He ran behind the counter and got to work. In a to-go cup, he grabbed the items he needed to make everything mix together with perfect harmoniousness. The blend itself was easy and in a matter of moments he was done. It smelled delicious and strong- just like Joe.
“What’ll this one do?” Teddy asked.
“Well…according to my impressions, it will either give him a desire to work harder, or it will make him explode. Either way, I think I’m going to take tomorrow off.”
After a minute, Garret emerged from the back like a hungover groundhog, and Jacob offered him the drink.
“Don’t drive if you’re tired.” He said, and without thinking, Garret took a sip before looking at it with a mix of contempt and curiosity.
“What is this?” He asked.
“New?” Jacob asked. “Just for you.”
“Hmmm.” Garret paused. He then downed the rest of the drink and burped loudly. He gave the empty cup back to Jacob and nodded.
“Not bad. Keep it up.” Garret responded. Jacob watched as Garret held the door open for Joe and Serena (a small miracle)before the three of them disappeared into the night.
“So much for the to-go cup.” Teddy whispered.
“He didn’t explode.” Jacob responded.
“Yet. He didn’t explode yet.” Teddy waited. Still no explosion.
“I think we’re in the clear.”
The last hours passed slower when it was only him there. Thankfully he had Teddy and an entire cafe full of ingredients that he could fully explore.
He began to realize a few things about the brews. He could sense how potent something was in accordance with how effective it would be to use. For instance, the strawberry syrups they used in the Italian sodas were pretty thin in terms of ability, but the fresh strawberry syrups they made themselves were potent. It seemed the more fresh and natural things were, the better they would combine and the more effective they would be.
The fresh coffee was better than the instant coffee, but less effective than the espresso. Cold brew was particularly potent, but any of them could be enhanced by adding the right sweeteners or milks. Honey seemed particularly strong- but classic raw sugar also seemed to do well in a pinch. Plus, adding salt to everything just seemed to enhance what was already there.
While closing, he began to contemplate different ideas- new combinations- what was able to be influenced, and what absolutely was not?
What would happen if you combined maple and garlic? What spices are added? What emotion was inherent to each flavour?
Some seemed obvious in retrospect: peanut butter is love, chocolate is sex, cinnamon was comfort, etc- but the more he contemplated them, the more he realized that changing the order would drastically change the outcome.
He had the ingredients right for the tea, but he hadn’t put them in the right order. There was a lot more to this math than heinitially realized.
His knowledge was rudimentary at best, but it began to take on some sort of sense in his mind.
The close itself was quick and easy.
Clean the floors.
Wipe the displays.
Count the cash.
Steal a cookie.
Everything was normal.
By the time the cafe was ready to be closed, there had still been no words of any explosions which Jacob found at least partially reassuring.
The time to himself was good. It gave him ideas for what he was able to do.
And now he had ideas for what he’d try tomorrow.
