"I know it's around here somewhere!" The athletic blonde frowned up and down the boardwalk as she glanced up at every sign she could see.
"Val, we've been at this for over an hour!" The short young woman behind her whined. "I've got to head back in a little while, can't we just swing by one of the many other coffee shops in the area?"
Valerie shook her head, "I'm telling you, Becca, it's worth it."
"How good can it be?"
Val attempted to remember the flavor and shuddered, "Amazing... like no other drink I've ever tasted."
"Did it have cocaine in it?" Becca stopped in front of her friend and eyed her with concern. "I've never seen you get so worked up over anything, let alone a dumb coffee."
"It wasn't dumb!" The blonde almost shouted. She realized how crazy she must have seemed with her aggressive body language and too defensive tone, and she sighed, "Anyway, I can't seem to remember where the place was, so let's forget about it."
Becca stopped and faced her friend with a look of concern, "Val, are you okay? I mean, really okay?"
Valerie laughed, "Yeah, I'm fine. Look, why don't you head out; I'm gonna stick around here for a little while and find some other place to have a drink."
The shorter woman huffed and shook her head, "You sure? you're being kind of psycho all the sudden; I'm not gonna see you on the news later, am I?"
Valerie laughed once more, "No, I'm good. I'll text you later, maybe we can get dinner after you're finished with work."
Becca gave her friend a final, scrutinizing look before pursing her lips and turning away, "Okay... I'll talk to you later then."
Valerie watched her friend walk away, and within moments she was mostly alone on the boardwalk.
The last week of summer was always an interesting study. Those that loved the fall and winter usually relished the transition, but Valerie was an avid lover of summer, and the transition always bummed her out a little.
The tall blonde was a professional tennis player and part time model for a sports clothing company. She always felt best during summer, and she disliked indoor matches almost as much as she disliked rain.
Currently, on the boardwalk she was pacing down, it was neither hot nor cold as late afternoon sun struggled to break through the late September gloom. Weather aside, the young woman was feeling far more morose than her situation warranted, and she felt a little lost as she glanced over the various shops that were closing early.
Months earlier, the very same boardwalk had literally been bursting with locals and tourists. Anyone who could get a spot on the boardwalk was guaranteed some foot traffic, and Valerie loved the feeling of being surrounded by so many people. She loved the beach and spent as much of her free time during the summer months there as she could, but it always made her incredibly sad to see how quickly all of the vibrant action went away with the heat.
None of this was what was making her so unhappy, however. Sometime in June, she'd come to the boardwalk and happened upon an out of the way, isolated cafe. The cafe was located a good distance away from the boardwalk, and strangely, there didn't seem to be anyone around it. There was an adorable v-board style sign that depicted a bright, classy looking rubber duck, and it was so peculiar that Valerie's curiosity had gotten the best of her.
Upon entering the cafe, she was taken back immediately by how much larger the interior seemed than the outside, but she didn't have much time to reflect on it because she was greeted immediately.
"Hi there, welcome to the Solitary Cafe!" A sweet voice graced her ears.
So much of the memory was muddled, even though it was only a few short months before. Valerie stopped walking as she looked down and remembered what she could of the experience, but every time she tried to recall it, the exact details seemed to elude her. She remembered that she'd ordered a frappe, her favorite drink, and the girl working behind the counter had flashed her the most adorable, most scintillating smile she'd ever seen, "Blended drinks are my specialty; I'm so glad you stopped by today!"
Somehow, Valerie could remember the girl's words, but she could scarcely remember what had happened between the time she ordered the drink and the time she walked out with it. The girl... whoever she was, had captivated her in more ways than one, and Valerie had left with a feeling of exhilarated nausea that was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
"You like your coffee very sweet, yes?" the barista's voice echoed in her head as she tried hard to recall the conversation.
It was true, Valerie enjoyed overly sweet beverages, but the way that the girl working the counter had said it was almost like she knew, like Valerie had been there many times before. Valerie, of course, could only agree with a nervous smile, and the next thing she knew, the baristas hands were flying down a bar of various powders and syrups.
The rest was a total blur, and Valerie was left standing outside of the cafe. She held up the drink she'd been given and examined it closely. It was perfectly blended and layered, and she'd never seen a frappe with so much body and texture. She remembered hesitantly bringing the straw to her lips and taking a sip, then...
"The best drink I've ever had in my life," Valerie muttered to herself as she kicked a rock down the rugged, weathered pier. She looked up at the sky and chuckled to herself as a small breeze blew her hair about, "Maybe I am crazy," she told herself. The whole experience had been completely surreal, and the more time that passed the more she felt the memory slipping away. There was something about the cafe worker that made her heart pound fiercely, and the feelings that the barista had incited in her were wildly and disturbingly romantic.
"Whatever," Valerie said as she stretched languidly. Her whatever didn't sound convincing, but she told herself that she needed to get over it, or Becca might actually see her on the news. It was crazy to go wandering around a sad boardwalk looking for a mysterious, random coffee shop that probably didn't exist anymore. Properties surrounding the coast were overpriced and volatile in their growth, and business were constantly shutting down and reopening all over the place every week.
Valerie wandered back heading in the direction of her parked car. On the way, she spotted a coffee cart, and she approached it slowly, "Excuse me, are you still open?"
The man working the coffee cart was perhaps a little older than she was, and she smiled widely, "I was just about to close up, but if you want a drink I can fix one up for you."
Val smiled, "I don't suppose you can make a coffee frappe?"