Here's a short preview of a project I've been thinking about for the past couple of days. Wish I could offer more but I ran into a "block" wall. Most of the idea is still in the works, I've really only gotten about this far with it.

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The smell of freshly roasted beans seemed to permeate every wall of the small, yet comfortably furnished Autumn Roast coffee shop. Framed landscape photos covered the walls and depicted various locations ranging from the snowy caps of high mountains, to the lonely cactus in the scorching desert. Most mornings the shop was bustling with customers, eager to obtain their morning brew and start their day on an up note; but today was the start of the weekend. Only the regulars populated the small coffee shop reading the local news, ordering the same specialty drink for the umpteenth time, or quietly enjoying his or her favorite pass time.

Sitting alone at one of the few tables was a male husky. His fur shone red in the soft light of the overhead lamps, but upon closer inspection, brown spots could be seen mixing with the red. Today he chose to wear his favorite black t-shirt and olive cargo shorts. Laying in front of him was a sketchpad with its faithful utensils just off to the side ready to darken the paper in a fantastic array of lines and shapes. In his hand he held a cup smelling distinctly of chocolate and milk which he casually raised to his muzzle. Just before the warm liquid could reach his lips, a sudden light flared in the corner of his eye and the familiar sound of a vibrating phone buzzed in his ears. Lowering the delicious beverage to the table, he raised a paw to pick up his iPhone laying on top of his sketch pad. Sitting dead center on the screen and covering the picture of his favorite artist, Owl City, was the “new text message” notification.

Jake: Where you at Ven?

Ven let out a sigh then slid his finger across the screen to unlock the phone. It opened up to the text message and he began to tap his claws on the buttons.

The usual. A few seconds later, a new message appeared.

Want me to meet you there or- he didn’t bother to read the rest before starting to type his reply,

Sure.

K be there soon.

Ven set his phone back on top of his sketch pad then took a sip from his quickly cooling beverage. To his dismay, the warm, chocolaty liquid did nothing to calm his nerves. Truthfully, Ven wasn’t much of an artist. He had hoped that by bringing the sketch pad and utensils with him that he may be able to distract himself from the coming conversation. Much to his disappointment, it wasn’t working.