I didn't drink
coffee
until that
summer
KJ and I became best friends. My entrance was not the usual morning pick-me-up.
Instead KJ and I, being underage and not knowing anyone who would buy booze for us, looked for some kind of social stimulation that resembled a bar. We really wished we could just go to a bar and have a few drinks. The closest thing to that was getting coffee at a
24/7
cafe
.
We hung out in the evenings... or just straight out dead of night. This meant we drank coffee at absurd hours. At first Chester, the barista at the 24/7 joint we frequented, would give us a side glance look that said 'you boys really drinking coffee at this hour?' but then he became used to it. Used to us.
KJ and I would try to go to the cafe when Chester was working. He was our favorite
barista
. KJ and I wondered when the man even slept. Sometimes we would leave by 3:40 AM and Chester would always still be there. Manning the counter. Either reading a magazine or a book. Or sometimes just staring out into space.
I remembered out first time stepping into the cafe, we didn't know what to expect. All I had known from searching on Google was that it was open 24/7 and that it was on Fowler Street. I had also seen an image of it that a customer had taken so I knew that it was half way decent inside. But pictures truly can't capture a feeling. The feeling I had, and I know KJ had, when we entered
The Bitter End
for the first time was that of being welcomed. We felt welcomed.
Not that someone yelled "Welcome to the Bitter End!" at us as soon as we came through the door. Quite the opposite. Everybody stuck their own business. An old man on taking notes while reading along a leather covered book didn't even look up to acknowledge our entrance. A grad student aged girl looked up for a moment before returning with her glazed look down at her laptop. Two hunched over stocky nerds continued quibbling about something. And Chester at the counter gave us a second's glance and nodded before letting us be.
That was the kind of welcome that we wanted but didn't know we wanted. As soon as we were in, it felt like were in a space that was also our's.