Penne: 13
Tweed: 14
Scallop (Mom) + Pasta (Dad): 42
Mr. Klein: 39
An expansive business office is not exactly the most interesting place for a child to grow up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as though Penne had a choice, so she made the best of the circumstances and did what she could to keep herself occupied when Azure and Ravioli weren’t there to keep her company. Most days, she found herself exploring the 54 floors of the building, trying to find unexplored rooms or some sort of meeting that she could watch. Meetings weren’t the most interesting thing in the world, but something about the business-like aura was almost…comforting, like the boring-ness of the atmosphere calmed the raging tempest in her soul.
Often, she would curl up in some unknown part of the building and read for hours to keep herself occupied, the monotonous silence of the abandoned room broken only by the airpods shoved haphazardly into her ears and the occasional thump of the air conditioner. It was not uncommon for her to fall asleep there, shaken roughly awake by Azure or her brother when they had finally come looking for her.
Other days she would go out into the city. She liked to get lost; she could discover things and places she had never seen before, and finding her way home was always the best part. Most often she would buy souvenirs from places she had stopped on her travels, displaying them somewhere in her room as reminders of places she had been and where to avoid on her next trip out. She treasured all her little trinkets, documenting where she had acquired every object and placing them in chronological order based on when she had bought them. Whenever she stopped at a restaurant or such, she would keep the cup or the bag and place it in her timeline just like all the others. But nothing had ever grounded her to one place; she’d never had the burning desire to return to an area she had already been, and so she stuck to what she had always done, exploring whatever new places she felt needed her presence at the moment.
Shoving an excess amount of cereal into her mouth with the huge spoon she had pulled out of the cabinet, Penne slurped the remaining milk out of the bowl, mumbled something to her extremely confused father, grabbed her coat, clicked the door open, and was grabbed by her mother before she could even leave the apartment.
“You can’t go out today, Penne, it’s 13 degrees outside,” her mother chided, eyeing her thin jacket skeptically.
Penne scoffed through her cereal-filled mouth, “SO!?”
“That’s my girl…” her father mumbled from the kitchen, throwing his hands up in defeat when his wife whirled to face him. “I’m just sayin’! What’s a li’l cold gonna do? Let ’er go!”
Fortunately, Scallop wasn’t forced to make a decision, because as soon as she turned back to where she assumed her daughter would still be standing, she found the door flung wide open and Penne nowhere to be seen.
And Penne had to admit that it was cold. There was a brisk breeze gently pulling decaying leaves from their spindly branches, floating them down to where they would inevitably rot into the ground and begin the cycle anew. The October sky was dark and ominous, promising to harbor this bitter chill for weeks to come. The smoky tendrils of steam hissing out of her nose and mouth as she exhaled were proof enough that it was far too cold outside for this time of year, but Penne hardly cared about the cold. She was just happy to be outside, no longer stuffed into that annoyingly small apartment and forced to pretend she was enjoying herself. Besides, it was too satisfying to feel the crunch of fresh leaves on the sidewalks beneath her feet to resist going on an adventure.
“Hmm…where should I go today?” she muttered to herself, looking around at the various street signs and the avenues they belonged to, the traffic not as bad today as it was prone to be. Following a path she had traversed many times before, she took a series of branching pathways, following her instincts as they led her farther and farther from home. Of course, that was the only way for her to find new places nowadays, as she had exhausted all of the normal paths she took and now had to resort to trusting that spindly little alleyways would bring her somewhere exciting.
Penne wasn’t afraid of getting lost, or even of getting kidnapped or something equally as brutal, though it probably wasn’t a good thing that she was so reckless. In her eyes, her phone would take care of her; after all, there was always Google Maps if she got really worried, and that weird 911 SOS thing that started vibrating if you held down the power and volume button for too long. Her phone was also how she reassured her mother that she wasn’t dead, which she was currently doing, as she rounded yet another corner.
Her mother had clearly expressed her disappointment on the phone, to which Penne simply retorted, “I’ll come back soon, probably, so don’t worry too much. Don’t bother making lunch, I’ll get some on the way home,” before she hung up.
As she put down the phone, she suddenly realized that she was not where she had thought she was at all. Colorful, unfamiliar storefronts lined the streets ahead and behind her, all of which looked new and enticing. Suppressing the urge to emit a loud squeal of joy, she burst through the door of the closest building, eyeing the colorful merchandise until she found an item that sated her excessively ambitious tastes.
Buying it and returning to the sidewalk outside, she happily skipped her way to the next building, grinning in excitement as she heard the melodious chime of the small bell attached to the door. To her delight, she stood in the doorway of a restaurant of some sort. It reminded her somewhat of a Dairy Queen, with a big empty space in front of the counter and tables and booths littering the walls underneath the huge windows. About a fourth of the booths were actually occupied, but Penne didn’t plan on staying, so she supposed that it didn’t really matter.
As she made her way to the front and the letters decorating the neon menu forced themselves to be read, curiosity started growing in her mind, fed by the confusion layered underneath. The beverages (which seemed to be the only thing that she could buy) promised on the menu sounded like strange alien concoctions, their contents disgustingly maddening. She slowed down as she reached the counter, studying the menu as though she would be quizzed on it in science the next day. She hardly noticed the boy popping up behind the counter until he said, “You look confused.”
Startling, she looked down to where he stood, looking at her with an amused expression on his face. “Never had boba before?” he asked. When she continued to stare at him with a confused expression on her face, he cocked an eyebrow before saying, “Well, if you’re just here to stare and not buy anything, could ya go sit down to refrain from holding up the line?”
Something about what he had said snapped her out of it; perhaps it was hearing him actually use the word “refrain” in a sentence, or maybe it was simply because she really didn’t want to sit down, but she slapped her face, shook her head, and said in a voice slightly louder than it should have been, “No I HAVEN’T.”
He laughed. It was a strange sound, which is a weird way to describe a laugh, but it was true. It sounded like he was choking on air while at the same time coughing up a lung, and she was slightly taken aback before she realized that he wasn’t dying. Once he finished his strange laugh, he said wheezily, “I don’t think that’s something you should be proud of!” “Well, what do you think I should get, Mr…” she looked down at the purple uniform he was wearing and the bright nametag pronouncing him to be, “Tweed?”
Tweed looked up at the glowing menu. “Well, I personally like the mango, but that’s pretty basic, innit? What’d’you think, do you want something normal or exotic?”
“Exotic all the way,” she said, smiling. “I live for adventure.”
He shrugged. “Alright, I’ll whip something up for you. It’ll be ten dollars…and 74 cents.”
Reaching into her pocket she grabbed a ten and a one, said, “Keep the change,” and waddled over to somewhere within the sightline of the counter.
Looking out the window at the cars rushing by, her breath staining the glass with a thick layer of fog every time she exhaled, she pressed her forehead against the cool window and closed her eyes, letting everything wash over her. The heater in this little shop was surely working overtime to combat against the army Jack Frost led against it outside, and the measly jacket clinging limply to her body hardly protected against the stabs of winter’s chill. The only reason she was once again reminded that she was in public and not in the safe confines of some dark corner of Dawn Inc. was when a finger poked against her skull and she looked up to see Tweed looking down at her with an intrigued expression on his face.
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“You like that window?” he asked, pointing at the pane of glass she had been pressed against.
She blushed. “N-no! Go away, don’t you have other people to serve or something!?”
He shrugged. “No, actually. Dad’s watching the front, he said I could take a break.” Holding out the drink to her, she quickly snatched it and he grinned. “Ca’I sit?”
Penne grunted but eventually moved over an inch to allow him to slide into the booth next to her. What possessed him to sit there and not across from her she had no idea, and yet here they were, sitting in awkward silence as she hesitantly stabbed through the top of the drink and took a quick sip.
“What’s this black goop at the bottom here?” she asked, poking the bottom of the container skeptically, watching the substance jiggle in the tea. “I don’t trust it…”
He laughed again. “Tapioca. It tastes like nothing.”
“Hm.” Slurping one of the dark balls into the straw and squishing it between her teeth, Penne raised both eyebrows as soon as she swallowed it. “Well that’s…an experience.”
“Good or bad?” Tweed asked, grinning.
“Not sure yet.” She took another sip and nodded. “I’ll finish it, but I don’t know if I’ll ever order one again. I prefer milkshakes. Now that’s some good stuff. I been to a couple of milkshake shops and whoo boy! Those things are gooooood. It’s very important to get the right consistency though, otherwise it’s absolute trash. I’d go back, but it’s more fun to find new places than return to old ones.”
“Milkshakes?” he asked, watching her curiously. “What’s so great about milkshakes?”
“Are you dumb!? Milkshakes have sugar and milk and sometimes even whipped cream, I mean, c’mon! You’d hafta be blind to miss the beauty in those sugary things.” Penne scoffed. “Boba. Bah, more like ‘Badba.’”
“That-” Tweed sighed. “Y’know what, I’m not even going to comment on that blatant disregard for such a good drink. But anyways, those milkshake shops you mentioned, how busy were they?”
Taking a slurp of her tea, she nodded. “Oh yeah, super busy. Everyone likes milkshakes, I’m telling ya. You probably never even had one if you don’t know how good they are…”
The boy remained silent as she stared at him. “You’re right I’ve never had one, so I can’t honestly tell if you’re telling the truth or not…”
“Of course I’m telling the truth!” she said, taken aback by his words. “Why would I lie about one of the most delicious drinks on planet Earth?”
Tweed stared at her, long and hard, to the point where she started to get uncomfortable until he shifted his gaze to the counter. “Maybe…” he stood up abruptly and walked away without even saying goodbye. Penne stood up to follow him, but by the time she got to the counter, he had already disappeared. The man at the cash register smiled at her. “Hello, random girl who was talking to my son! How can I help you today?”
Holding up the drink, she said, “First, I want to know what this is. Second, I want to know where Tweed went, Mr. Klein,” she said, looking at his nametag.
“For your first question, bubble tea, or boba, is a tea-based drink that originated in Taiwan in the early 1980s. It most commonly consists of tea accompanied by chewy tapioca balls, but it can be made with other toppings as well such as grass jelly, aloe vera or red bean. As for the second, he went in the back, and there are trademark secrets back there. I simply cannot allow any customers to go back there willy-nilly, otherwise we’d get outcompeted for sure!” He laughed, though not unkindly. “Sorry about that. I hope you enjoy your tea. Maybe come back tomorrow?” He smiled at her sadly and she simply nodded, making her way back to the front door and readying herself to face the cold once more.
The way home was a blur. Every sip of the drink reminded her of the shop, and how much, she winced at the thought, she wanted to return. It was strange; nothing had ever compelled her to return somewhere as much as this boba shop was calling to her now. By the time she made it back to the company and passed by Azure’s wing of the building, Azure was already off lessons and she could see his blond hair poking out from the top of the couch, and could hear the loud smashes and screeches of the video game he was playing. But his wing too quickly passed behind her, until she was standing in front of her apartment, opened the door, her mother’s words of disappointment went in one ear and out the other, her brother’s hugs brushed against her body, her food barely tasted of anything, and she was back in her room, staring at the now-empty cup in her hand and the wall of objects on her cupboards. She placed it on a shelf without a word, grabbing a post-it note and carefully writing the name of the shop on the pink piece of paper and placing it beneath her new treasure.
She slept restlessly. She wasn’t sure why. But as the rosy morning light extended beneath her blinds and brushed her eyes open, she grabbed her coat, slipped on her boots, and rushed through the house to where her mother was waiting with raised eyebrows at the front door.
“And where do you think you’re going without even having eaten a proper breakfast?” she asked, pushing her daughter back into the kitchen and placing her on a stool. Penne stood up, grabbed a loaf of bread, tore a piece out of the plastic, shoved it in her mouth, and mumbled. “THANKS BYE!” before careening out the door. Her mother sighed before softly shutting the door behind her, muttering, “This child is going to be the death of me…”
Penne only fell four times on her way to the boba shop. The sidewalks were unnecessarily icy after a solid hour of overnight rain, and the liquid had solidified as ice, which proceeded to incessantly slip her as she hurtled down the slick walkways. When she finally arrived before the little storefront, the lights within flickering tauntingly at her frozen figure outside, it took her a moment to gather enough courage to push the door open, though she had absolutely no idea why. The heat immediately hit her, and she reveled in it, standing in the doorway as the little bell announced her presence.
“Well, don’t let all the cold air in,” Tweed called from the counter, and she quickly shut the door behind her, her coat rustling as she hurried over to the boy. “And here I was thinking that you wouldn’t come back!” he said, grinning.
She grumbled, “I have indeed returned, no thanks to you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?” he asked incredilously, as though he had forgotten all about the fact that he had left her alone in the booth the day before.
“The only reason I came back was to see why you rushed off yesterday. Had better places to be?” She was almost afraid of the answer, of hearing the conviction in his tone when he told her that yes, she wasn’t important enough to take up his break time. Which should probably be true, since they were virtual strangers.
“Mm, not exactly. You just gave me an idea, and when I get an idea, I need to act on it immediately otherwise I’ll probably forget it. And sure, I should probably start writing them down, but I had nothing to write on at the moment, and I really couldn’t forget this idea so I ran to the back and put it on the whiteboard back there, and by the time I came back my dad had told me that you were already gone.”
A sense of relief washed over her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. But now that she was assured of this fact, she was more curious about what, exactly, this great idea she had sparked in his mind was.
“Can I see the board then?” she asked, hoping that perhaps, even though his father had forbidden her from seeing behind the counter the day before, she might be able to manipulate Tweed into showing her around. And to her credit, he thought about it for a couple seconds before becoming wise to her plot.
“Trademark secrets!” he shouted, giving her a stern look and booping her on the nose. “I can’t be giving them away to someone I don’t even know the name of!”
She startled. “I haven’t said?”
Tweed shrugged, “Nah, I’ve just been calling you ‘Blue’ in my head on account of your jacket. Am I close?”
“Not at all.” She grinned, “My name’s Penne. And yes, it’s a noodle. My parents named both me and my brother like that on account of the fact that my father’s name is Pasta and they wanted to doom us in our social lives, but we don’t talk about that.”
“Interesting. Well, Penne,” he chuckled and she glowered, “while I can’t necessarily bring you to the back, what I will tell you is what fantabulous idea I got thanks to you. You were talking about milkshakes, and-”
“Oh!” She clapped. “Did you tell your parents that if you had milkshakes that you might get more customers because the buisness is financially struggling a bit and they said to come to them with any ideas on how to make the situation better because you’re super smart and have helped them in the past and what-not?”
Tweed simply stared at her. “How…?”
“Oh don’t worry,” Penne said, waving it aside. “Happens all the time. So since I was obviously the key to your enlightenment, that means I’ll get discounts, right? Right!? Riiiiiiiiiight!?”
“Nope!”
“Hey!” She crossed her arms. “What was even the point of me ranting to you about milkshakes if I didn’t get them half off once you started serving them?”
“For the joy of talking to someone as perky as myself?” Tweed suggested, raising his eyebrows.
“No, that’s not it…”
“Well, now you’re definitely not getting a discount,” he said, crossing his arms as she groaned. “Besides, if I gave you a discount, you’d probably want to come around a lot, and I don’t want to see you that much.”
Penne gasped theatrically, placing a hand over her heart and doing her best to look afronted. “I see how it is. In that case, I suppose I’ll just be going. Don’t expect to see me around here anytime soon. Or ever. Because as I said, I won’t be coming back, the servers were terribly rude and the service was supremely slow.” She spun around and made a show of walking to the door, grinning when she felt Tweed’s hand around her wrist.
When she spun around to face him, she found an almost sad expression on his face. “I know you don’t mean it, but please come back.”
She stopped, smiled, and patted him on the cheek. “Go back to the counter, your customers are waiting.” Then she grabbed his shoulders and spun him around, pushing him back towards the front and continuing to walk back towards the door.
“See you tomorrow then?” Tweed called from behind her.
She grinned, saluting. “See you tomorrow.”