by Andrew Reise
Alan looked at him and felt some sympathy. He opened his mouth. "Well, hold on a second. There really might be a solution."
Zachary suddenly looked at him with hope in his eyes.
Alan went back into the kitchen. When he came back out he was carrying a cup. It was filled with cappuccino.
Tom chimed in at this point. "I thought you don't serve cappuccino in the morning."
Alan nodded. "I don't. This is the cappuccino I served him yesterday. I anticipated that something like this might happen."
Zachary's eyes widened as he realized he'd been seen through by Alan from the beginning. Then his expression darkened as he realized where this was going. "You don't mean…"
Alan nodded at Zachary. "If you drink this then you will have finished your drink and I won't have to blacklist you. Well, it's up to you if you want to drink it."
Zachary stared at the cold coffee that had presumably been sitting out since yesterday. He looked desolately at Alan who stared back at him uncompromisingly. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and grabbed the cappuccino and chugged it down.
He smacked the cup back onto the counter, his face turning pale as the now ruined taste of cappuccino hit him. The cream had turned slightly sour too, and he fought to keep the drink down.
Alan nodded.
The system's voice rang out. "Zachary Taylor has finished his cappuccino and is therefore no longer blacklisted from the cafe."
"I can serve you coffee now." Alan said.
Zachary waved him off, clutching his stomach. "I'll be back in the afternoon." He gasped out before running outside. Some unlucky street cleaner would have to clean up some vomit in an alley later no doubt.
Tom eyed Alan. "That was pretty hardcore. He was just a kid, you could have let him off."
Alan shook his head. "He's not that young. He should know better than to hurt someone's livelihood like that. And going forward he will."
Tom barked out a laugh. "That's for sure. Today's lesson isn't one he's likely to forget anytime soon."
Tom had been sipping on his espresso this whole time, enjoying the flavor. However, now he felt it had cooled enough, so he reached out and downed the remainder like a shot.
He hummed in satisfaction at the warmth that filled his stomach and seemed to radiate to the rest of his body.
"Well, I'll be back in the afternoon for a cappuccino. Until then." Tom nodded at Alan before leaving.
Alan picked up the empty shot glass and cup, took them back into the kitchen, and put them in the dishwasher.
Then he came back out, took a rag and wiped the counter, waiting for his next customer to come in.
Chapter 13
Though business had dropped off, Alan still found that he had a pretty steady stream of customers. The cafe never came close to being full like it had been over that two day period, but he had customers. He also started to notice some familiar faces.
The lady named Claire, whom he had come to learn was a corporate litigator, came by around noon and got a cup of coffee. As usual she took a place in a leather armchair and pulled out documents that she read through, occasionally putting pen to paper and writing notes or crossing something out.
Meanwhile, Alan noticed a tired looking young man who had started coming more often sitting at one of the dark wood tables along the wall. He had pulled out a laptop and was typing furiously away on it. Periodically, he would sip his coffee as he did so. Alan had come to know that this young man was named Richard. Richard was a university students. Originally Alan had been curious how Richard could afford to come to his cafe. As it turned out, Richard was a published author. His novel had been a bestseller so he found himself with money to afford coffee at a place like this.
Richard, truthfully, was a frugal person. Afterall he couldn't say if his next novel would be a success, so he had to be careful with spending the money earned from his first novel. However, he found that he was better able to write when he was at Lux Cafe.
Alan felt a sense of satisfaction seeing he had some steady customers. The rush of the past few days had been exciting, but when it settled down, Alan was much like Richard in that he couldn't rely on a rush of business like that happening every month. He needed to pay the bills, and his debt was ever looming. Thus, seeing that his regular business was expanding he felt some sense of comfort.
"Should I implement some sort of reward system for regular customers?" He pondered to himself before pushing that idea aside. It was still pretty early to consider doing that.
As Alan was pondering this, the door opened and the bell rang as a customer he was familiar with entered.
Gerald approached the counter. Alan nodded a greeting at him. He didn't know Gerald too well but Gerald had provided him with a huge boom to his business. As a result, he felt grateful to Gerald.
However, Gerald did not appear to be in a good mood. "Did you lie to me about what coffee you use?" He asked demandingly.
Alan was taken aback. "What was all of this about?" He thought as he shook his head and replied to Gerald. "No. The coffee I use is from Prosperidad coffee farm in Colombia. Why? Is there some sort of problem?"
Gerald looked doubtful. "I had my chef make some and it didn't taste at all like your coffee."
Alan suddenly understood what had happened. He felt a little smug, though he hid it. "How could your chef possibly compare to the perfected recipe of the system?" He thought to himself.
Out loud, he simply shrugged and said, "The same coffee brewed different ways will have different flavors. Isn't that obvious?"
Gerald was somewhat speechless. He really couldn't argue with that. Still, he couldn't believe that his chef was inferior to Alan in this aspect.
Alan could see Gerald's doubts. He sighed. "I wouldn't normally do this, but since you helped me out recently I'll show you the receipts for the purchase."
He went back into the kitchen. There was a desk in one corner with a file drawer on it. He opened it and leafed through the files until he found his receipts of purchase for the Colombian coffee. Then he brought them out for Gerald to see.
Gerald was helpless now that he saw the irrefutable proof in front of him.
"I'm sorry," He apologized to Alan. "It's just my chef is unable to replicate the flavor of your cappuccino. I'd like to order a cappuccino."
Alan pointed to the wall. "It's not yet three o'clock so I'm unable to serve you a cappuccino. However, I can serve you either regular coffee or espresso. All of our coffee drinks are made with Prosperidad coffee beans."
Gerald considered for a moment and decided to order himself a regular coffee. It was as much to apologize to Alan for his rude behavior as it was anything else.
Alan nodded his head and went to brew the coffee. Meanwhile Gerald surveyed the cafe. He once again noted that the interior was well designed and fit with the luxurious concept of the cafe. He took a seat in one of the leather armchairs. Claire briefly looked up from her work before dismissing him and looking back at the papers she had.
Gerald observed her and thought it might not be a bad idea to try working here in the future. He could get a cappuccino in the evening while reviewing some documents.
Alan soon brought him his cup of coffee.
Gerald sipped at it and was surprised that the flavor was exactly what he had been looking for. When he'd first come here the flavor of the cappuccino hadn't shocked him or anything, he just thought it tasted like good coffee. However, now, after his own chef had been unable to match this flavor, he now felt it was quite impressive.
It wasn't easy to create such good coffee. The most noticeable point was that it wasn't overbearing. It was rich, but not heavy. Bitter, but not to the point it overwhelmed your palate. It was a really delicate balance of flavor.
Gerald sighed in contentment as he sipped at it.
Alan, meanwhile, celebrated at the counter. Another rich guy fell for the bait. At this point he was able to guess that Gerald would become a regular in the future.
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He grinned to himself.
Gerald left after finishing his coffee, promising he'd return in the evening for a cappuccino.
As 3 o'clock rolled around, more customers rolled through the cafe. They were the people who hadn't gotten a cappuccino previously, or who had but wanted to try it again.
Alan was feeling whimsical today, so for the foam art he decided on an image of a nebula. The result even astonished himself. The difficult part had been expressing the different shades of color that appear in a nebula, not to mention the brilliance of the stars. The result obviously couldn't compare to a photograph of a nebula, but still managed to capture the magnificence of space.
"If this cafe thing doesn't work out I might have a future as a painter," Alan mused to himself.
"Impossible, Host. Painting is very different from creating foam art." The system spoke up.
Alan was speechless momentarily before responding, "System, can't you let me dream?"
"Host, it's better to be grounded in reality."
Alan shook his head, helpless at this response.
He began serving the cappuccinos, all of which received a fantastic response from customers. If he checked Twitter he'd probably see a number of tweets with pictures of the cappuccino.
Afternoon slowly turned to evening.
As evening rolled around, an expected face appeared in the door. Zachary Taylor walked through the door. He looked slightly gaunt, and Alan could imagine the way he'd spent the past few hours.
"What can I get for you?" He asked.
Zachary eyed him dourly. "I'll take a cappuccino please."
Alan nodded his head and went off to prepare it.
Zachary gingerly sat in one of the chairs at the counter. He looked around and was surprised to see Gerald in one corner sipping a cappuccino.
Wasn't this what started the conspiracy in the first place? He was extremely tempted to sneak a photo and tweet about it, but as he thought about it his stomach rumbled with discomfort and he was forced to remember the way everything had turned out before.
He took his hand away from his phone and waited sullenly for his cappuccino to come.
When it did he was taken aback by the nebula on the cappuccino. He couldn't help but sigh. Regardless of whether Gerald was behind this, it was without a doubt that this cafe was the real deal. He resigned himself to fate and took a picture of the cappuccino before drinking it in a rush.
Even though this cappuccino was fresh, he'd developed taste aversion and felt himself growing nauseous despite his best efforts. He nodded to Alan and left in a hurry.
Alan shook his head. Maybe others would think he had gone overboard teaching that kid a lesson, but Alan himself was still pretty young so he had less sympathy for people close to his age. If he could act like an adult so could they. Youth wasn't an excuse for lacking morals.
The day ended uneventfully. Alan didn't bother looking at Zachary's tweet. Since it wasn't trending it was likely he'd just posted an image and a good review.
That night Alan dreamed of floating through a nebula. A smile appeared on his face while he slept.
The next morning Alan woke up per usual. However, unlike in the past, he didn't go down to prepare the cafe. Instead he took a look at the calendar and sighed. Today was the day he had to make his first loan payment.
He had calculated his income this month and he'd earned more than enough to pay the loan and to buy supplies for running the cafe next month. Still, he hated to part with the money he had earned.
He reluctantly got dressed, grabbed his checkbook, and went to the bank.
His heart bled a little as he wrote them a check for over $4,000. He could afford to pay them more, but he wanted to add the coffee cake to the menu this month. Also, he couldn't guarantee he'd have such a good month next month. Thus, he decided to pay the predetermined amount.
Leaving the bank he found himself in a bad mood.
However, his mood was mirrored by a certain individual standing outside the cafe.
Tom stood in the cold, his breath misting in front of him, livid. The cafe wasn't open.
"Is that guy still asleep?" Tom thought to himself angrily.
Muttering to himself, he was torn about whether he should leave or wait. He wasn't used to waiting for what he wanted as he was wealthy enough that people tended to wait on him.
However, as he was debating, he suddenly saw Alan walking down the street towards him. He greeted him as he approached.
"What's the deal with not opening the cafe?" Tom asked doing a poor job of suppressing his annoyance.
Alan, who was already in a bad mood, grunted and said, "Opening hours are fluid. They depend on each day."
Tom was helpless in front of this moody Alan and quickly changed his tune, trying to butter him up. "Of course they do. After all you work so hard. Did something happen today? Come, come tell Tom what's weighing on you."
Alan was unimpressed, but unlocked the door and let Tom in. "Had to pay the loan." He said shortly.
Tom showed a look of realization. "No wonder this guy is in such a bad mood. He had to pay bills. For a money grubber like him it must have been painful." Tom took secret pleasure in Alan's misfortune as he gave him some very fake, superficial consolation.
Alan ignored him and went to prepare coffee. He made a cup for himself and Tom and took them out.
Tom paid in cash every time which was refreshing in this day and age.
Alan felt a little better as the coffee warmed him up. He chatted casually with Tom.
"When are you going to start serving food?" Tom asked hopefully.
He'd been pestering Alan about this for a while. If he could have breakfast and coffee here it would be perfect.
However, whenever he asked about this Alan always just brushed him off and said he'd serve food when he felt like it. Today, though, Alan surprised Tom.
"There should be food on the menu in the next week." Alan said.
Tom looked shocked before growing excited. "Really? What are you going to serve?"
Alan shook his head. "Just wait and see."
Though slightly dissatisfied with this answer, Tom obsequiously said, "Of course, of course, I'm just excited is all. You have to tweet about it when you start serving food. It'll be a good way to draw in customers."
Alan thought about this before deciding it made sense. He nodded.
Tom was thrilled. He knew it would be pointless to ask this guy to tell him ahead of time, but if he put it in terms of getting more business then he could convince this guy to announce it on Twitter at least.
Tom finished his coffee and went off to work, leaving Alan to his own devices.
Alan sat down at the desk in the kitchen and started up the laptop. He looked up the grocery service he'd used previously for basic supplies and began his order, making sure to restock on the supplies he'd run low on while also ordering the new ingredients he needed for the coffee cake.
Spending money left him in a foul mood once again, and he closed the laptop with a little more force than necessary before walking out of the kitchen to the lounge area of the cafe to wait for customers.
"The system has detected that Host is suffering irregular mood swings. The system advises Host to work on this before he breaks the laptop."
Alan grumbled. "Whose fault is that, System? You're the one who made me take out a huge debt to start a cafe when I could have just rented a place."
The system ignored him and Alan grumbled some more to himself before taking a deep breath and letting the negativity out with it. At the end of the day, even with the loan, he'd managed to earn money. It would only improve from here. Consoling himself with that thought he cleaned up the two empty coffee cups on the counter and prepared himself to face the customers.
The day passed uneventfully. Alan did note he had a few return customers which he felt grateful for. He was afraid that, despite the incredible success of the cafe last month, the gains would be entirely temporary. Ho
wever, it seemed he underestimated the number of people out there with the money to afford to regularly come to the cafe.
He was still a long way off from the 100 regular customers required by the system to obtain his next reward, but he had enough now that he didn't feel worried about the business going under so long as he was frugal.
Towards the end of the day the groceries he'd ordered were delivered. The speed of the delivery services these days astounded him. When he thought about it though, it probably helped that this time he was ordering all local products. If he'd ordered sugar from Colombia he'd have to wait a much longer time.
As he closed the cafe he decided to take the chance to try to prepare the coffee cake. He had never made cake before, though he'd seen it made on cooking shows. Still, with the system's process being ingrained in him he wasn't worried about skills.
Stepping into the kitchen he first went to the oven and began preheating it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.
Then he began to gather the ingredients he would need. He grabbed flour and baking powder and set them aside. Then he found butter, milk, vanilla extract, shortening and sugar and set them in another pile.
He began by mixing about three cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder together. After thoroughly mixing it in a bowl he set it aside and turned to the other pile.
He took the milk and poured about a cups worth into a measuring cup. Then he grabbed the butter and mixed in about a teaspoon of it and another teaspoon of vanilla extract. Setting the measuring cup aside. He grabbed a large mixing bowl and creamed nearly a cup of butter, half a cup of shortening, and 3 cups of sugar together. Once the mixture became nice and fluffy he grabbed 5 eggs, and cracked them over the mixture. Then he further mixed it until the eggs had completely folded into the mixture.
Taking the flour mixture and the milk mixture Alan followed the knowledge from the system as he began to alternately mix them into the shortening. He finished adding the last bit of the flour mixture and looked at the glistening cake batter in front of him. He could have used store bought cake mix, but at that point he would be losing the freshness he wanted.
