Didn't You Read The Sign?

[François Laffont]

Accidents could happen and when the woman dropped her cup, having it break on the floor, splashing the brown liquid everywhere, Franck was quick to get on the other side of the counter and assure her it was alright. She was so embarrassed and sorry, being close to her only made it worse on the poor guy. He looked at her, wishing he could tell her to simply head to the counter and order it again. She would have to do that but she’ll likely have to pay again too. He had wished he could just offer it to her but he was not sure he was allowed that. It was a shop after all. You don’t hand over free things in a shop. So he preferred to clean up the mess instead. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with her and the embarrassment she felt. Just being close of her had been enough.

He first picked the broken pieces of the cup and tossed them in the garbage before fetching the mop and bucket. He placed the yellow sign in the way, to warn people it was a slippery floor. He made sure people would still have enough place to walk around it but that it was visible enough. Then again, the bright yellow surely did the trick. Most people did not even bother to look at the little guy falling drawn on it, you just knew when that sign was there that the floor was wet.

He couldn’t say cleaning it spilled coffee was nice but he doubted anyone loved doing janitorial work. He never quite liked the mop, to be perfectly honest. He found it heavier than it was necessary. It was worse when it was drenched with the soapy water. But he was not in charge of buying the cleaning supplies and he probably had more muscle strength than the girl working with him right now. It was just coffee, he’d wash it away in no time anyway.

((TAG: Kennedy Snow ))

[Kennedy Snow]

Coffee....One of Kennedy's vices...She loved the bitter bean nectar of the gods that filled her cup only a few times during the day and wished she had a constant supply. She had been going to the same coffee shop for a while now. She always had the same order, she always ran her hand along the counter and made her way to the same table after putting her hair up so as not to scare people, and she always sat in the corner table because it was easily accessible by running her hand along the wall, and she was usually reading a book. Nobody ever really noticed her because she was very quiet she was not the prettiest of girls so her looks did not stand out...well they didn't stand out enough to get her noticed sitting in the corner of a coffee shop anyway...I mean she is kinda sexy...But I digress..

She heard a cup fall and it scared her for a moment taking her mind out of the book she was reading. For a moment she imagined the cup falling and her being there to catch it being the hero of that person's day...Well the hero of their beverage anyway...Which made her smile a little and she brought up her hand to cover her smile as her father had told her her smile could brighten a room and was contagious. She knew it was metaphorical but she had the habit of covering her smiles to avoid attention anyway on the off chance her smile did have magical wizard powers.

Suddenly a feeling came upon her, a feeling that many people get after drinking coffee, no she was not horny, but she did have to pee. Getting up from her seat she ran her hand along the wall. Her hair was bound and there was no way she could see the yellow sign. As she ran her hand along the wall she made her way to the counter and then her feet found the sudsy water that was being used to clean up the coffee and........THUD...

Yup, ass over tea kettle. She slipped landing flat on her back near the counter of the coffee shop and as she fell she knocked over the warning sign which just made her look more like an idiot to anyone watching who was unaware she could not see the sign as she never carried a cane so without paying attention to her dragging her hand on things or her hair being unbound and leading her everywhere there was no way to know. Now she was not sure what hurt more. Her pride or her ass.

[François Laffont]

Franck had seen the woman before. She was a regular at the coffee shop. Since she always ordered the same thing, it was easy to remember it. He was also fairly certain she worked at the Academy. Not that he was surprised to see someone from Bellefonte here. Many came, whether they'd be staff or student. It was a trendy place and also easy to locate. He never thought much about her. She was always so quiet. The kind of person you barely notice the presence of. One thing he noticed though was that she was probably blind or had terrible eyesight because she seemed to need her hand to guide herself to her table and although she had a book with her most of the time, she was reading it through her fingers rather than her eyes. He never bothered to ask her anything though. He felt like it would be impolite. At best might he ask if she needed anything. That is, if he would if she didn’t look already quite capable on her own.

She was easy to forget about once she was on her seat, remembering she was here only once she was up and leaving the place. Even now, he barely recalled he served her a cup of coffee earlier. Of course, the fact he had to clean up a mess might explain why he was not paying too much attention to the other people sitting and drinking their coffee. They probably all turned their attention towards the incident, as it made a lot of noise in a place you’d consider relatively quiet otherwise. That is, for such an establishment. Now that the source of the noise had been identified, they all returned to their coffee though. It was not their job to clean up the mess, it was Franck’s.

The sign being visible to all who could see and busy taking care of the mess, Franck did not think one moment about the one client who could not see the sign and what it was here for. That is, until he heard a loud thud. Turning, he saw the woman on the ground. People were already getting up their seats but Franck was closer and although physical contact always enhanced his ability, it never stopped him from helping out someone. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he said, his French accent piercing through. A decade or so here and he still couldn’t get rid of it entirely. He helped her sit then, if she was not too injured, to get up. “I’m so sorry, I’ve just washed that part of the floor, it was still slippery,” he said, his tone lowering as he talked only to her. He was not afraid she might sue the place because she injured herself or anything like that. He was genuinely concerned that she might have hurt herself and it would be his fault.

[Kennedy Snow]

When her ass hit the ground she had known that it would get attention. Her nerves having kicked in about being seen she did not notice the people coming to help she just started to laugh. She felt if she made light of the situation none would worry. Then when the nice man came over and helped her up and into a seat she brought up her hand and covered a smile. She felt a little like an idiot, but she tried not to let it bother her too much because she liked coming to this coffee place for her coffee and didn't want to feel awkward or be looked at as that girl who fell down when she did come back so she just sat there covering her smile.

"I'm fi...fi...fi..fine th..th..thank you..."

Then when he told her that he had just washed that part of the floor she laughed into her hand as she had kind of figured that much out she felt it was meant to be a joke to make her smile and make her feel less embarrassed and it had worked. On the fall she had twisted her ankle. She was tough and did not let it be seen that she was a little hurt because she did not want the nice man to feel bad. 

"Thank...thank...thank you f..f...f..for helping me.."