It was a fine morning in June, the morning of the "coffee shop incident." There was a light breeze, which Gin had soaked up and enjoyed before the day became hot and miserable. He didn't mind the heat much, but his mane became an unbearable mess, so he preferred it to be cooler. As he walked, he could hear the pleasant chatter of the ponies around him, excited for the heat as they made their way to the nearest pools and ponds. He scowled deeply as one young mare waved at him, not wanting any interaction before his daily dose of coffee.

He was hard to deal with when he was tired. Although it was nearly 10 by now, he was still half asleep. His head hung slightly, and he tripped over his own hooves often, being too tired to really pay attention to what he was doing. He waved off a "good morning" from the old stallion that owned the antique shop. He was on a mission, and nothing-not even morning pleasantries-could deter him from it. He was close. The coffee shop was only three buildings down from the antiques place. He sped up as fast as he dared. He was more awake now, and was stumbling much less. He made a beeline to the front door from which the amazing smell of roasted coffee wafted. He walked in, only to be immediately stopped by a long line.

The line today was much longer than it had been before, almost going out the door. Gin hurriedly tucked his wings tightly against his body, feeling claustrophobic at the overwhelming amount of ponies in the shop that morning. He glared at a passing pony, who had bumped into him. He felt something hot on his wing and yelped, turning around as the spiller of their coffee slipped out the door. "Watch it," he growled as another stepped on his back hoof. "Why's it so crowded in here today?" He mumbled irritably, mostly to himself. "There's a new drink being sold today," Said the pony in front of him, a lovely-looking unicorn with a bright red mane that curled beautifully down to her shoulders. He suddenly felt self-conscious about his own messy mane, trying to smooth the messy-mess down as soon as the mare turned back around.

"All this over a new drink?" He mumbled some more as the line inched its way forward. By the time he reached the counter, he was tired of standing. He watched an excited young stallion gratefully take a cup off the counter, thanking the familiar orange-haired mare. "Hey, G? Please tell me you want the usual?" Rosalee asked as she brushed away a stand of stray hair. He nodded. "As always." He replied. She almost seemed grateful to hear it as she put in his order of black coffee. "What's this new drink about, anyway?" He asked as he listened to someone behind him gripe about how long he was taking. "Tea-" Was all he heard before a lidded plastic cup of coffee was shoved at him and he was ushered away from the counter.

Tea? In a coffee shop? Unheard of! He complained about the newest installment to the coffee shop as he pushed his way to his table. He nearly had a stroke when he realized it hadn't been reserved as Rosalee promised it always would be. There was only one pony sitting at the tall table. She was tan, with a brown mane and tail tipped with pink. Her wings, much like any other pegasus's, were tucked against her as tightly as possible. Gin had never seen her here before, so he could only assume she was one of those awful tea-drinkers. He could easily have popped himself into the seat across from her, he knew. But of course, he wasn't going to ask her to. Instead, he stood there, being angry and seatless, He didn't even notice the mare sitting in his spot staring at him.

"Do you want to sit?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink. She smiled in a friendly manner and patted the table across from her with her white hoof. Gin sighed, it was either sit with the tea drinker, or walk all the way home without spilling his coffee to drink it. He didn't want to socialize today...or any day at that. But it seemed as if sitting was the more logical approach. He wouldn't have wanted to stand in line all that time for a coffee stain on his fur. He sat. The mare paid no mind as he set down his cup, taking off his red hat and setting it next to the table.

He cursed his awful memory for making him forget to bring something to do. It was awkward for him. He was grateful that she didn't seem to mind not talking. "So what's your name?" The mare chirped, setting down the book she had been holding. "Gin Grey." He answered bluntly and quickly. So much for silently pretending it was a normal day. She nodded, and said nothing more for a moment. "I'm Melody Sketch, although most just call me Mel." Gin didn't react, not knowing what he was supposed to say next. "Are you here for the tea?" Mel asked. Gin snorted and shook his head, making it quite obvious he didn't like tea all that much. "There shouldn't even be tea here. It's a coffee shop. Now I'll have to find somewhere else to buy coffee until this all dies down." He murmured angrily. Mel frowned. "There's no problem with having tea in a coffee shop, Gin." She stated as she took a long sip of her still-steamy beverage.

"If tea were meant to be in here, they would call it a caffeine shop." He replied swiftly. "Technically, this is a café. And cafés sell tea." She wasn't about to give up, he realized. But then again, neither was he. "It's a coffee shop." There was a moment of silence, in which Gin celebrated internally. It seemed that this Mel character had run out of technicalities to bring up about Tea in a Coffee shop.

But the victory was short-lived, because now they both were sitting in silence, awkwardly, not saying anything. He saw her shift uncomfortably, and bump into the corner of the book on the table, which had been hanging off the edge just a little. He glanced down at it, seeing pencil marks covering the open pages. "You draw?" Mel nodded and pushed the sketchbook across the table. "Take a look, if you want. Can't say there's a lot of anything good in it. Loads of unfinished things." Gin was taken aback by her willingness to just hand it over. He flipped through the pages, seeing that there were indeed a lot of unfinished sketches. He had to admit, though, they were still pretty good. "Damn. Cool to know I'm not the only one who likes drawing in a coffee shop." He said as he slid the book back to her. Her ears perked up at this. "Wait, you draw too? Could I maybe see?" Gin shook his head.

"Yeah, no. Not happening. You might be willing to show yours to random strangers, but I am not." Mel deflated a little, disappointed. "Besides, I don't even have any of my art stuff with me. Forgot it at home." He explained. He was now relieved to have left his stuff at home.

But then he heard it; the nagging little voice in the back of his mind that told him he was wrong, even when he wasn't. But it would be nice to have someone to draw with, it said. He willed it away. Today was not the day to suddenly make friends. He had one, one that didn't talk, which was ideal. His cat Pippin was good enough for him. The voice returned, not wanting to give up on Mel and her drawings. He sighed, giving in. "Tell you what," Mel perked up again. Gin hesitated before he continued speaking. "I'm here every day. If you want to see my stuff that bad, you can come back." Mel smiled. "Then I guess I will see you tomorrow, Gin!" She said excitedly, finishing off her tea and standing up. Gin realized that he had barely even touched his coffee. He watched as she threw the paper cup away (the shop didn't yet have any normal tea cups, and usually used paper ones on really busy days regardless.) and walked out the door.

He felt almost proud of his sudden willingness to tell her that. Although he had managed to make himself nervous at the idea of someone actually seeing his sketches in person, he was sure that it would be fine.

The morning after went rather smoothly, Gin had to say. Mel seemed to like the endless sketches that filled the pages of his sketchbook, which he was thankful for. He discovered that they shared a lot of common interests, and even found that she was entertained by the occasional dark joke he impulsively spat out. He was surprised it went so well, if he was being honest. But it turned out that maybe having more that just a cat as a friend could be...nice.

(And the subjects of these stories meet over a disagreement about Tea and Coffee. The image at the top is Gin, my sona and most precious boi. This came out a lot better than I was really expecting it to, I won't lie. Hopefully I can do at least one of these every other week as long as I remember, which shouldn't be too big of a problem. PLEASE point out any mistakes I may have made: spelling, grammar etc, because I HATE it when I do that. Hope you enjoyed and look forward to the next short story!

P/S, I haven't done anything on Wattpad for a long time, so it might be slow for me to catch on to new things. Just thought I'd mention that)