Baby Blue part 1

Baby Blue sauntered up to the counter. He was informed by a merchant a few gates down that the other place served ‘hot coffee and all the other drinks.’ He was now at that other place, the one that peddled bagels bearing the surname of a theoretical physicist, and perhaps that scientists’ brother as well. Or maybe it was just a coincidence, a rather clever ploy of marketing. No matter what the backstory was for this establishment, he was there, in hopes of a hot cup of coffee to perhaps add some fuel to the remainder of the trip.

“Can I help you?” The woman sitting at the register abruptly said, as Baby Blue briefly scrutinized her seemingly disgruntled face as she entered in the order no sooner than the words left his mouth. After paying with the credit card in his hand, she made a remark about her ‘shoes being off’ (behind the counter of a food establishment nonetheless) and ‘still being on her break.’ She gestured to his right, where he could pick up the coffee.

A fellow traveller, a rather pretty petite blonde in pink comfy pants and a sweatshirt was awaiting her order, examining her phone. Baby Blue jokingly said “cheers” and raised his paper cup, to the amusement of the blonde traveller. Indeed, the coffee was hot, and he swapped it between his right and left hands for a short walk, until he came upon the original establishment that could not fulfill the coffee request, and applied another paper sleeve to blunt the volcanic temperature, which he wished were slightly more tepid.

After arriving to the gate, he took a seat in the row closest to the boarding door to the jetway. Well, naturally, since he would be boarding in the last group, inconveniencing a number of other travelers by going to the rear of the plane and taking a middle seat, he might as well sit close and wait long.

“This coffee sucks.”