Latte Boy: "How Are You"
The following morning at exactly 8:11, Kagome and Eri returned to Chenoweth's Coffee Shop to get their caffeine kick. As they entered the shop they noticed it wasn't nearly as crowded as the day before. That meant they wouldn't have to wait long in line and could talk with Sango before class. As they made their way inside, Kagome's breath caught in her throat. There, just beyond the counter were two glowing pools of gold looking directly back at her. The newest addition to the barista team looked twice as tall and muscular standing behind the tiny register. Anyone else might have been intimidated by his dominating figure but to Kagome, she was the moth and he was the flame. Ever since yesterday morning she hadn't been able to get him off her mind. She kept fantasizing about his amber eyes, cute dog ears and beautiful silver hair. At first she tried to ignore her thoughts and feelings, believing they'd go away with time.
After getting caught daydreaming twice while in class however, and again last night over dinner with friends, she knew that was easier said than done. Never having dated before, or developing a crush for that matter, made her feel like a fish out of water. She didn't have a clue how to stop thinking about him. She'd always been the type of girl to focus on her school work and run away when love rushed towards her. Her pathetic excuse of a relationship with Hojo was a prime example of her failure to commit. Now that she'd finally fallen hard for someone, she had no idea what to do about it. The sudden butterfly-like-feeling in her stomach caused her throat to itch, her heart beat to accelerate and her hands to become sweaty and clammy. In other words, she was a jittery, twitchy mess. The inability to get a grip of her emotions made her feel pathetic. Just one glimpse from her crush made her weak in the knees!
Was this what falling in love with someone felt like? She didn't remember Sango being this ridiculous when she started dating her boyfriend Miroku. Regardless if her feelings were normal or not, she realized she was going to have to talk to the guy eventually. Especially since he worked at the only coffee shop on campus. She needed to come up with a plan so she wouldn't have to break her morning habit of drinking coffee. It was then decided that she'd introduce herself in a proper formal way. Maybe if she made a good impression he'd forget about how awkward she is and maybe become her friend? Perhaps, maybe something more later down the road? The idea of being his girlfriend caused her cheeks to blush. Knowing she was getting ahead of herself, she shook herself off of those thoughts, took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back and stepped up to the counter to order.
"How are you?" the silver haired barista smiled.
"Fine, thanks." Kagome blushed as she shyly tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
"Can I have a name for your order?" the silver haired barista asked.
"It's Kagome." Kagome said, as she watched him log into the register.
"Hey." The barista softly answered back with a slight nod.
The way he looked up at her through his dark lashes caused Kagome's heart to grow wings. To her delight, the slight skip in her heartbeat caused one of his ears to flick in her direction. She had to pinch herself to keep from reaching out and rubbing at their cute furry texture.
"Kami, Kagome! Get a hold of yourself!" Kagome inwardly chastised. "He is not a pet! Even if he's cute like one!"
"How do you spell that?" the barista asked, momentarily distracting Kagome from his ears.
"K,A,G,O,M,E." Kagome spelled out. "Ka,go,me."
"Thanks, Ka... go... me..." he drew out playfully before flicking the plastic name tag on his apron. "The name's Inuyasha by the way."
"Inuyasha." Kagome blushed. Liking the way his name rolled off her tongue made her smile. "That's very unique."
"Keh, not really." Inuyasha scoffed, as he turned to face her friend. "Are you paying together?"
"Nope! We're on separate checks." Eri chimed in. "I'm Eri. Spelled, E,R,I."
"Got it." the silver haired barista said as Sango came out of the back storage room.
"Hey guys! I see you've met Inuyasha." Sango smiled as she came to stand beside her new coworker. "Has he taken your order yet?"
"No, we just finished making our acquaintances." Eri said as she leaned against the counter. "What degree are you studying?"
"Business and Criminal Justice." Inuyasha said, sparking both Kagome and Eri's attention.
"Ooo, a double major." Eri awed. "What made you decide to do that?"
"My family owns a security company in Tokyo." Inuyasha shrugged as his demonic hearing picked up on Kagome's heartbeat increasing once again.
Confused, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. His brows creased slightly when he noticed how nervous she looked. Was she sick, or was something else wrong with her? Not sensing her heart condition worsen, he shrugged it off as nothing.
"The company over the last two years has expanded all across Japan." Inuyasha continued on. "My dad wants to eventually split the company between me and my half-brother."
"Sounds like a solid plan to me." Sango nodded approvingly.
"What's the name of the company?" Kagome asked, catching Inuyasha's attention. She nervously twisted her skirt between her fingers when his rich amber gaze flicked in her direction.
"Taisho Defense." Inuyasha said. The name of the business caused all three girls' eyes to widen.
"What? No way! My dream job is to work for them!" Sango gasped. Her sudden excitement caused Inuyasha's posture to stiffen in surprise. "I know we only met yesterday, but could you possibly put in a good word for me when I graduate?"
"Uh, sure?" Inuyasha shrugged.
As he rubbed the back of his neck, he noticed Kagome had a slight flush to her cheeks and was awkwardly watching him from under her lashes. She looked cute but at the same time, uncomfortable and nervous. He could smell how sweaty her hands were and could hear how fast her heart was beating. There were only two options as to why she was acting like this. One, there was something seriously wrong with her heart that required immediate attention or two, she was afraid of being near a half-demon like everyone else. Seeing how her eyes kept drifting up towards his ears and avoided his eye contact, the second option was more than likely the case. It annoyed him that yet again, another person was judging him for his mutated blood. He wasn't stupid. Having grown up as a half-demon, he was used to people being judgmental and uncomfortable around him. He'd come to recognize the signs of fear and distrust and learned to steer clear of those who wished to hurt him. This girl unfortunately was showing all the signs of a prejudiced damsel in distress.
He really shouldn't be surprised by her reaction. He'd smelled her uneasiness the other day when she'd stopped by the coffee shop and saw how she looked at his demonic features. Why would her reaction today be any different than before? He knew he should just shrug off her offense but for some odd reason, knowing this wench didn't like to be around him and was appalled by his demonic features really bothered him. Maybe he was just being paranoid because he'd only recently broken up with his girlfriend? Could he possibly be letting his emotions cloud his better judgment? Was he over reacting and reading too much into her reactions? She did look similar to his ex. She even smelled like her too. Maybe that was why her rejection got under his skin so much? Regardless of that possibility, his mother always taught him to respect a woman, even if she didn't deserve it. He'd check up on the wench to make sure she was okay, just in case there was something else seriously wrong with her.
"Hey, are you ok?" Inuyasha asked, catching Kagome off guard.
"Huh?" Kagome blinked up at his serious face.
"I asked, if you're ok?" Inuyasha repeated impatiently, causing her face to turn a bright red color.
"Oh! S-sorry, that was rude of me. I was just lost in thought for a moment." Kagome chuckled nervously, earning a bored look from Inuyasha. Noticing he wasn't buying her lame excuse for spacing out, she quickly cleared her throat and straightened up. "Really, I'm fine thank you."
"Keh, if you say so." Inuyasha humphed back. To his annoyance she only seemed to get even more anxious around him.
"What is with this chick? She was fine a minute ago. Now she's acting like I threatened to take her head off or something!"Inuyasha inwardly cursed. "How could asking if she was ok or not be so frightening?"
"Don't worry about her." Eri reassured him, almost as if she'd read his mind. "She's usually pretty scatterbrained until she gets her morning caffeine."
"Yup! She's as useless as a zombie." Sango agreed, earning a disapproving glare from Kagome.
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Kagome pouted cutely.
The sight of her lower lip sticking out made Inuyasha smirk. Apparently the wench was easy to tease. Oddly he found her flustered appearance kind of cute. He couldn't understand why, but seeing her feathers all bristled made him want to see her do it again. Maybe he was thinking too much. Maybe she didn't have a problem with him at all and was just naturally skittish? Maybe once he earned her trust she'd warm up to him?
"Ha! Says the girl who boarded the wrong train every other week on the way to high school." Sango teased, causing Kagome's face to engulf into flames. "If it weren't for Eri rooming with you this semester you'd still be late to class."
"Keh, that's pretty sad." Inuyasha chuckled, causing Kagome to further shrink in on herself from embarrassment.
"You guys are the worst." Kagome grumbled.
"But you love us anyways." Eri winked, making everyone chuckle.
"So what can I get you guys?" Inuyasha asked.
"I'll have an iced chai latte with an everything bagel and cream cheese." Eri said as she handed Inuyasha her debit card.
"What's your half-off baked-good?" Sango asked.
"I'll try one of those danish bites." Eri said as she pointed to the custard treat in the display case.
"Great choice." Sango said as she went to grab Eri's order. "This bad boy is our most popular breakfast item. I'm surprised there's one left! Normally they're all gone by now."
"I can see why it's so popular!" Eri said as Inuyasha began to type in her order. "It looks delicious."
As Inuyasha tried to find the right buttons to push on the register, Kagome's attention unconsciously drifted down towards his hands. Her brows lifted in surprise when she noticed how rough they were. It was obvious from the calluses and dry skin decorating his fingers and palms that he worked with his hands often. His sharp deadly claws, muscular tone and protruding veins only enhanced their masculinity in her opinion. How was it possible for hands to look so buff? Too lost in her thoughts however, caused her to miss Inuyasha's narrowed glare. He did not appreciate her looking at his claws like he was a circus freak. It wasn't until he paused and retracted his hands away from the register that she realized her mistake.
"Anything else?" Sango asked, unaware of what just transpired.
"No thanks." Eri shook her head.
"That will be $5.20." Sango said, as Inuyasha firmly swiped the card through the machine. She chuckled lightly when she heard him growl in frustration when the machine struggled to read Eri's card. "Easy now! No need to force it. You've got to give the register a chance to read the card. Try swiping it a little slower this time?"
"Feh!" Inuyasha grumbled as he did as he was told.
"There we go!" Sango smiled encouragingly. "All it needed was a gentle touch."
"Keh..." Inuyasha scoffed as he set Eri's card and receipt on the counter for her to grab. "How about you?"
"My usual." Kagome mumbled as she rooted around in her backpack to try and find her wallet.
"A double latte with extra foam?" Sango asked as Inuyasha struggled to find the extra espresso option on the order screen.
"Of course! You know how much I love them." Kagome said as she finally located her wallet.
"Here, push 7. It will bring up the extra options on the menu." Sango said as she pointed at the screen.
"Oh, uh thanks..." Inuyasha blushed. Hating being embarrassed he gruffly asked, "Anything else?"
"No, that's it, thanks." Kagome said as she tried to settle the butterflies in her stomach.
She couldn't get over how cute Inuyasha looked as he learned how to do his job. The way his thick brows would bunch together when he focused and his voice deepened with a gravely undertone when he got frustrated was extremely attractive. It baffled her why she thought him being annoyed was so handsome.
"No pastry?" Sango asked, unaware of her friend's inner thoughts. "We have a sale today, remember?"
"Oh, no. I'm alright, thanks." Kagome said, as she held out her debit card. "I'm not very hungry."
"Your loss." Sango shrugged as Inuyasha reached for the payment. "That will be $3.55."
Kagome gasped when Inuyasha's index finger accidentally brushed against her palm. Although the moment only happened for a second, the warmth of his touch reached to her very soul. The instant it happened her eyes snapped up to his in shock. She could tell by the slight widening of his eyes and the stiffening in his posture that he'd felt the connection too.
"Sorry." Kagome apologized.
"D-Don't worry about it." Inuyasha stammered as he quickly finished the order.
"You guys go ahead and take a seat. I'll have Inuyasha bring your orders to you when they are ready. " Sango offered.
"Thanks Sango!" Eri smiled as she and Kagome turned to find their seat.
To be continued...
[End of Chapter 2]