included in my job description; I'm at a lost here."