"Chris, why not?" She asked desperately.
"I'm sorry, Gemma. But I can't do 10 orders of coffee while I have a line of customers behind you." The barista said reluctantly.
"You know that my boss will kill me if I don't get these coffees in by 8:00." She beggged deploringly.
Chris responded with a slight tilt to his lips, " I know, Gem. I'm sorry but I can't. My boss already scolded me because of that huge lineup from before!"
"Chris, I'm sorry but you know that I need this job," Gemma leant in close, "without this job, I won't even get a scolding— I'll just get fired and you know it!"
Chris looked her sympathetically, "Gemma, I know. But if I serve your order again with 10 other customers trying to get their morning coffee before 8, then my boss will kill me and then I'll lose my job. You're going to have either wait for the line to pass or find another cafe."
Gemma was ready to fight one last time, quite keen on her keeping her job, until a voice behind her spoke up.
"Hey, I'll get half of whatever she gets."
Gemma instantly turned around to shoot down the strangers request until she saw his face.
The man was tall, built and broad shouldered. He had a clean shaven face that showed his cutting edge jaw line. He was rocking a full head of brown-blonde hair and wore a simple dark, navy blue long sleeve and black jeans. In other words—
The man was fucking gorgeous.
Chris looked as dumbfounded as she did, "Uh-h, sir..."
Chris' stammering broke her out of her weird staring contest with his oddly attractive forearms and decided to shift her gaze to his blue eyes, "Sir, don't worry— you really don't have to do that."
The man gently smiled, "Dont worry, ma'am. Honestly, I don't mind waiting."
Chris finally spoke again, "Sir, that is very generous of you but are you sure?"
She quickly interjected as she could see that the attractive man was about to persist with his request. "Chris, you know what? Just cancel my orders— it's totally fine. I'll go somewhere else."
She gave the guy another thanks, and heard him call for her as she walked to the exit, but she ignored him and walked back outside into the brisk, cold air. She groaned in exasperation, realizing that she was going to have to Yelp another cafe during rush hour.
Gemma waited outside, yelping other locations for about 10 minutes when she heard the front door of the cafe swish open and close. She was so preoccupied with her phone that she didn't feel the towering presence next to her. She looked up and realized that the hot guy was carrying one bag that was carrying three trays of coffee, in one hand and in the other, another tray of coffee.
She looked up from the bag to his eyes and said warily, "Hi?"
The man smirked a bit, "Hey, there. I know you said you'd find another cafe but I saw you standing outside after you left and decided to just buy it anyway." He handed her the bag and she took it wordlessly.
"Why would you buy 10 cups of coffee for a complete stranger?" She asked him. She supposed she should be flattered but in New York, you never know.
"Let's just say I've been in the position of risk before. From the smallest things like needing to buy 10 cups of coffee every morning to putting yourself in the front lines. I get it." He smiled and nodded, as if he expected her to understand.
Even more confused, she shook her head, "Well, at least let me pay you back." She reached for her wallet.
"Honestly, ma'am, don't worry about it. It was good talking to you." The man nodded and walked away with his tray.
Gemma frowned. Front lines? Risk? Why would a stranger, a hot stranger, buy her bosses coffee?
She turned and saw the man walking down the sidewalk and turn on Montague street. She quickly made up her mind, "Hey, sir! Wait!"
She ran down the block and made the right turn. However, her attempts in catching the guy were futile as he seemed to have disappeared as quickly as he appeared behind her at the coffee shop.
Gemma huffed in frustration and looked at her watch. Grateful to have some time to herself, she caught a cab to go to work. In the car, she could not stop thinking about the strange man.
Now, Gemma was no stranger to the movies and books showing romantic "meet cutes" and other such notions. When a man buys a girl a drink, alcoholic or not, it's hard not to read into the lines.
"But the way he spoke to me...it doesn't make any sense." She thought. "It almost seemed like he was genuinely just happy to fix the problem."
Maybe he was just a handy sort of a guy who likes to help others. A "true humatarian." Then again, he could be a complete psycho who thrives off helping women in coffee shops.
She shook her head to rid herself of this morning. "I'm just going to take it in stride. A hot guy bought your coffee, which saved your job, which saved your life. Be grateful."
She plastered a smile onto her face as she swiped her ID into the turnstiles and went about the day as usual.
It wasn't until Gemma got home and turned on the news that she saw another Earth invasion—this time, with what seemed to be transformers.
It wasn't until she got into bed, did she realize who exactly bought her coffee and saved her life.
Gemma's eyes were resting softly as she thought about the news coverage on what transpired in South Korea and Sokovia. The footage showed all of the Avengers fighting as the city of Sokovia floated above the ground.
With a shock, her eyes opened wide at her next thought, "Captain America bought my coffee."