Chapter 25- The Café Crushes:

Third Person:

Alexy had only two reasons for not going to the resort with everyone else. One- Armin didn't want to go to the resort. Alexy hated being separated from his twin for a long time- even if he hardly ever showed it. Two- he was finally getting the courage he needed to confront the cute café worker. Ryan was cute- his darker Italian skin with dark hair and even darker eyes made him the target for a lot of the girls that came in. However, he was a bit too old for Alexy's tastes.

He sat down at one of the tables, Armin sitting down beside him playing one of his many portable games. Alexy was staring straight at the cute café worker whose nametag read Luke. Luke was a sight to behold- he was funny, dorky, and clumsy from what he observed. Despite how tall Luke was, his lean, smaller frame gave him an almost feminine look. His light blonde hair was always a bit tussled and his blue eyes were always shining with amusement like he knew some joke that he hadn't shared with the world yet.

"Oh God," Luke said to himself as he tried to swerve through the customers with a tray of coffee, "I'm going to fall…"

"You're not going to fall if you keep your head up, don't look at your feet just walk," Ryan called out from the counter as he shook his head- there was a reason Erin was usually the one delivering orders.

Alexy's eyes watched Luke, who was currently trying to take Ryan's advice and be graceful as he walked.

"Just ask him out," Armin said without looking up from his game.

Alexy's attention turned to his twin as he placed his hands over Armin's mouth, startling him as he had to hurry and pause his game. He glared at Alexy as Alexy glanced around nervously,

"Shhhhh, he might hear you…. Hey! No biting!"

Alexy quickly took his hand away from Armin's mouth to cradle it next to his chest. Faint teeth marks were seen on his palm as Armin gave his twin a cheeky grin. After living their whole lives together, one would think Alexy would no matter than to put his hand over Armin's mouth. Alexy briefly glared,

"Dude…"

"If you're not going to ask him out, I'll do it for you," Armin informed Alexy before looking over his shoulder.

"Excuse me," Armin said loudly in Luke's direction, "Waiter!"

"Armin!"

Alexy tackled Armin to the ground in embarrassment. Luke turned his attention to the two twins in confusion. He watched as Alexy seemed to wrestle with his brother.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Alexy hissed.

"I don't understand how you are so confident with girls, but absolute crap when it comes to asking guys out," Armin whispered between his laughs.

"Shut up," Alexy repeated, "Girls aren't exactly my target so they're easier to talk to you! And like you're on to talk about being crap talking to potential partners!"

The two continued to wrestle on the ground. Armin still shouting for the 'waiter' as Alexy desperately tried to cover Armin's mouth to shut him up. Finally, Alexy managed to block Armin's both with his arm and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Excuse me, you called? Is everything okay, sirs," Luke asked softly.

Alexy looked up to see Luke towering over the twins with an expression of confusion and hesitation. He had his hand out to help Alexy and Armin up, however Alexy just turned bright red before running out of the café, dragging a hysterical Armin with him. Luke stood in shock and turned to Ryan,

"Do…Do you know what just happened?"

Luke looked at Ryan a bit hopefully. Ryan resisted the urge to smirk. With Erin gone, Ryan was free to mess with poor Luke all he wanted- the eighteen year old was very naïve, therefore making an easy target.

"You scared them off. Erin's going to be mad at you for not only scaring off her friends, but for scaring off customers…"

Luke's eyes got wide, mortified as he imagined the horrors of Erin. She was scary when she was upset. What if she chased him with a spoon again? What if she lowered his pay? What if he got demoted? What if she fired him? He put his head down in shame as he wailed,

"She's going to hate me!"

When Alexy returned to the café with Armin, Luke actually noticed them. He noticed the way Alexy was staring at him, which caused him to blush and look away. Crap, Luke thought, panicking slightly, he's cute… He's cute! What do I do? What do I say? He's staring at me. He tried to scramble away, but only managed to slip and fall flat on his butt. Now he's going to laugh like everyone else does. .

Luke closed his eyes tightly and he counted to ten in his head in an effort to slow down his pounding heart. He felt his face heating up in embarrassment and he could hear a few people chuckling. Tears were threatening to fall. Normally in a situation like this, Erin would come and help him calm down and relax. She knew just what to do to calm down. Aside from her and Ryan, no one ever bothered to pay him attention. Heck, Erin was the only person who would even hire him despite his anxiety. Puppies. Puppies don't judge people. Puppies love me… Someone love me…

He calmed down and no longer heard people's laughter (probably due to Ryan glaring at them). He briefly wondered why Ryan wasn't there helping him. Yet when he opened his eyes, there was a hand shoved into his face- a hand that belonged to the cute blue-haired teen that was eying him earlier. He was smiling at Luke, throwing Luke off a bit.

Hesitantly, Luke took Alexy's hand and brought himself up.

"Woah," Alexy tsk'ed, "Those stains are going to be really hard to get out. I hope you're okay though… You are okay, right? Nothing on your cute face is broken?"

Luke gulped and took a step backwards as his face turned red. Alexy continued to smile, despite the small blush on his face. Before Luke could offer an answer, Armin rushed Alexy out of the café, screaming something about how the arcade was apparently having a half-off deal and that they needed to go there now.

It took three trips to the café for Alexy to work up the courage to have a real conversation (with Armin not with him, he didn't have to deal with the teasing). Luke was cleaning down tables as it was close to closing time. He was well aware of Alexy's gaze on him. It was making him nervous and slowing down his work, but with breathing techniques, he was able to calm down enough to actually work. It didn't help that Luke admired the way Alexy looked (being bisexual, he admired males and females- which actually made it awkward as he used to have a crush on Erin when he first started working at the café). Now, however, Luke's crush had changed to the blue-haired, extravagant male that kept staring at him.

Luke was vaguely aware of someone standing beside him and his breathing hitched as he turned to face Alexy.

"Uhh…" Luke dumbly muttered, "C-Can I help you, sir?"

He took one step backwards to get some space between them. Luke spotted Ryan getting ready to intervene if needed. There was a few times where a creep, usually from out of town, stopped at the café. Most of the time they harassed Erin- who was quick to give them a reason to stop. Sometimes the men were so big and strong that Erin would be scared to take them on. Other times, it was Luke getting harassed and catcalled by both men and women (usually from out of town) for his feminine figure. That was when Ryan would step in.

Ryan played the part of a body guard to everyone at the café (especially Erin and Luke). It worked as Ryan was very tall, about six and a half feet, and rather muscled. It helped that Ryan also used to box in his spare time and learned martial arts. Luke briefly remembered Erin even mentioning how Ryan used to be a street fighter, a criminal almost (first in his hometown in Chicago and then in Sweet Amoris), until her father hired him and switched him to a better path. He had been working at the café ever since, but the things he learned on the street never left him.

"Yes," Alexy said cheerfully, "I was hoping you could help in answering one small question."

"W-What would that be sir," Luke said softly, glancing over at Ryan.

"I was wondering if you could give me your name, it's one thing to read it on a name tag, but another if you give it to me personally," Alexy said, oblivious to the macho man who was sneaking up on him, "I'm Alexy."

Alexy thrust his hand out for a handshake. Luke eyed it hesitantly after he gave Ryan a nod, signaling it was alright and there would be no need for a 'rescue'. Finally, Luke stuck his hand out and loosely grabbed Alexy's hand, noting how soft it was.

"I'm Luke."

Alexy shook his hand in an excited manor.

"Now, Luke, I do have one more question…"

"W-what?"

"What is your opinion on wearing orange with blue," Alexy asked honestly, "Because my twin swears that I am not pulling this off."

Alexy twirled to show off his outfit. Ryan stood in the background, noticing what was going on and stifled his laughter. Luke bit his lip, oh I want to pull it off…

"Trust me, it works," Luke said, eying Alexy's figure.

Ah so he does swing my way, Alexy thought cheerfully, this I can work with.