Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
Swoosh, Ding!
6:00 am, Tuesday
The bell makes a soft ding as the door is opened. Strong scents assault the girl's nose, smelling of black coffee and creamers and vanilla flavoring. She flicks the lights on and heads behind the granite counter, grabbing an apron with the nametag 'Rose' on the way.
She sighs as she grabs a rag from the back, wiping down the table tops and cleaning the blenders. Why did I ever think that a shop girl would be a good job to tide me over for a while? It is way too early for this.
7:00 am, Tuesday
Rose leans against the counter. Swoosh, ding! A gust of cold air blows toward her and as a man walks through the open door. Swoosh, ding! The air settles as the door closes behind him. Rose straightens.
"Hello, welcome to the Corah Cafe. What can I get for you?" she asks as cheerfully as is possible at seven in the morning.
The man shoves his hands onto the pockets of his trench coat. Wait, trench coat? "Oh, let's see. . ." He rocks back and forth in his Converse. "I'll have a. . ." His eyes scan the chalkboard menu behind Rose. "What's in the iced coffee?"
Rose's face scrunches. "You don't know what an iced coffee is?"
"No, I do," he rushes, realizing what he's said. "Sorry," he looks toward his feet. "I'm just a bit frazzled today"
Her laugh rings out around the empty shop. "We all have bad days. I've had plenty! Well, what's got you all weird?"
Swoosh, ding! A woman in a pants-suit rushes in. She passes the strange man completely and looks down to her phone as she speaks.
"Large coffee. Black. Now."
Rose looks apologetically toward the man whose name she doesn't know before turning toward the coffee pot and filling out the woman's order. She turns back around just in time to hear the swoosh, ding!
11:00 am, Wednesday
"Rose I could use a bit of help up here!"
"Coming, Shareen!" The employees' door swings open when Rose powers through it carrying a box of cups. She sets it on the counter and grabs one off the top before asking the first customer "Hi, what can I get you today?" She grabs a Sharpie from the pencil holder next to the cash register and writes the order on the cup before passing it to Shareen for her to make. This repeats until the line of fifteen is dwindled down to one. Rose turns, handing Shareen the previous customer's cup. Turning back around, she musters up as much liveliness in her voice as she can when she says, "Welcome to Corah Cafe. What'll it be?"
"Uhm, an iced coffee?" An adorable smirk meets her gaze. The man from yesterday is back, still in the trench coat and Converse, but now wearing a different colored suit.
She smiles. "Of course. Can I get your name?"
"The Doctor."
Her faces squishes in confusion. "Doctor what?"
He shrugs. "Just the Doctor."
"Well, you must have a last name. Or even a first name?"
"Nope, just the Doctor."
Rose shrugs. "Alright, Doctor." She scribbles on the cup before handing it to Shareen. "One iced coffee for the Doctor."
Shareen blows a loose strand of hair off her face. "Actually, Rose, can you get that one? I have to start this one over. Forgot the extra pump of espresso."
"Sure thing!" Rose goes through the motions of making the Doctor's drink. She finishes and goes to the pick-up counter. "Iced coffee, the Doctor!" she shouts.
Out of the corner of her eye she can see him push up from the table and saunter over to her. He swipes the cup from her hands, their fingers touching sparsely before he brings the cup to his lips and drinks. He moans quietly. "That's better than I expected. Thank you, Rose." The Doctor walks toward the door.
Rose shakes herself out of her staring stupor just in time to say, "Thank you for coming to the Corah Cafe. Come back soon!"
Swoosh, ding!
4:00 pm, Thursday
Swoosh, ding!
Shareen looks toward the door as a man in a trenchcoat walks in. He walks up to the counter and looks into Shareen's eyes.
"Hello," he says. "Is Rose working today?" Shareen shakes her head. "Oh. Well, thanks, anyway," he mumbles before walking back out the door.
Swoosh, ding!
9:00 am, Friday
"Hey, can I get another iced coffee?"
Rose turns around from the blender to see the Doctor standing there, holding his empty cup out in front of him, smiling. Rose shakes her head and smiles back. "Sure."
She pours the coffee in, puts in the cream, and adds the ice. When she hands it back to him and collects the money, his hand rests on her arm to stop her from returning to the blender.
She laughs. "You know you've been here for two hours already?"
He chuckles along with her, but otherwise doesn't acknowledge her question. "When is your break?"
Rose's forehead crinkles in concern, "Not until eleven, why?"
He shrugs. "Well, I was just wondering if you would spend your break with me?"
"I have to stay in the shop. Sorry. And like I said, it's not for another two hours."
She makes to turn around, feeling sad about the missed opportunity, when his palm catches her arm again. He smiles. "I can stay in here. It's not too bad. Smells pretty good." He pauses. "And I guess I'll just be here another two hours, then, won't I?"
10:45 am, Friday
For the past four hours, Shareen has seen that man in the trench coat go back and forth from his table to Rose. She is very annoyed. Not because he's there, but because Rose hasn't asked to take her break already to talk to the cute man!
"Oi, Rose, I think I've got it for a while. The line is thinning. You can take your break!" Shareen hollers over the din of the shop.
"But the line just got longer. Are you sure?"
"Yes!" She lowers her voice. "Go talk to the cute trench coat man!"
Rose laughs as she hangs her apron up and heads toward the Doctor's corner table.
He sees her coming and stands up until she is beside him, then pulls out her chair. "What a gentleman," she laughs.
He chuckles as he pushes the chair in. "Only the best for my Rose." My Rose. I like that.
"So," Rose begins. "You obviously know my job. What do you do?"
"Well, I travel a lot. That's not really my job, but money always seems to turn up when I need it."
Rose eyes him and smirks. "You're not a robber, are you?"
He snorts. He actually snorts. "No, of course not! In fact, I'm appalled you'd think so bad me. I don't think I'll ever come back here again," he jokes. "I just might write to your manager!"
He gets up and starts to walk away. "No, no!" Rose yells, laughing. "Don't!"
The Doctor stops, only two steps away from the table. "Only if you promise to have an iced coffee ready for me tomorrow at eleven."
"Alright! Fine!" she concedes, still giggling. "Just come back here, you're making a scene."
He sits back down and smirks. "Rose. You're the one screeching."
She stops and looks around. Sure enough, most are looking her way, and all the noise she thought she heard earlier had been replaced by silent stares. "Uhh, maybe I should get back to work." The Doctor's face falls. "But I'll see you here tomorrow, eleven a.m., with your iced coffee," she says, trying to cheer him up. It works. He bids her goodbye, practically skipping through the door. Just as her apron slips back over her head she hears the swoosh, ding!
11:00 am, Saturday
Swoosh, ding!
"Hey!" Rose greets him, iced coffee in hand, apron already on the hook. "Here's your iced coffee, eleven sharp, just like you asked." He smiles warmly and takes the cup from her hand. As her hand falls away from the cup he snatches it with his free one. The Doctor brings it to his lips and places a kiss on the palm, then the back of the hand. Without letting go, he drags her to their table.
"So, Rose," he starts. "What's your family like?"
"Well, my mum's name is Jackie. She doesn't really think anything through. A bit hair-brained. And all about money. She's constantly trying to find some loophole at the Corah Cafe that would allow us to collect some money. But that's just how she is."
They continue to talk for the next fifteen minutes. The Doctor checks the clock. He sighs. "Looks like your break is up."
Rose shakes her head. "Didn't I tell you? I didn't work today."
He sputters. "But, you made me coffee. And I saw you put your apron away as I came in."
She laughs. "Well, Doctor, when you made me promise that yesterday, you didn't ask if I worked. And I had to wear the apron when I was making it. I didn't want to ruin my clothes," she smirks.
The Doctor sputters a bit before finally collecting himself. "I am not amused."
Rose calls his bluff. "You totally are."
"No, I'm not." He cracks a smile.
"Fine, you're not." Rose agrees. After a pause she says, "But it was to adorable for you to be annoyed at." She smiles wide, her tongue catching between her teeth.
The Doctor's smile widens as her's does. "Hey, since you're not working, you wanna get out of here?"
"Hmmm. . ." Rose taps her chin, then rushes away. The Doctor chases after her, all around the shop, before finally catching her around the waist. "Alright. C'mon Doctor. Let's go."
"Allons-y!"
"What's that mean?"
Swoosh, ding!
AN: I got the name Corah Cafe from the purple planet Corah, where the Tenth Doctor was captured by a military research team (I believe this was in one of the comics, not the show). Shareen was mentioned once or twice in the series as Rose's friend, so I put her in there. I did this in about two hours while procrastinating my homework, so it's not very good/planned out, but whatever. Enjoy!
-Aimee