I went to that tea shop today, the one I’ve been wanting to visit.
The man at the counter was really friendly, but they didn’t have the drink I had spent the last 20 minutes planning to order. Yelp didn’t tell me they were out of hibiscus today. I ask about the substitute, but I don’t want a substitute. I want hibiscus.
Ok, I’ll get something different. The Bayou. I order and he tells me he prefers this one hot. But I’m dressed in black and it’s 76 degrees outside.
“Do you guys make it cold?” I ask hesitantly.
“Yes, have you had it cold before?” he asks in response.
No. I haven’t had it at all. But I don’t want to tell him it’s my first time here, that would expose me.
“No, do you not recommend it?”
“It just might be bitter”
“Because of the chicory root?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a bitter girl. I’ll take it”
He smiled and said “awesome, you’ll love it then”
“Can’t wait”
He asks me to type my phone number on the iPad for loyalty points. Here we go, my lack of loyalty has been exposed!
“It’s actually my first time here!”
“OHH WELCOME, how did you find us ?”
“I drive by a lot, and..”
“Just never stopped in? And today’s the day huh?”
“Yeah, gotta happen some day, right?” I give a forced chuckle.
What the man didn’t know was, when I moved back home almost 2 years ago, my boyfriend and I were in a “healing” phase, or whatever–. What the man didn’t know was that we had driven by his shop one day, and having never seen it myself, I asked my boyfriend if he’d ever been in. What the man didn’t know was that the amount of time it took my boyfriend to respond “yes” to my question already told me exactly who he’d been there with.
What he didn’t know was, that was the day I vowed to myself I would never step foot in his tea shop.
What he didn’t know was that I meant I’m a bitter girl. And now I’m getting a taste of my own medicine; chicory root.
10/29/25
⋆˚࿔ latest posts 𝜗𝜚˚⋆જ⁀➴
- one beast, many faces
Who will protect you when the world burns down?When the king wants to lock… Read more: one beast, many faces - collecting the winter self
Smoke billows from my chimney and I wonder if it feels good to be a… Read more: collecting the winter self - What makes a Warrior? Lessons from Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda (2/2)
This is part two of my book review on Carlos Castaneda’s Journey to Ixtlan:… Read more: What makes a Warrior? Lessons from Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda (2/2) - What Makes a Hunter – Lessons from Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda (1/2)
There are many ways of knowing the world, interacting with it, and participating in… Read more: What Makes a Hunter – Lessons from Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda (1/2) - Equestrian B*tch- lessons from the barrel races for 2026: year of the fire horse
How I’m embracing the year of the fire horse as the year of the… Read more: Equestrian B*tch- lessons from the barrel races for 2026: year of the fire horse
Chloeandclover 