Little Spark

9 - Common Grounds

After school on Thursday, I go with Luca to meet Candis and Apollo at Common Grounds, a house-turned-coffee-shop in the Cocoa Falls historic district. When we enter, they wave us over to a table next to the window that gives view to the street.

"Whoa," I say, looking around at the assortment of historical relics used as decoration. The wall behind the coffee counter boasts an assortment of old guns, and there's a belt holster hanging from the right antler of a semi-creepy buck head mounted on the wall behind the refrigerated pastry case. Another wall holds framed newspaper pages and old pictures, and a sign next to the doorway that leads to the restrooms reads, "Of Darkness and Light, there is no Coexistence". "This place is interesting," I say as I sit.

"Common Grounds has a real rich history." An older, round-middled man has appeared beside me. He reminds me of Neighbor James, but wider. "I grew up in this house," he continues. "My mama died when I was nine, and my daddy fell in love and married my caretaker a couple years after. Cocoa Falls has always been a sorta microcosm of racial reconciliation, but anywhere else, it would've been quite the scandal, white man marrying a black woman.

"Anywho, poor Emmett Till was murdered a couple hours north of here just two weeks after the wedding. Left us all pretty shell-shocked. In a fit of indignation, my daddy remodeled this lower level and made it a sorta open house. Called it 'Common Grounds' because he gave out free coffee to everyone who came in, regardless of their skin color." He looks around, nostalgia blushing up into his cheeks, and smiles. "I'm Theo Tate, proprietor."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Tate." I smile back and shake his beefy, extended hand. "I'm Bliss Myer."

His face lights up. "Myer, you say? Any relation to a Ginger Myer? She was my caretaker's niece."

"Yes, sir," I nod. "She's my grandmother."

His eyes go wide. "Well, I'll be darned...."

Apollo, Candis, and Luca, puzzled by Mr. Tate's reaction, look at each other and then at me. I feel like a cockroach under a magnifying glass. "Well, it was real nice meeting you, Bliss," he says after a beat. "Welcome to Cocoa Falls. If you need anything at all, you know where to find me." He walks away to greet another table.

"That was odd," Candis says, giving Luca and Apollo a nervous glance before clearing her throat. "Moving on, how goes your first-week's foray into the bush, Biggity Bam?"

"Okay, I guess. As Luca can tell you, English is awkward, but overall, not too bad."

"Sufah and her minion are in our class," Luca explains.

"Ah, I see," Candis says. "So what have you learned about yourself, B? I'm sure Lylah had some pansophical gem that everyone already knows about you."

"Oh, you mean my obsession with that blonde kid from the cafeteria?" I omit his name—and my library-stalking session—to hide my intrigue (Intrigue is not obsession, mind you).

"Speak of the devil..." Apollo lifts his chin toward the window. Reign, Duff, and a third boy I've never seen before sit on a bench across the street. Next to Thing-one and Thing-two, who are both pretty good-looking, the third guy looks downright majestic.

"Who's the pretty boy in the middle?"

"Remember how we noted an absent member of Club Suck in the cafeteria a few days ago?" Candis says. "That's him. Mauro. He's the king of the proverbial castle, jack."

"King of the castle?" Duff and Reign are laughing, but Mauro just stares off into the distance. My eyes dance over his aquiline nose, sharp cheekbones, and soft jawline. His deep bronzy skin practically glows in the sunlight. "He doesn't seem very... imposing."