Episode 9: Meeting for Coffee at Bluebird Cafe — 5,000 Core English Words

📖 This lesson is part of the comprehensive series 5,000 Common English Words Through 46 Real-Life Conversations by Echo Stories English.

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Chapter nine. A phone call, and a coffee date.

It is Thursday evening. Ryan has looked at Emma's number for three days. Tonight he finally picks up his phone, and he invites her to the Bluebird Cafe.

Listen to how he starts the call, how they order at the counter, and how two people begin to talk about their families.

Emma: Hello?

Ryan: Hi, is this Emma? It's Ryan.

Emma: Ryan, parking garage! Hi. How are you?

Ryan: I'm good. Is this a good time, or did I interrupt something?

Emma: No, it's fine. I've just come home. What's up?

Ryan: I'll be honest. I still can't stop thinking about Saturday. I was wondering if you'd like to get a coffee with me tomorrow.

Emma: Tomorrow? I'd love to. What time?

Ryan: How about four o'clock? There's a place called the Bluebird Cafe, near the church on Park Street. It's pretty, and it's quiet.

Emma: I know it. I walk past it almost every day. I walked past it yesterday with a friend. Four is perfect.

Ryan: Great. Should I make a booking, or can we just walk in?

Emma: We can just walk in. It's a cafe, Ryan, not a wedding.

Ryan: Right. Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow, then.

Emma: See you tomorrow. Bye.

Barista: Hi, welcome to Bluebird. What can I get started for you?

Ryan: Hi. Can I get a medium latte, please?

Barista: Sure. Hot or iced?

Ryan: Hot, please.

Barista: Any milk preference? We have whole, oat, and almond.

Ryan: Whole milk is fine. Emma, what would you like?

Emma: Could I have a small cappuccino, and one of those lemon cakes?

Barista: Good choice. They came out of the cooker an hour ago. Is that for here or to go?

Emma: For here.

Barista: Anything else for you both?

Ryan: No, that's everything.

Barista: That'll be twelve dollars and fifty cents. That includes the cake. Are you paying together?

Ryan: Yes, together. Can I pay by card?

Barista: Of course. Just tap here. Would you like your receipt?

Ryan: No, thanks.

Barista: And can I get a name for the order?

Ryan: Ryan.

Barista: Thanks, Ryan. We'll call you when it's ready. You can pick it up at the end of the counter.

Emma: Let's take that table by the window. The tall one, with the two chairs.

Ryan: Did you do something to your hair? It looks different.

Emma: No, not really. I just didn't tie it back. At school I always tie it back, because of the paint.

Ryan: It looks lovely. I mean it.

Emma: Thank you. That's a nice thing to say. You look less nervous than on Saturday.

Ryan: I am. A lot less. I had a warning this time.

Barista: Ryan! Your order's ready!

Ryan: That's us. I'll get it. Here you are. One cappuccino and one lemon cake.

Emma: This is perfectly warm. Do you want half?

Ryan: Just a little. So, how was your week?

Emma: Busy, as usual. A boy in my class won an award for a drawing, and he had to give a speech in front of the whole school. He was terribly scared. Crowds scare him. So I stood behind him and held his notes.

Ryan: Did he do it?

Emma: He did. The audience loved him. I almost cried.

Ryan: Tell me about your family. I don't know anything about them.

Emma: There isn't a lot to tell. My parents got a divorce when I was a child, and my aunt raised me, together with my cousin. She's like a mom to me. The three of us lived in a small house with a big garden and an old slide.

Ryan: That sounds like a happy childhood.

Emma: It was. My aunt had one rule: everyone eats dinner together, and nobody watches TV during the meal. She believed that conversation was the source of everything good.

Ryan: I like her already. Where is she now?

Emma: Still in the same house. She was a dance teacher. She built the school herself, and she is still fully in movement at seventy, with her students in a circle around her. I depend on her for everything. What about you?

Ryan: Both of my parents live about two hours away. I have one brother, Jack. He's a police officer. He has a wife and a little son, and in addition, a very loud dog.

Emma: Are you and your brother close?

Ryan: We are now. We weren't, for a while. Something happened in November, two years ago. Our grandfather died, and at the funeral we had an argument, in front of the priest and everybody. It was unexpected, and it was my fault.

Emma: What did you say?

Ryan: I said he never came to visit. It wasn't true. I never wanted to disappoint him, or my mom.

Emma: Did he forgive you?

Ryan: He did. In April, on my birthday, he drove to my apartment with a cake. He didn't say anything. He just put the key in the door and walked in. He has a key.

Emma: That's a real brother.

Ryan: Meanwhile, my mother still tells the story at every party. She even put it in a post online. She will tell it to you, too, if you ever meet her.

Emma: I'd like that. Is there a girlfriend I should know about? A wife in a drawer somewhere?

Ryan: No. No girlfriend, no wife. I had one, a girlfriend, until a recent September. Then she joined a company in another city, and we said goodbye.

Emma: I'm sorry.

Ryan: Don't be. It was the right thing. And you? Is there a boyfriend?

Emma: No. There was one. He was a motorcycle rider, and he liked his bike more than people. I didn't follow him when he moved.

Ryan: Then we are two free adults, on a Friday, with coffee.

Emma: We are. My cousin gets married in a couple of months, by the way. It's a big urban wedding, with flags, and a host, and three hundred guests. I can invite one person.

Ryan: Is that a request?

Emma: Not yet. First we finish the cake. Then we see what occurs.

Ryan: I've heard that my arrival at weddings makes them better.

Emma: I'll believe it when I see it. My aunt celebrates an anniversary of her dance school every year too. You could meet everyone throughout one summer, if you're brave.

Ryan: I'm getting braver every day. Oh, and the news from the office: Simon's wife is going shopping for baby clothes. It's a boy.

Emma: That's wonderful. Tell him I said so.

That is the end of chapter nine. Ryan called, they ordered coffee and cake, and they talked about the people they love.

Keep these with you: "Is this a good time?" "Can I get a medium latte?" "For here or to go?" "Can I get a name for the order?"

In the next chapter, they try to choose a day to meet again. But Emma has rehearsals every evening, and Ryan has a match on Saturday.

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