Okay, I'm kind of on a roll here. Which is pretty different from having REALLY long breaks between updating. Someone in the back: *coughs loudly* Okay, no more weird jokes. This is a series of oneshots about prompts I came up with. I don't really feel like making them into huge stories, but they are interesting prompts, so yeah, here we are.
Like I said in the summary, a lot of these are up for adoption. I do really hope some of these ideas will get picked up. Because developing writing skills takes practice and I want to see the talent you guys have. Also, if none of these are adopted, it means my ideas are dumb :). Kidding. Chapters like this one are plain oneshots. So you guys will get both writing opportunities and stuff to just read.
Lastly, I'll stick a summary in for each oneshot I write per chapter. That would make more sense for everybody, right?
Enjoy!
-Annabeth is a developing businesswoman who doesn't have time for anyone and Percy is the barista who struggles to keep up with all his work and remain chill-
Percy
Percy drummed his fingers on the steel countertop, impatiently waiting for the cappuccino machine to stop hissing foam. After a too-long wait, he yanked the mug out from under the nozzle, squirted syrup in it, and messily dusted the foamy top with cocoa power before dropping it onto the front counter.
"Here you go," he muttered to the bothersome customer bended over her phone. He continued to drum his fingers until she slowly lifted a few crumpled bills from her purse and handed it him. Percy struggled with the register before sprinkling change and a receipt into her hand.
She looked him in the eye for the first time with impatient dark brown eyes. Then she crumpled it all into her palm, yanked her coffee off the desk like he was the slow one, and hurried off to a table.
Percy sighed, leaning against the cold stone counter. He used to love this café and was so excited to come to work every day. The owner, Jules, would treat him to blue smoothies all the time-on the house, and he could chat with people from all over his small town. And then, at some point, things changed. He didn't know why. But his customers were far more grumpy than usual, all of them hogging up the long line, and ordered extremely complex coffees just to be ostentatious. It was horrible. He didn't even have anyone to talk to anymore, except for the mostly-asleep adolescent janitor named Clovis. But Clovis preferred stealing milk directly from the cartons to talking.
He was about to sigh again when some loudly rapped the countertop. He glanced up to see a tall, polished-looking man in a suit with a frilly little girl on his arm. His mind wandered, imagining why such an old pair would come to this small café. Maybe he got divorced and this girl was split between him and her mom. No, too sad. Perhaps he was generous and adopted her from an overcrowded orphanage.
Percy was about to warmly smile at them when the man stopped exclaiming the menu. "I want a low-fat, sugar-free, cream-free, low-fat soy milk, slow-roasted coffee beans vanilla latte with a medium-sized Earl Grey tea, no sugar, no cream, and one teaspoon of milk. I also want a cocoa mocha caramel Frappuccino with medium-sugar and organic low-fat milk and cinnamon and cocoa power on top," he announced, rapid-fast.
Percy's eyes bulged. He barely heard half of that, and he was sure that if he got one thing wrong the man would dump his expensive coffee and order a new, fancier one. "Um, can you repeat that?" He got an empty notepad, ready to scribble everything down.
The man sighed heavily, cast a quick look at the little girl, and repeated everything at the same hurried pace. Percy had to flip his page multiple times in order to copy everything down. Then he rushed over to the working counter, grabbed all sorts of containers, and got to work. Every nice thought he had about the man and his daughter flew out of his mind as he carefully measured the sugar and milk and dumped it into the slow-roasted coffee.
Finally he carried three heavy to-go cups to the counter. Annoyance flared inside his mind as the man carefully checked the labels on the sides. But then his eye caught on a framed photo underneath the counter. It was of a grinning woman with long brown hair. His mother. He was about to smile before one of her favorite sayings popped into mind. Don't be ungrateful, child. You have so much, and even if there are trials you need to be nice to others. He always used to think that was too hard and kind of ridiculous.
But he did listen to his mother since he was a huge mama's boy. So he calculated the price of the drinks and offered the receipt to the man with a small smile. He crisply grabbed it and led the small girl outside without a word.
Percy sighed again. He would never understand how his mother had it in her to be nice to everyone.
When he was wiping down his work counter and putting away the low-fat milk containers, the bell above the door jingled and the annoying sound of heels clacked closer and closer. Percy slowly turned, expecting to see a posh businesswoman.
And he did. But he didn't. The woman in front of him did have cold gray eyes and a tailored silk suit, but there was something different about her. But her eyes were actually a glittering gray that reminded him of awestriking storm brewing in a darkening sky. Maybe it was the sparse wrinkles around her eyes, laugh wrinkles. Or maybe it was the streak of unseemly but pretty gray hair among her ruler-straight platinum blond hair. She was also unearthly beautiful. Her cheekbones were raised and sharp, jutting over full cheeks, and her lips were full and painted a pale pink. And while her hands were manicured and elegant, they were curled up within one another. Despite her intimidating glare and her proudly raised chin, Percy wanted to pull her hands into his.
That thought didn't even dissipate when she narrowed her calculating metal eyes at him. "Hello," she said coldly. Her voice wasn't the stony type he heard from other businesswomen. It was light and feminine, though trying to sharp. "Can you make my coffee quickly?"
Percy nodded, trying to not seem too eager. He poised his pen over his notepad. "What is your order?"
She rattled off a longer list than the man from before had. Percy's head ached just by looking at his messy scribbles. He slowly turned to his work counter and grabbed the coffeepot. Might as well start somewhere.
Five minutes into making her coffee, he had forgotten all about her wide lips and angel wing-tipped eyes and possible niceness. Instead, he was completely irritated. Her order was ridiculously long and complicated. She should've gone to a Starbucks instead for something like this. He wasn't even sure if they had all the stuff she required.
"Are you done? I have things to do," she called from behind him, in an impatient voice.
And then Percy felt something inside him snap.
"No, sorry, but you asked for a lot." He whirled around, his eyes narrowed into angry slits. "If you don't have time, get a simple latte. Don't order this!" He waved his notepad in her face. "No one can make this in five minutes!"
Her soft lips widened into an "o". Her gray eyes darkened many tones. "I expected a professional here," she said icily. "I'll go somewhere else, then." She glared right back and was about to spin on her five-inch heel.
But then his mother's voice annoyingly popped into Percy's head. I asked to you be nice, child. What is this, then? Who knows what this poor girl is going through. Percy sighed through his teeth and reached out to take her thin wrist. It was warm and oh-so-soft.
She gaped at him, too surprised to be angry. "Are you-what-don't you dare—" she stuttered out.
Percy looked her dead in the eye. They were so pretty and shocked. "No, look, sorry." He paused before barging on. "I want to apologize for being so rude. It's all my fault. You don't deserve to be yelled at. You don't deserve to be judged. And that's what I did." He sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. "Sorry."
Curiosity spilled into her dove gray pupils. "What's your name?" she asked, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Um, Percy." He pointed to his name tag.
She blushed a little before continuing. "Well, Percy, that's the first time in my life someone apologized because I was behaving inappropriately." She swallowed a little and Percy could help but watch her long, graceful neck. "It's my fault for being impatient and petulant. I do deserve to be judged. Sorry for bothering you."
On some hidden impulse, he released her wrist and, instead, slid his fingers into hers. They both stared at their entwined fingers in shock. Percy was the first to clear his throat. "It's just, I want you to stay. You're not bothering me-you're-you're perfect." He mumbled.
She blushed, hard. It was a startingly comparison to her tan skin. "You are too," she whispered, her eyes trained on the countertop.
He wasn't sure who was blushing the hardest right now. After an eternity of embarrassment and giddiness and the feeling of floating, they looked back at one another. "Let's start over," the girl said. "Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase. Can I get a simple to-go latte?"
Percy laughed. "Sure." He longingly gazed at her before pulling his fingers away from hers slowly and taking a step back. After giving her one last look, he turned, discarded her original cup, and started making her latte.
"Wait!" she called.
He spun around, surprised. Annabeth was grinning in a way that made him happy and suspicious at the same time. "What?"
Her eyes were wide and sparkling. "What's your name?"
Percy rolled his eyes. He shot her a look, like, are you seriously going this far, and she nodded excitedly. "I'm Percy Jackson," he told her, shaking her hand. It was so nice and soft.
"Great. Nice to meet you, Percy." Then she gestured for him to continue making her coffee.
Just as he pulled her cup from the machine, Annabeth cried "Wait!" again.
He spun around with an amused eyebrow raised. "Now wait?"
Annabeth reached over the counter, grabbed his collar, and pulled him to her lips. Fireworks exploded in his head and suddenly his heartbeat seemed to be saying, Annabeth Annabeth Annabeth Annabeth. Her lips were softer than anything and he couldn't think about anything but that.
They broke apart too quickly, gasping for air. Percy leaned his forehead on hers and noted how beautifully gray her eyes were.
"Hey! Can I get a coffee? Wuh-OH!" Another customer who just entered yelled.
They laughed and broke apart. Annabeth pulled her fingers from his hair and grinned. "I don't have anything else to ask from you. Where's my latte?"
He thumbed her flushed cheeks. "Coming right up." He turned, capped her cup, and dropped it onto the counter. Once he handed her the receipt, she made a move to grab her cup, but he pushed her fingers away.
"One second," he told her. He grabbed a marker from under the counter and scribbled on the side, "To Annabeth, with love x."
Annabeth eagerly took her drink when he was done and read his message with bright eyes. And then she pulled him into another kiss that caused to other customer to groan.
Alright, that's pretty much it. Oh jeez, this is short. But not too bad, right? I'm actually kind of impressed with the meaningful stuff I put inside. Usually I'm like all fluff and no material. So I'm definitely impressed and proud of this.
You know, I might even write this in Annabeth's POV. Since its still sort of unclear what's happening with her, and she had to swallow her pride to apologize to Percy, so yeah, pretty interesting stuff.
But I do have a bunch of ideas for other chapters ( piggyhero, yes, in a list ;)) and I hope you'll enjoy them. AND, with luck, I'll restart my fluffy series. Don't check out the old chapters they're long and pointless. I'll delete them soon.
So yeah bye I got lunch.
Au revoir,
Pride-and-loyalty
