S1E2: Bar Wars

4/21/2025

Man in headphones standing at a coworking laptop bar with code on monitors and a smoothie beside him, symbolizing his daily routine at Work2gether

A Work2gether Fiction Series

Riley clocked in at 8:57 a.m. with a granola bar in her mouth and her backpack only halfway off.
The kombucha tap hadn’t exploded yet, and the printer hadn’t screamed—so technically, things were going great.

At 9:01, the laptop bar became ground zero.

Julian walked in at his usual time—9 a.m. sharp, hoodie up, AirPods in—only to find something deeply upsetting: a stranger in his spot.
Center seat. Plugged into the wall-mounted monitor. Legs crossed like he belonged there.

Julian paused. Blinked. Swallowed an audible sigh.

The stranger, a guy with gelled hair and a mango smoothie, looked up.

“Morning,” he said.

Julian said nothing, just turned and sat two tables over like it was no big deal.
It was absolutely a big deal.

Riley noticed it immediately.

“Uh-oh,” she muttered, watching from behind the bar.

Shay slid onto a stool nearby with her usual iced coffee and a notebook labeled Crimes of the Heart.

“Spotted: new guy on the throne?”

“Julian’s sacred laptop bar seat,” Riley whispered. “He’s pretending to be chill, but he’s blinking aggressively.”

“I love this for us,” Shay said.

By 9:17, Bev had arrived with a Ziploc of banana bread and a detailed complaint about the town’s parking department.

“Same silver Prius,” she said. “They know what they did.”

By 9:30, the space was buzzing.

Danielle emerged from her office with a smoothie and that calm, head-tilted look of a coach who smelled conflict brewing.

“Okay, what’s happening here?” she asked.

“Julian’s been usurped,” Riley said.

Danielle nodded. “Territorial imbalance. Classic flex-space tension loop.”

She approached Julian like a therapist with tenure.

“You feeling okay about the change in your environment?”

Julian didn’t look up. “Fine.”

“Naming the emotion is step one,” Danielle said.

“Mildly betrayed by the cosmos,” Julian muttered.

Progress.

At 9:43, Eddie strolled in wearing his signature black Work2gether hoodie, blue skinny jeans, and black sneakers. Mug in hand.

“New flavor’s on tap,” he said. “Lemon basil. Local batch. Cleansing. Refreshing. Slightly chaotic.”

“You tested it?” Riley asked.

Eddie took a sip and blinked once.

“Not fully.”

“Perfect,” Shay said. “I love gambling with my microbiome.”

At 10:01, everything changed.

Chris Rossi emerged from his private office like a man who’d just smelled ideological betrayal.
He walked straight to the beverage counter, poured a glass, took a sip—and froze.

“Eddie,” he called across the room. “What is this?”

“Lemon basil. Small-batch kombucha. Local maker,” Eddie said.

Chris took another sip and scowled.

“This tastes like lawn trimmings and liberal guilt.”

Shay choked on her drink.

Danielle, passing by, smirked. “You’re not wrong.”

“It’s confused,” Chris continued. “It doesn’t know if it’s a drink, a detox, or a failed political metaphor. I think it just threatened to clear my aura.”

Maya called from their office doorway. “Chris, maybe dial it down two notches?”

Chris muttered something about beverage integrity and poured the rest down the sink like it had personally insulted him.

Eddie leaned over to Riley. “Well… he’s not totally wrong.”

“At least he didn’t call it communism this time,” Riley replied.

At 10:15, Julian stood and approached smoothie guy.

“Hey, how long are you planning to be at that seat?”

“Uh… I don’t know? Why?” the guy replied.

“No reason,” Julian said.

Danielle jumped in like she was moderating a panel.

“Let’s all remember—shared space means shared responsibility.”

“Is that a TED Talk?” smoothie guy asked.

“I was the TED Talk,” Danielle said.

Eventually, Maya offered Julian a spot at her table.

“We’re just editing floor plans,” she said. “You won’t interrupt.”

He joined them. And for the first time all morning, he smiled.

Chris, from across the room, muttered, “That seat has better lumbar support anyway.”

At 10:45, Bev declared the kombucha “suspicious.”
Shay finished a short story titled He Sat.
Danielle added “Laptop Etiquette Workshop?” to her notes.
Julian was quietly laughing at something Maya said about barn wood.

Progress.

Riley took a cautious sip of the kombucha and winced.

“Tastes like furniture polish.”

Eddie raised his mug. “But bold, right?”

Shay toasted the air. “To chaos and new seating charts.”

Riley smiled.
“To shared space—with sharp elbows and soft landings.”

Next Time on The Third Place...

Chris and Maya hit creative friction.
Julian becomes an unexpected sounding board.
And Riley meets the most high-maintenance PAYGO user of all time.

Work2gether is a place to build things—including yourself.

Enjoying the ride? Come see what coworking is really like — kombucha, chaos, and all. Join Work2gether or schedule a tour today.

The Third Place is a completely fictional story about a completely real kind of place. The characters are made up. But their situations? A little too familiar. The town is fake. But also… not really.

The passive-aggressive fridge notes, the mysterious smell near the bathrooms, the guy who never stops talking, the lady without her headphones, and the printer issues? Oh, they’re very real. No actual people were harmed in the writing of this story, but if you recognize yourself… your ego may be.

Welcome to Work2gether Downingville Square. See you in the next episode, or better yet... in real life.

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