Miles walked out of his baby blue ranch-style house and down the street. His leather coat helped him keep the cool temperatures away. It was mid-spring, and he already could not wait until summertime. He took a minute to brush his coarse brunette hair away from his face as it fell softly on his shoulders. His green eyes glistened like growing springtime grass. Miles took lazy strides as he was going to work. The quaint little tea shop he worked at was in downtown Mount Horeb. Telsaan—the name of the tea shop—was a nice and quiet place.

As Miles grew closer to the tea shop, he contemplated what his next few years would be like. With his junior status in high school, his mom wanted him to consider colleges. Miles was not so sure yet. His dad ran out on him and his family when he was seven. Claude and Molly, his younger brother and sister, were four years old at the time; they were fraternal twins. His mom did everything to raise her babies—as she liked to call them—right. She had not dated anybody else since his father left. Miles worried about leaving his mom alone to raise them, even though next year, they would be in high school themselves.

Miles entered the old, downtown building where Telsaan is located and made sure to close the door, not wanting to let any of the cool air in. It looked gray and cloudy—signalling rain was on its way. He took his time walking down the hallway to the tea shop. As he entered, Miles looked around at the yellow and purple walls, with bookcases lined with tins full of loose-leaf tea. Fluorescent lighting cast a shine on the tins. He surveyed over the five long, wooden tables with six wooden chairs each and could not help but smile. Telsaan felt like a second home for Miles. He discovered his love of tea from the flavorful and fresh ingredients found in the drinks. Their stock varied anywhere from oolongs to rooibos, as well as black, white, green and herbals. They had coffee for the coffee lovers; the aromatic flavors of hazelnut and caramel coffees made his day spur on. The ruffling of filling bags of tea and orders of coffee worked to create a cozy atmosphere. Some days, he never wanted to leave the sanctity of this shop.

Miles looked over to the purple, smooth granite counter to find Evelyn behind it, as usual. It held three sinks for the dirty dishes and a small oven used to make the food. Evelyn reached into one of the few cabinets and grabbed a cup for the customer in front of her. When Evelyn turned back, her straight, brunette hair swishing in her ponytail, she noticed Miles and waved. She was a little taller than Miles, in her early thirties. Her soft, rich eyes turned back to look at her customer. Today, her butterfly apron matched her gray sweater, brown skirt and dark leggings.

It only took a few minutes for Miles to put his backpack and jacket where they belonged behind the counter, and then he picked out the plain, black apron, which would lay over his jeans and black shirt. He knew Evelyn made sure to keep the apron clean and ready, as he felt more comfortable with this apron out of all the others.

As the customer left, Miles went up to the counter, and Evelyn greeted him, “So, how is it going today?”

“Same old, same old,” Miles sighed as he looked onto the tables, knowing that he needed to get started in cleaning them. He was only at Telsaan on Fridays after school and the weekends. There was a chance for more hours during the summertime at least. Otherwise, Evelyn did not really need any of his assistance. Though, on some of his days off, he did like to frequent the shop with his brother and sister. Evelyn was like a big sister, and Miles knew he could always rely on her.

"I’m worried about school applications. They keep saying I need to start looking this summer at colleges, but I don’t know if I am even going to college.”

"What makes you say that?” Evelyn questioned.

“Well, I don’t want to leave my mom with all the responsibilities—especially since she has two jobs,” Miles replied. “And Claude and Molly need someone to look after them. They are still young and need someone around who can mentor them. Someone needs to do the housework and—.”

“Ok, ok, hold it. What do you want from life?”

“What?” Miles looked at Evelyn a little crossed eyed as he had not thought about this before.

Evelyn remarked, “You keep telling me what you feel responsible about because of other people. Now I want to know what you want to do with your life? Everything will work out in the end with your family; they will adjust to not having you around.”

“Well, I do not know,” Miles pondered. “I am going to have to think on that.”

"Let’s start slowly then.” Evelyn inquired, “Are you ready for prom?”

“I don’t think I’m going to go,” Miles stated as he got out the cleaning supplies for the table. He made sure Evelyn was fixing herself something to eat, since she could spare the time. He liked to look out for her as much as she looked out for him.

"Miles, you should go have fun,” Evelyn fretted as she sat down at the first table. She started eating her bread and cheese—her normal vegetarian dish—with some apple slices. “You shouldn’t just be coming here all the time. This can be a chance for you to have fun on the weekend for once.”

“Tina, I love being here. You don’t have to worry about that,” Miles assured Evelyn, knowing that she wanted to make sure that Miles had time to himself. “Besides, I have no one to take to the stupid dance.”

“What about that one girl,” Evelyn looked thoughtful as she tapped her chin trying to remember. “Wanda?” Wanda was a regular at the tea shop. She came a few times a month when Miles was working. Evelyn always joked that she came just for Miles. Even though he had a crush on Wanda, Miles did not feel like he would ever act on those feelings.

“Wanda’s a popular girl, Evelyn,” Miles argued for the millionth time. “It’s not like she’d go out with the likes of me. Besides, she’s got football players at their knees, waiting for a chance to take her out.”

“Well, Miles, you never know until you ask her,” Evelyn advised as she continued eating. Miles made sure the tables were all clean before he did so at the counter as well. He thought Evelyn was a little crazy for thinking anything might happen between Wanda and him.

The conversation was cut short as some customers came in. They were some of the high school students that Miles had in his class. He made sure to help them, as he wanted to allow Evelyn enough time to eat. He liked when he could help customers pick out different teas and things anyway. This type of work made him focus on the people’s wants and needs. Once he got the orders of his fellow classmates, he went to work making up their teas. They had decided on Telsaan’s Black Chocolate Mint tea. Miles loved the flavor, especially as an iced latte. To him, it tasted like chocolate mint ice cream.

Once the crowd left, Miles started to clean once again waiting for the next round of customers.