Life by the Page 2
2
Luckily for Leon his favorite café was one of the first buildings he would come to. As he saw the sign for "Gabe's Café" he quickened his paced as his mind wrapped around the fact that his hands would soon be warmed with a cup of coffee. Leon rushed through the door in a hurry to get inside not quite realizing that he had set himself on a collision course with a fox exiting at precisely the same moment. The café itself resided in a very old building and the doors to it were wooden. Leon swung the door opened wide and was moving quickly to get out of the cold. Noticing much too late to avoid a collision he ran right into the fox. The unfortunate fellow was caught completely by surprise by the oncoming entry. At the time he was looking over his shoulder to say goodbye to the otter behind the counter. Fortunately enough for the fox the collision wasn't entirely frontal so his coffee would not end up on his person. Losing his balance the fox fell backward and dropped his coffee and his book to the floor. The fox fortunately did not hit the floor very hard but Leon could have sworn that he squeaked when he hit the ground. Leon was able to maintain his balance and remain standing. He suddenly felt that rising terror that one gets when having an insufferable calamite befall one's self. The fox rubbed his head still trying to make sense of what had happened while Leon offered him his hand. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" he asked quickly. The fox looked at his hand and then the face of his assailant, smiled, and took his hand as Leon helped him up.
"Yeah, I think I'm good." He replied brushing some of the coffee that had got on his scarf and chuckling a little to himself as he did so. Leon bent down and picked up the book the fox dropped. It was "The Rum Diaries" by Hunter S. Thompson. He had a copy himself in the top shelf of his "library" but he hadn't read it yet. He handed the book back to the fox. He felt terribly embarrassed. Then he saw that he had spilled the fox's coffee as well.
"Please let me buy you another cup of coffee" said Leon as he took out his wallet. The fox scratched the back of his head and chuckled lightly.
"No, that's ok I drink too much anyway." He had a big grin on his face that showed his clean white chompers. "Please I insist!" Leon replied taking out a few dollars. The fox still grinned and didn't seem to move so Leon placed a friendly hand on his shoulder and brought him to the counter. The otter at the counter smiled at them both not being able to help but laugh after seeing the whole thing transpire.
"Same thing Nathan?" the otter asked taking a medium sized cup from atop the counter. The fox nodded a little shyly and held his book in his left hand. The otter went to work behind the counter as the two stood there waiting. They stood there silently for a moment until the Nathan started by apologizing for knocking into him.
"No I am the one who should be sorry!" Leon said laughing "If anything I was the one who knocked into to you. I'm just glad that you didn't get hot coffee all over you." The fox laughed back and smiled not quite sure what to say. He seemed a bit nervous.
"Well...thanks..." he said scratching the back of his head with his free hand as he smiled. The otter brought Nathan his coffee fairly quickly. The fox sipped as the Leon paid for his coffee. As he was about to leave the fox turned to him and said "Uh..." paused for a moment "I didn't catch your name."
"Leon" he replied smiling "Nathan right?" The fox nodded and said 'See you around' as he walked out. The otter raised his eyebrows as Leon turned to face him again.
"That went well" he said as he grabbed a cup for Leon. "You should have gotten his number." The otter burst out laughing.
"What do you mean?" Leon asked glaring at his friend behind the counter.
"Oh you know what I mean" the otter said still laughing with a wink. Leon frowned.
"Shut up and get me my coffee Gabe." Gabe snickered.
"Alright, alright gimme a minute. I still gotta clean up your mess!"