A Cup of Romance

Jynx is a 23-year-old Barista at a Cafe called How You Brewin'. Jynx woke up at a beautiful 4:30 am knowing they had to be at work by 6:30 am to open the cafe. Arson, their black and white boxer pit mix, with his blue diamond eyes looked over at Jynx like he was trying to tell them to go back to bed for some more puppy cuddles. Even though Jynx wanted to agree with Arson, they knew that it was way too late to call out now. They grab the covers and pull them to the side. Slowly, Arson starts to stretch and takes a big yawn. "Hey buddy, I know you are tired, but we gotta get up and ready for the day after work. I'll come home and we can have a movie full of snacks and puppy cuddles. Does that sound like a good plan?" Jynx asked. Arson perked his head at the thought because he knew he'd be getting popcorn and belly rubs. Jynx opened their bedroom door and walked down the hall towards the back door to let Arson go to the bathroom. Jynx doesn't even have to think they know their morning routine by heart. While Arson is stretching his legs outside, Jynx heads to the bathroom. They brush their hair and put their long emerald green wavy hair into a messy bun and started brushing their teeth. They suddenly hear a bedroom door close. They thought to themselves it was probably their 15-year-old younger brother Art and sure enough it was. He looked like he was half asleep as his tall skinny figure was walking to the back door to let Dude out. Dude is Art and Rivers' dog. He's a 6-month-old fluffy golden retriever with honey-golden eyes. Dude is always bursting with puppy energy. Jynx finishes with their winged eyeliner and puts on mascra. They heard a buzz on their phone and thought to themselves "what now?" just to see it was a text from their best friend, Aubrey, "Hey, are you working this morning, because if not, I'm not coming in to work today?" Jynx laughed, and responded back, "Yes Aubrey I am working this morning from 6:30-3 pm today." Jynx opens the back door to let Dude and Arson back into the house. Dude gallops into River's room to wake him up so that he can start getting ready for school. Jynx walks past Art's room just to see that he's almost ready. Unlike River, his twin brother, who just woke up, Jynx looks at River and says, " Hey, you know that the bus will be here in 20 minutes. Make sure that you are ready by then, please." River shakes his head and asks, " Why is school useful again? Because they don't teach me all the actual important stuff that I'll need to know, like taxes." Jynx looks at River, "River we talk about this every day, it's because the government says you have to do so unless you want to explain your reasoning to them, I suggest you get dressed, and get outside." Jynx goes into their room to find Arson just snoring on the bed all nice and cozy. They go into their closet and find a pair of ripped black jeans, an old ACDC band shirt, and a dark green pair of vans. They grab their black and white flannel that fell on the floor and put it on. Jynx looks around their nightstand to find their rings and necklaces and puts them on to complete their look. They hear the front door closing, which means Art and River are leaving for school. Growing up, Shelly and Bob , Jynx's parents, were never really there and if they were, they were fighting, arguing, and probably taking turns yelling at all three of their kids. Jynx always tried to make sure River and Art never got yelled at or heard them fighting by putting on something in the background to distract the boys from hearing it. Shelly is a short, overweight bartender at the local bar in town and Bob is the server there. They both work the night shift, so it's easy for all three of them to try and avoid them as much as possible. Jynx walks into the kitchen area to go and feed Arson and Dude breakfast. They put a scoop into each bowl. Dude was already gobbling down his food, but Arson was too busy snoring to realize his breakfast was ready. To make sure Dude doesn't steal Arson's food, Jynx picks up his bowl and moves it into their room. As Jynx puts down his food, in the corner of their eyes they can see that Arson has one eye open, debating whether it's worth it or not to get up and eat. Jynx knows exactly what will make him get up. They walked back into the kitchen to find the big bag of dog treats and grabbed two and handed one to Dude who was sitting like a good boy with his paw raised. Jynx shook his hand and then proceeded back into their room to find Arson exactly where they saw him last. "Hey, you want a cookie with your breakfast bud?" Arson shot up and ran over to Jynx with a big smile and drool coming out of his mouth. They handed him the treat and looked at their phone to see what time it was. "Dang, it's 6 already. I had better grab my keys and hope I don't catch any red lights." They said good bye to Arson and Dude and gave them both a kiss on their noses before they left to go to work. Jynx has been working at the cafe for the past 4 years. They cant wait to get to work and see all their friends, but most importantly, they cant wait to make them a big cup of coffee. Jynx grabbed their keys and sprinted towards Babydoll, Jynx's 2010 silver Jeep Cherokee. They turned the key and Lonely Day from System of a Down started blaring from the radio." Jynx thought to themselves,"So that's what I forgot to do yesterday", and quickly restarted the song. It's one of their favorites and will always play it when given the opportunity. With the sound of the guitar and the drums flowing throughout the car, they try and speed through the heavy morning traffic. Somehow, their head slowly remembers the night before. Their parents came home the night before drunk, as per usual. They both stormed into the kitchen where Jynx had just finished making dinner for Art and River to eat while they were finishing their homework with Jynx's help, of course. Jynx always made sure that the boys had everything and anything they needed in life, like food, clothes, homework, and most importantly, scholarships. Jynx promised themselves that they would always help the boys become whatever they wanted in life, career wise. Art has always wanted to be a writer and, because of that, Jynx has encouraged him enough that he came out of his shell a bit and has won 4 writing competitions. Meanwhile, River has big dreams of becoming a famous baseball player. He's been playing baseball at his school for the last 3 years. When he first told Jynx about it, they had no idea how to play baseball, but they did enough research and practiced every day until he got confident about playing enough to try out for a middle school baseball league, and he made it no problem. Jynx made Mac and Cheese with hotdogs for dinner, something to stick to the boys' stomachs. Shelly and Bob angrily marched into the kitchen yelling at each other about how much they hated their jobs and how bad their tips were that night. Jynx quickly looked at the boys and asked them calmly if they wanted to go into Jynxs' room and watch a movie while they finished their homework. The boys nodded, knowing why Jynx asked them to go into their room. They all sat on Jynx's bed with Dude and Arson lying on the floor looking at them begging for a bite or two of their mac and cheese. They put on a movie and ate the rest of their dinner. By the time the movie was over, Art and River finished both their homework and dinner, so they both went to their rooms and went to bed. Bob and Shelly's angry outbursts continued throughout the night, but Jynx knew that by the morning they'd be somehow asleep and couldn't bother the boys. Jynx snaps back into reality thinking, "I know the morning traffic is bad, but its never been this bad." The light turns green after what it feels like has been 20 minutes. One after another, each car goes; Jynx pulls into their usual parking space and sits there for a minute. They looked into the seat next to them and grabbed their vape and took a well-needed hit and tasted the apple mango lychee flavored-disposable. Jynx looked over to see Frankie and Aubrey getting out of their cars. "Well, let's go get this shift over with." Jynx said halfly, joking to their coworkers. They all three laughed while Jynx took another hit on their vape, before unlocking the door to the cafe.