Cup of Crime

Chapter 30 : Highschool Days

Bad word alert in this chapter.

Early in the morning, Howard went to open the cafe to find, not one but two customers already waiting at his door. One of which was his early bird customer Jay while the other was the recent newcomer, Ashley. Inviting the two in, they sat themselves down in the same table before proceeding to order.

When Howard left to get their order done was when Ashley began to talk business with gang member in charged of the printing shop. Sliding a profile photo of Candice who he saved the day before, Ashley didn't even need to explain before Jay read his thoughts and understood his request.

"The usual? Completely new identity? Does she have a name in mind?" Jay inquired for details.

"No. Her new name is up to you," Ashley stated.

"Understood captain. Leave it to me. I'll get it done by noon."

Ashley nodded in affirmation as Howard brought their drinks and pastry over. With his job done, Howard didn't stay around and instead went behind the counter to take a quick nap. He stayed up too late the day before accompanying Summer in waiting for Ashley and now, he was eager to catch up on sleeping. Seeing tired out Howard, Ashley and Jay spoke in a hush tone less they wake up a grumpy Howard.

The morning was slow as it was only after an hour did the next customer came in. Waking up from his short nap, Howard went to greet the two ladies Summer and Candice as they entered the cafe. Bringing them to an empty booth, Howard went through his everyday motions before ending back where he was.

Deciding it was one of those slow days, Howard still didn't intend on being idle, steaming some milk and brewing some coffee, he went ahead and began practicing his latte art. Carefully with a pitcher of warm milk and a stirring spoon, he began making cute art onto the lattes he made. When boredom takes over, that is when amazing feats are performed. Spread across the couter were cups of latte with chibi animal art, a rare sight that was immediately photograph by the curious Summer who came over for a look. After saving the photo, she went back to chatting with Candice.

"That's a lot of latte," Ashley commented. "What are you going to do if you can't sell them all?"

"Drink them."

"All of them? That's a lot. Enough to break Sebastian's drinking record in high school. Give me a cup," Ashley ordered.

Howard handed a cup to the gang captain. "How much is his drinking record?"

"I think it was around 15 cups of pure black coffee. That was a day!"

"I know Sebastian is a caffeine addict but 15 cups? You're messing with me right?"

"I wish I was. How many cups does he usually order when he comes in?"

Howard raised four fingers. "But that is just for the entire day!"

"Sebastian has a iron stomach and kidney. Once at a party, he finished off 12 bottles of alcohol and was still as sober as he came in which really makes me wonder why doesn't drink more when we get together."

"Just because he can handle it doesn't mean he likes it."

"Yeah. Guess you're right. Tobias on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He gets drunk on the first shot but insist that he could keep going. Then when he's completely lost it, he'll start yelling nonsense. I'm sure you heard a couple during our get together at your cafe that night."

"I heard some," Howard didn't continue for the sake of his own health.

"You heard about the 'kiss goodbye' bit involving Sebastian, didn't you?" Ashley knew it in his heart.