Scott found himself sending discreet glances Coby's way the entire wait time. The outline of his profile as the sun glowed on his face made Scott realize how striking his nose was. How long his eyelashes were. He called the name as he held the finished drink, "Coby?"
The man was sitting on one of the barstools, messing with his phone, then looked up when he heard his name called. A smile warmed his features as he approached, and the tattooed hand slid the device in his hoodie pocket.
"I've never seen you in here. Is this your first time in?" He was feeling brave.
"Just drive thru," Coby accepted the drink, "I was feeling like stopping."
"Glad you did. It's great to meet you, Coby." God, no. That was too much. Scott wished he could take it back, but the man smiled, flattered, and cast a glance downward at his nametag.
"Great to meet you too, Scott." He went back to the table, sipping his drink.
"He was so fucking cute," Angel pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned to see her with a little bit of a blush on the apples of her cheeks, "Think I should ask him out?"
"Uh, he seems a bit old for you," Scott was immediately and irrationally defensive, and he didn't know why. Angel was fun, but she was all wrong for Coby. Right? Why was he being like this? He occupied himself by emptying the espresso machine, dumping the hardened puck of grounds into the canister.
To his horror, Angel left the counter and circled onto the floor. Fuck. Even though he wanted to avoid watching Angel embarrass herself, something made him stay focused on the back of her head. He kind of wished it was as easy for him as it was for her to be so bold.
"Hey," She sat across from Coby, pulling him from his phone screen with a surprised expression.
"Hey?"
"You wanna grab coffee sometime? I mean-not here. I know a good place by the Five Guys."
For a moment he only looked at her, then blinked. She was sitting like the barstool was her couch at home, and had an easygoing attitude. Scott squinted at the uncomfortable silence, even though he was safe behind the counter, his hands numbly wiping the surface with a rag as his eyes passed between the two. Like watching a gunfight.
"Um," He seemed surprised into silence. Scott was feeling uncomfortable on Coby's behalf, and then the dark haired man passed a glance his way. When their eyes met, Scott gave him a subtle head shake and a grimace, his hand making a 'cut' gesture.
Coby got the hint, because he turned back to her and smiled, "That sounds fun, but I don't think I have time. Thanks for inviting me."
But Angel, being Angel, continued to push, and Scott almost literally face-palmed. "I didn't mean today, just whenever you have time. You want my number?"
Their headsets went off, the high-pitched beeping loud in his ear, and Scott went to the sink to rinse his hands. Thank god. "Hey, Angel, can you get the drive-thru? my hands are wet." You lying bitch, he thought with satisfaction.
Angel raised her hand to her headset, giving a huge eye roll, and gave the rehearsed answer, "Hi, welcome to Starbucks! What can I get for you today?"
It was pure chance that someone entered the drive-thru in that instant, but the relief in the glance Scott and Coby shared as Angel left to answer it, was almost tangible. Coby smiled, showing his pearly teeth as he released a silent laugh.
"She won't leave me alone either," Scott took advantage of her absence and crossed to where Coby was sitting, "Sorry she bugged you like that."
"No, it's fine. I thought it was funny." He took a drink of his latte.
"I like the tattooes, by the way," Scott gestured to his hand, where three bats were arranged like they were flying across the sky. It matched the dark nail polish he was wearing.
"Thanks. You have any tatts?"
"No," He smiled," I want to get a sleeve eventually, but I don't have the money for that."
Coby leaned closer, his elbows on the table, and lowered his voice, "Listen, you want her to leave you alone forever?"
"What?"
"Angel. Purple wonder. You said she won't leave you alone. I have an idea."
"I'm listening," Scott gave a glance over his shoulder, but Angel was busy with drive-thru orders. It was strange, and felt like he was doing something sneaky and illegal like buying drugs, but he leaned down so they were a couple feet apart.
"Here's the plan. I'll stay around for about fifteen minutes, then go to the front. We have to be super flirty, and then I'll hand you my phone number. Act giggly about it. She'll leave you alone, I swear."
Scott almost snorted, "You what?"
"Believe me, it's totally gonna work."
Xxx
Scott was running new coffee pots when Coby approached the register, but his coworker got there instead. "Hi, hon" She grinned. For some reason she used 'hon' as a term of endearment, which seemed a little strange.
"Hi. Can I talk to Scott?" He sipped the remains of his drink and set the cup of ice chips on the counter.
"Sure." She looked slightly disappointed.
Scott's heart was racing. This was weird. "Hi," he was having second thoughts about going through with it, "What can I get for you?"
Coby rubbed his lip with his thumb and gave the taller man a look, raising one eyebrow. "You can get me tonight at 8. You like Italian?" Damn, he was good.
"You-Uh…" Wow. Even when he was expecting it, he managed to fuck it up.
But Coby was fast to recover, and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, "You have a pen, Scotty?" His nimble fingers plucked one out of the jar by the register and began to scrawl something down, "I'm free all night."
Scott snapped out of his stupor and got over the tentativeness and took the slip, "Kay, I can do that."
"See you tonight," He turned, chucking his empty cup into the garbage and placing a hand on the door handle, but gave Scott one last look before leaving. He pushed a pointer finger in his direction, "Don't forget."
And then he was gone.
Scott unintentionally blushed. He looked down at the slip of paper, which had a small note and the ten digits in elegant handwriting, followed by a signature. Thanks for a fun time, it read, and the signature was a collection of unintelligible loops. The only letters he could make out were an M and a G. M? His name was Coby, right?
He looked up, sliding the paper in his pocket, and had to force the laugh back as he saw Angel's facial expression. She had a mixture of awestruck horror, understanding, and anger. "I didn't know you were gay."
I'm not, he thought. But then why did Coby leave a warm feeling in his chest?
When he got a second to himself, he entered the numbers into his phone and keyed in a simple phrase, "Thank you."
An instant later, there was a string of words that made him bubbly inside and confused at the same time, "I was serious, Scott. See you at 8?"
He stared at the speech bubble in the app, and his fingers moved on their own accord, "See you then."
