coff. e. beans. (open)

[brendon cohen]

Ever since he woke up that morning he had been craving coffee. It was just one of those mornings, the ones where you wake up, feel like you can't hold your eyelids open, and realize that you need some form of caffiene or drug to keep you awake. Brendon rolled out of his messy bed, grabbed the first shirt he saw in his dresser, grabbed his shoes and his skateboard, and walked out the door of his dormitory.


He walked past groups of people talking, students laughing and having a good time, the kinds of early bird students that liked to be up and about at ten in the morning. No one acknowledged him, but he didn't mind. He liked being on his own... most of the time. Brendon walked past them all and down the stairs, out into the bright sunshine of the day. Yes, it was one of those days. The days where the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the breeze was warm, and everyone was happy. Except Brendon, who felt the equivalent of a walking zombie, getting on his Element skateboard and rolling down the sidewalk. If only he had thought to bring his iPod or something- but it wasn't that far of a distance to the digital bean anyway, and it was his favorite place to go for coffee.


He got there a few minutes later, picking up his board and walking inside, leaning against the counter and looking at the girl working there. "One large mocha frap, extra caramel." he ordered with a slight flip of his hair, waiting patiently and looking around the room. There were a few people sitting around, in groups, or by themselves reading the latest magazine. A few were on their laptops, hogging the free wi-fi. The girl at the counter called his number and he took the hot drink from her, walking to one of the window booth seats and sliding down into it, taking a sip and sighing in relief.


Some mornings were nice to spend by one's self, but at the same time, Brendon was rather lonely.

[mathis andre moreau]

Mathis hadn't always been fond of coffee but the smell of it had become soothing to him. From his first year here, Mattie could remember entering the establishment only to be accosted by the strong scent of coffee beans grinding in their machines only to be poured out into perfect cups for the patrons who clearly enjoyed it.

It had taken some getting used to but after a year of it Mattie had managed to become a coffee addict. Needing his cup a day to keep him focused on his work. It was always about the work with Mattie. The boy had never mastered the art of simply letting loose on a weekend and getting drunk off whatever it was he could get his hands on. No, the dark haired young man could never bring himself to do that. There was always too much to be done.

Leaving the counter with a cup in his hands and laptop cradled safely in his messenger bag, Mattie went about looking for a suitable place to sit and work. His glassed were half way down his nose before he realized it enough to push them back up again. It was strange how they kept slipping, one would think they might have the decency to stay up, especially with a good sized nose to hang on to. He didn't really need them either unless he was in a class and something was scribbled on the boards or if he happened to find that he needed to read a sign off in the distance, but it had become habit to leave them on when he was in 'work mode'.

His black buttoned shirt had been neatly pressed as always and was silly tucked into his black pants as they usually were each morning but by the end of the day, Mattie always managed to look like he had crawled out of a horrible train wreck. He knew he should consider adding a dash of color to the outfit he wore today but Mattie never had the time to consider such trivial things.

Finding the place to be relatively packed, Mathis made his way the emptiest table. A boy was sitting by the window with his drink and he seemed nice enough or at least more approachable than the couple in the booth behind who seemed far too lost in each other to notice anyone else around them. "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" he asked politely, gesturing to the seat across from the boy. His French accent was slightly worn down from all the English he spoke over the years but it was still very much present in his tone and inflections.

[brendon cohen]

Brendon didn't notice small details about his surroundings, he was more focused on the steam rising from his hot coffee and the wind blowing leaves across the street outside, the birds flying through the air, and the old man walking his labrador down the street. In fact, Brendon was more focused on the outside than he was the inside.


Maybe this is why it surprised him to have a perfect stranger approach him, asking politely to sit in the seat across from him. The seventeen year old was caught off guard, and wasn't sure how to respond for a moment, being even more embaressed to just stare at the newcomer with a dumb smile on his face. Finally he cleared his throat and nodded, opening his mouth and forcing it to speak. "Yeah, sure!"


Brendon examined him, he looked a little older, and he was carrying a laptop bag, like normal people would to the digital bean. He didn't have the use for a facebook or anything like that so he didn't even bother with a computer, if he needed one for some reason, he would go to the library. Quickly, he turned his attention back to the guy now sitting in front of him. Should he introduce himself? Continue to drink his mocha frapp awkwardly? He decided the first choice was the better of the two. "I'm Brendon."

[mathis andre moreau]

The boy seemed to take a moment but that hardly bothered Mattie. He wasn't in too much of a hurry to get his work done but if he could then it would help a lot. "Merci," he said with a smile as he slid into the empty seat.

Placing the hot beverage down and to the side, Mattie removed the strap of his bag from around his neck. It wasn't a terribly heavy thing to lug around but it was always nice to be able to put it down somewhere for a while.

Unzipping the bag, he looked away from the boy, busying himself with getting his papers out and laying them on the table. With a pen in his hand he was about to start reading when he heard the introduction.

Mattie mental kicked himself for the slip up. How rude of him to not introduce himself first. This guy must think he has no manners or something but it was too late now and all he could do was apologize and fix it.

"euh, pardon! Sorry, sometimes I forget these simply things," he apologized, shaking his head a little at his mistake. "I am Mathis but you can call me Mattie, it's easier, no?" he said with a friendly smile. taking a moment now to look him over, Mattie could see that the boy was rather attractive. He had a nice smile and he seemed pretty friendly but these things often went unnoticed when Mattie didn't pay enough attention. That wasn't going to happen now though, mattie was certain that he could divide his attention enough to have a nice conversation with this boy, this brendon.

[brendon cohen]

This guy took his bag off from around his neck and sat it down, pulling out papers and other schoolwork related things, he definately looked like he was ready to work, which was the opposite of Brendon, who was sitting there with his skateboard beside him on the ground. It was awkward for a moment, of course Brendon was just a typical awkward being, he could find a way to make any situation more uncomfortable that it need be. He was relieved when the male introduced himself, and Brendon immediantly picked up a trace of French in his accent, and the words he used. "Mathis?" It was an unusual name, different, in a good way, but he liked his nickname more.


Brendon simply shrugged and took another sip of his drink, letting his eyes wander over Mattie's papers and things. "Looks like you're uh... busy." he noted softly. He hardly spent any time on actual schoolwork, so he wasn't sure what that was like, but Mattie seemed like a good student. He imagined that he went to Bouscher, but he hadn't exactly seen him around before. Then again, he didn't really pay attention to the people around him.

[mathis andre moreau]

mathis just nodded when the boy repeated his name. most people would use it but a lot of the americans he knew seemed determined to shorten it simply to 'Matt' before telling him that he didn't look like a Matt at all. Mathis would only roll his eyes or shake his head at such comments. his name was his name and he couldn't do much to alter it, he left that to other people but so far 'mattie' seemed to be the only nickname he would accept.

when the boy seemed to accept this and move on to his drink, mattie simply shrugged it off and searched for the page he was looking for, though not much effort was put into this search because he was now starting to get a little curious about the boy who seemed so much quieter than he usually was.

"oui, it is my life's work in these pages," he said, gesturing to the pages in front of him. "in my laptop is my life's work too and also my hard drive so it is perhaps not as serious as i have made it sound," he clarified with a smile when he realized he had gone a bit melodramatic when referring to the script in front of him.

anything he was working on would immediately become top priority for him. mattie always took it so seriously that sometimes he had to stop and remind himself to take a break and usually he would only do so reluctantly.

"Do you study at this school?" he asked, deciding to show some initiative and help this conversation along. he didn't need to be going over the script again but mattie could be a bit of a perfectionist sometimes and looking for things he might have missed was like a hobby to him.

[brendon cohen]

So he was right, this guy was pretty serious about his work. Brendon was slightly intruiged, being a music major he didn't study much of anything, unlike Mattie, obviously. Mattie, he liked the name, it had a certain ring to it, not that Mathis wasn't a cool name, he liked that too, but Mattie just seemed to fit him more.


"I see that." Brendon laughed softly, running a hand through his hair and resting his arm on the table. He wasn't used to having conversations with strangers, but on the bright side this guy wasn't trying to start a fight with him- which was an improvement already from half the students there he had bumped into. "Me? Yeah, I'm a music major...." There was a hint of embaressment in his voice, not because he was ashamed about his studies, but because he wasn't used to describing himself to anyone else, even if it was something as trivial as what he studied at the academy. "What about you, what do you study?" He was trying hard to keep the conversation going, and feeling quite proud of himself for not getting up and running out of the building at the sign of a stranger being nice. It was so different to his daily routine.

[mathis andre moreau]

mattie allowed himself a smirk when the boy spoke. yes, it was obvious he could potentially have a flares for the dramatic but this was only a mild case of it at least. if the boy intended to see the full extent that mattie could go to when things weren't going his way, then he was simply have to stick around long enough.

"ah music! the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life," he said, loosely quoting old ludwig van beethoven himself. it was a good thing to major in. mattie had know quite a few music students here, it seemed like quite a popular subject to study.

he had never been too musically talented but mattie had directing. that was his passion, the set a stage and bring it to life with the subtleties of the lighting and the colour scheme. He could set the mood and have it speak volumes just by looking at the details.

"cinematography with minor in photography," mattie told him. he loved what he did and he wouldn't want to do anything else but he wasn't sure how far a career in that field might take him. all he knew was how to work hard and do things to the best of him ability. the rest would be up to fate, sheer talent and learned skills. mattie could live with that.

[brendon cohen]

To be honest, Brendon had no idea what cinematography was, but he didn't say that because he didn't want to appear like an idiot, so he just nodded his head and smiled like he knew exactly what he was talking about. "Cinematography, huh? That's uh... pretty cool. Hard stuff, right?" He wanted to mentally hit himself. He was sounding even more idiotic than he looked. Maybe it was time to change the subject to something he did know about.


"Photography? That's nice too." He had once been interested in photography, for a short time, but it never caught his attention for very long. He had a camera, took some pictures, and then broke the two hundred dollar digital when he fell off a ramp on his skateboard, crushing it in his back pocket. Its life was short lived, and Brendon went back to writing and playing music instead. "I guess as a music kid I'm kind of a free bird," he chuckled. "I don't have to study, I just write and play." It was an easy life for him, and he enjoyed it.

[mathis andre moreau]

Mathis just smiled. Most courses had a degree of difficulty to them, even if to most it goes unnoticed. "Oui, it's sometimes a lot work but if you like then it's not so bad," he explained. He did like his course but then he did put in a lot of work into it too so that often left him with more to do but Mathis liked the challenge. He was always out to out-do himself.

Staring down at the cup, he finally picked it up and sipped his drink before licking his lips and putting it back down. It was luke warm by now, just the way he liked it but if Mattie got distracted again, the way he usually did by his work and perhaps this time by this boy, he would end up with a cold drink instead.

"I'm sure music is quite difficult as well," Mattie said, "What do you actually do in that? Just write music? Or talk about history as well?" he asked, not afraid to put out questions that might seem a little silly or appear to have obvious answers. If he didn't ask then he wouldn't learn so to mattie, no question was stupid.

"Oui, it is," he said when the topic moved on to photography. "It teaches lightning, angles and it's all so important to my course anyay so I though why not combine the two," he explained. The two seemed so linked anyway that Mattie had decided that it would be beneficial to do both.

Realizing that he was still in his glass, Mattie finally pulled them off. "Don't need these," he said with a grin before folding them up and leaving them by the table, giving the world a better look at those baby blues. He often forgot about them and just left them on, even wearing them to bed a few times. For someone so focused and organized, the simplest of things could slip by him.

"Sounds like fun," Mattie told him with a smile. "At least you enjoy what you do," he said. He enjoyed what he did too but there was a time in his life when things seemed like they would be decided for him but mattie took his fate into his own hands, did his research and was determined enough to change it.