21: The Antidote to Righteousness (Ethan)

Small towns had limited hangouts for high schoolers so when you found a coffee shop that had some decent food and your friend worked there you had an obligation to make it a thing. Ethan saw some familiar faces in the coffee shop from even the distance of the bus stop on the street. He was a walking video recorder and he could enhance an image like a camera.

He strolled up the main street over to the shop and swaggered over to the counteracting like he hadn't seen the others at the table. You had to be subtle about wanting to e invited to a table. You can't just assume to sit down and act rude like some people.

"Hey, can I have a lemon square and a coconut macaroon and a large vanilla cappuccino with real milk, not that vegan stuff," Ethan said hating the taste of almond milk which made no sense to him. He liked the taste of real milk; it might have been because his mother rarely had it when he was a kid but he wouldn't give it up now that he was older.

Ethan put a five in the cheap jar because he had this philosophy of being kind to servers. He knew that pleasing the public was a very tiring job especially with all the "Karens" out there waiting to catch a business in some trap and film it on Instagram or TikTok.

He turned to look at Noah and Manuael but waited for them to make some indication that he would be welcome otherwise he had some art sup[plies to buy but he could always gert them later. He wished he had super hearing but you can't have everything. He really needed to learn how to read lips.