seunguacamole

[seunguacamole]

The Composer’s Coffee

He had been intoxicated beyond drunk when he decided to agree to a coffee date with a stranger.

Lee Jihoon was always too buzzed to make practical decisions after being begged (and less than wholeheartedly turned on to the idea) to venture out on yet another Friday night with his ring of long-time friends. The night before, the location of choice (a personal choosing of no other than Boo Seungkwan) was an LGBTQ nightclub buried deep within the liveliness of out-skirted Gangnam. Jihoon, who claimed to be more practical than his fellow students, found it useless to throw himself in a room of other queer, drunk individuals just for nightly fun. He would have much rather been waist-deep in his newest composure class project that was much more extra-credit than required content, but that’s besides the point. With Seokmin’s puppy-dog face and Jisoo’s look of slight terror of going out with three overly flirtatious boys who would probably all flock off to the cutest male they could find without even being a couple of feet into the bar, he didn’t have much of a heart to decline.

That previous night out had fulfilled many, if not all of Jihoon’s expectations. Seokmin didn’t last a full round before finding a talkative date within the joint, and Jeonghan had brought along a taller, very masculine elder, for which they both were out of sight by drink number two. As for his other two friends, Jihoon was just glad the Jeju originate hadn’t vomited on his shoes for the third Friday in a row and unintentionally rendered Jisoo, their designated driver, victim instead.

For Jihoon himself, the producing major of the bunch, had stuck to himself in his usual choice of location. At the bar, last stool, faced at an angle that had the front door in eyeshot, a vodka-coke mixture in his hands. The simple drink was enough to wash him of any stress by the third glass, and his friends always knew where to find him by the end of the night.

He couldn’t recall much from that evening and how he had found himself in such a situation, but Jihoon guesses he was sipping on his third or so round of the liquor and soda combination when he was approached. Bright hair and a wide smile was all the boy could conjure up to memory of his date’s appearance, and that he mentioned his name began with an S. At least he hoped it began with an S.

Yes, the date. Apparently, as the story goes by telling of the always-reliable Jisoo, the basically stranger had got to talking with Jihoon, and there were enough clicks for the composer to agree to a casual date at a local cafe for mid-morning coffee after they had both been given time to sober up.

This all leaves Jihoon here and now, staring himself up and down in his hall mirror, wondering if a long-sleeved t-shirt and black skinnies were too casual for the event. He hadn’t been on a proper date in quite some time, honestly. Ever since Jihoon had come to university to throw himself even further into musical studies and creations than he had before, there was little time left for sleeping regularly, much less dating in general. Although as badly as he would have rather been in his studio, working the weekend away, he would have had too much guilt weighing his creative flow down if he had cancelled on somebody who as his friend had said, seemed very interested and ecstatic for their alcohol-free meet up.

Once he had deemed himself ready as he ever would be, Jihoon headed out into town and in direction of the shop they had talked about. He could only hope that the mystery boy remembered their meeting through one of his sober friends, who had pulled him out of the club shortly before his own friends had done the same for Jihoon himself. Since they hadn’t had the time to exchange numbers, a rather stupid move, Jihoon only hoped he wouldn’t be stood up, wasting a good chunk of time that could have been used working.

Jihoon located and entered the cafe just a couple of minutes passed the time he was told they had scheduled. Ordering a straight black coffee to soothe the fading, yet still apparent hangover pouncing within his poor forehead, Jihoon chose a table near the rear of the shop where he would have a perfect view of the entrance.

Only two sips in, it seemed too good to be true. The miniature bell above the swinging door chimed, cashing Jihoon to raise his eyes from the patterned tabletop, gazing at the newcomer. Alas, it was only a woman and her small child coming in for an early lunch of croissants.

Disappointment of wasted time was suddenly everything on Jihoon’s inpatient mind, throwing ideas of leaving his overly bitter beverage behind, heading straight for campus and giving up on the basically blind date. He really was contemplating such a thing, due to the boy being over fifteen minutes late, something that truly was a large pet-peeve to Jihoon. Moments passed of thinking over the idea, and the musical major was on board. He was a mere centimeter off of his seat when his thought process had been broken by what had seemed to be the barista calling his name.

“Jihoon?” An unfamiliar voice broke the silence in the calm store, causing the owner’s eyes to glance up. Jihoon was met with an older-seeming boy with fiery-hued hair with his head cocked to the side in question. To Jihoon’s relief, it hadn’t been the barista, who had chocolate-chip colored hair and stood much taller than this boy. Instead, the newcomer to the shop stood just above Jihoon himself, and seemed much more cheery than the grouch behind the counter.

“Ah,” Jihoon hummed, smiling slightly, awkwardly, at his supposed date, sitting back in his seat. “You must be...” He passed, thing for a moment. As irritating as it was not to recall his own date’s name, he would hope the high liquor content in his body from the night before would be a decent excuse to his forgetfulness. “Sungjae?” Jihoon finally spat out in full uncertainty.

The red-toned-haired boy laughed, his chuckle refreshing and genuine, shaking his head. “I’m Soonyoung, Kwon Soonyoung. It’s nice to soberly meet you.” The male introduced, bowing his head in a casual, respectful manner from across the small table.

Jihoon couldn’t remember the last time he had been so rich into conversation without zoning out every few sentences. Now known as Soonyoung, had a bubbly way of speaking, and spoke about many interesting and relatable topics that Jihoon could also put much word into. The banter was passed like the world’s most successful game of basketball, never a dull moment in their words. Eventually, Jihoon brought up a casual question. He asked Soonyoung where he was working or if he was a student and where after informing him of his own position in life.

“I’m a choreographer at a small entertainment company.” Soonyoung answered, going to part his lips for further speech on the subject. “The group I’m working with has a lot of dancing potential, but we’re having trouble with their original music. We can’t come up with much with what we have, but these kids really deserve a killer debut, you know?”

In fact, Jihoon did know. He had trapped himself within his studio, composing handfuls of songs which didn’t relate to his classwork due to which he couldn’t see being a solo. The assorted pieces were much more upbeat and the more he thought on it, could have dance numbers pieced to the melodies with enough time and effort. Those songs had much of Jihoon’s heart put into them to just sit in a flash-drive for nobody to hear.

“I think I might know how to help.” Jihoon cracked a genuine smile, eyes locked on Soonyoung’s. By now, he had completely forgotten about his hangover and was much more immersed in the conversation and his date himself. “Meet me here tomorrow, same time, and I’ll bring my laptop. I’ll even pay for your drink.”

It really was an offer Soonyoung couldn’t refuse, and Jihoon knew exactly this when he saw the spark glisten in his date’s eyes. He felt it too.