RANDOM COFFEE SHOP AU HAVE FUN OKAY BYYYEEEEEE! LOVE YOU ALL!
I've never been one for coffee, but the local cafe in the heart of town was one of my best friend's favorite places to go after school so we could hammer through all of our work in one sitting before heading home.
But as of recently, there has been a new reason for me to come with Toby to the cafe and not just because I was able to get some homework done with these after-school work sessions.
I stood beside Toby as I swallowed hard and fiddled with my bag strap as Toby was giving the head barista, a slightly older man named Douxie, our normal order. But my eyes though was trained on someone else. The other worker behind the counter.
The one and only Claire Nuñez.
I felt a sloppy smile take over my face as I watched her tie her white apron around her waist with ease as it was obvious she must have gotten here just a little bit after Toby and I arrived. Her normal dark blazer was nowhere to be seen but it allowed her purple Hamlet sweater to display itself and making the punk seem a lot softer than she would normally. Her hair was now tied behind her neck in this loose little hold due to how her hair wasn't actually long enough for it to stay there effectively but was just long enough for it to be effective enough to keep it out of her way.
Gods she was pretty. Even when she was working.
I felt my smile widen just the slightest as I saw her give herself a satisfied smile as she set off to clean the espresso machine that was in front of her. As if she already knew in a way that she was going to do a good job whether she wanted to or not. She was always such a confident person. Like she knew exactly what she deserved and she was going to get exactly that and more even if you wanted her to or not.
That girl is a force of nature, that's for sure.
I fiddled a little with the hem of my sleeves before hiding my hands away in my jacket pockets.
And definitely a lot cooler than I'll ever be.
"Here's your change as always, my dudes." I whipped my head toward Douxie as I smiled at him.
"Aw, Doux. You know it goes in your guy's tip jar anyway, why bother trying to get us to keep it?" The punk just snapped his fingers as he just dropped the change into the jar on the counter.
"Here I thought I would get you bastards to keep it for once." I just chuckled at his reply as Toby just shook his head at him.
"Not this time around, British Boy."
"I'll definitely get you next time, mate. Just watch me." Douxie gave us a joyful smile alongside a soft laugh. "We'll have that right up for you guys." I just nodded my head alongside Toby as we made our way to our usual spot in the corner of the cafe. But as I sat down and pulled out my pre-calc book from my bag, I could help but look back over toward the counter to see Douxie joking with Claire who swiftly gave him a small laugh before slugging him in the arm. A smile appearing on my lips as I could hear just how beautiful her laugh was from where I was sitting.
"Are you just going to stare or are you going to get some work done, huh?" I snapped my attention to Toby now who gave a small chuckle in return to the death glare I was giving to him. "Hey, maybe if you get done faster than me, you can stare at her a bit more and hopefully not get caught unlike you did in history class today." I felt myself lower in the chair a little bit as I remember getting called out by Mr. Strickler and asked to stay back for a little bit.
Nothing more embarrassing than having your own teacher call you out on a crush you were hoping wasn't very noticeable. There goes my hopes for being subtle about it, I guess.
"I hate you sometimes." Toby just laughed a little more at my now flushed features.
"No. No, you don't." I just sighed in reply to his cheeky smile before opening my math book and accepting defeat. I glance out of the corner of my eye to see Claire pouring creamer into what I knew what Toby's drink with skillful precision.
At least if I'm going to get messed with on it, might as well make it worth it.
I shook my head a little before bringing my attention back to the problems before me.
Nope. That sounded stalkerish and weird. Nope. Not allowed.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the girl beside me as I watched her frantically keep glancing up toward one of the boys sitting in the corner of the cafe. It was obvious she was trying to be subtle, but if there was one thing to my dear friend beside me, subtle was not her forte.
"You're not looking stalkerish, no." She shot me a glare from the corner of her eye as she put a lid on what I knew all too well was Toby's drink out of the two.
"Don't make me accidentally spill Toby's drink on you." I just chuckled in reply to her as she put out the redhead's on the serving counter. Neither of us bothered to call them up just yet because the two of them normally would take turns on who would come up and gather up the order for the both of them. I moved to lean onto the back counter as Claire moved to grab a cup for Jim's order. I watched her sign his name on the side of the cup as an idea popped up within my head.
"HEY! Wanna know what you should do?" Claire gave me a curious look as she held the sharpie still in her hand.
"You of all people have an idea?" My fave fell for a moment as I shot her a quick glare.
"I have ideas all the time, thank you very much."
"Before or after punishing your brain cells?" I crossed my arms over my chest as I turned my head away from her in a childish manner.
"Don't mind me trying to help you get with your favorite blue boy then." Claire just laughed a little in reply as I felt her reach out and nudge me with her elbow.
"Aw come on. What's rattling in your brain there, Doux?" I brought my eyes back to her with a cheeky smile as I already knew she would hate me for what I was about to say.
"I was thinking you should put your number on his cup." She looked at me wide-eyed before slamming the cup down onto the counter and putting the cap back on her sharpie.
"Hell no! That would make me look weird or something." I tilted my head at her response as a curious look took over my features.
"And staring at the bloke like you have isn't?" She glared at me as she turned to make Jim's ice caramel latte.
"Don't you have a donut to grab for them or something?"
"Don't you got a boy to ask out?" I gave her a smirk as I moved beside her to get to the pastry case.
"Here, I'll make a proposition for you."
"And what's that, love?" I slipped on a pair of plastic gloves as I gave her a playful smile in reply.
"If I ask out Jim," I opened the case with a pastry bag in hand as a used a pair of plastic tongs to get the boy's their pastries of the day.
"Whatever it is, deal. Already. I'm done watching you ping after the bastard."
"Then you have to ask out Zoe." I nearly dropped the donut I was trying to now put in its takeaway bag as I whipped my attention toward Claire.
"WHAT'S ZOE GOTTA DO WITH THIS?!" I kept my voice in a hushed scream as I tried my best to not disrupt the two fellow teens in the corner of the cafe as Claire just laughed a little in reply.
"Just as your sick of me pinning, I'm sick of it with you. So fair's fair." Claire gave me her what I had lovingly dubbed her Cheshire grin as put a lid on Jim's latte. "What is that old saying? All is fair in love and war?" I glared at her as I handed her over the now bundled-up donut bag as I slid the case door shut with my free hand.
"I hate you."
"Still in on the deal or is the great Douxie Casperan wussing out?" Claire shot me a mischievous smile as she took the bag from me and placing it alongside the drink on the counter. She gave a smile out toward the direction of the two boys as she went straight back into barista mode. "Order up, boys!" But once she turned toward me, her Cheshire grin came back onto her face with relative ease.
Sometimes this girl would most definitely be the death of me.
I sighed a little as I pulled my plastic gloves off my hands and tossed them into the bin under the counter.
But honestly, what's the point in backing out? Claire was right. It wasn't fair for me to force her in that direction if I don't take some steps myself.
"Fine." I turned my head toward her as she went toward the espresso machine to clean the steaming wand from the newest drink she made. "You've got a deal." She gave me a wide-eyed look for a moment as she wrings the wet rag dry.
"Seriously? You're cool with the deal?"
"I said deal, didn't I?"
"Thanks, guys." I turned my head toward Jim to give him a smile and a simple nod in reply as he grabbed the drinks and the pastry bag. I watched as he turned on his heels and made his way back toward his and Toby's table before whipping my attention back toward Claire. A smirk now tugging on my lips as I decided to make my own twist to Claire's proposition.
"But it's now or never."
"Did you ask her?"
"She was busy with the machine. Douxie was the one that answered my 'thank you'." Toby sighed at my truthful excuse as he rolled his eyes at me.
"Bro. That's bullshit."
"What am I supposed to do? Sit there with my thumb up my ass?" I placed Toby's pastry on his side of the table along with his drink as I took a sip out of my latte.
"Yes. So that you can just stop flipping pinning already." I rolled my eyes at him for a moment as I went to take my seat once more before I heard a voice coming from the counter once more.
"Hey, mate! You forgot your other donut!" I turned my head toward Douxie's voice who was waving one of the pastry bags over his head. I shot Toby a confused look as I remembered distinctively that I grabbed Toby's normal donut along with our drinks but the redhead just shrugged in reply.
"I might have ordered an extra one today. I can't really remember, actually." I was confused for a moment, but I just shrugged it off and placed my latte on the table.
Knowing Toby, that's pretty understandable. He has done it before, honestly.
I turned and started making my way toward the serving counter once more but instead of being greeted with Douxie like I thought I would, it was Claire instead.
"Sorry about that." The slightly shorter girl gave me a blinding smile that caused my heart to skip a beat with ease. "I guess Douxie is being a little forgetful today." I tried my best to give her an easy smile in reply, but it felt sloppy since not even my knees were steady within the moment.
"Y-Yeah. Totally. I wasn't really listening to Toby ordering today so I guess I skipped over it too." Claire just giggled at my reply as I just instinctively swallowed hard and nearly choked on my own saliva at the mere sound of it.
"Had too much on your mind, huh?" She handed me over the bag and I took it with a simple nod as our fingertips grazed one another's.
Good, Christ. Am I supposed to feel chills just by a graze? What in the hell?
"Yeah. Just a little." I reached up with my free hand to scratch the back of my neck with a nervous chuckle. "Doesn't help with Strickler calling me out today."
"Oh, I can totally understand." Claire gave me an easy smile as she crossed her arms over her chest before leaning onto the counter in front of her by using her arms as support. "It was pretty boring though today, so I couldn't blame you for daydreaming." She laughed a little before continuing. "I swear, I almost started dozing off myself a little." I could help but laugh at her reply as my hand found their ways to my sides. "I bet whatever it was that our brains were fixated on though, it would have been a lot more entertaining than hearing Strickler drone on about the Alexander the Great again."
Totally. You're a lot more entertaining to think about than anything else, so that's a definite.
I swallowed hard as I tried my best to keep my thoughts at bay.
"I know right? Mix that in with Miss Janeth killing me slowly with Pre-Calc packets? I think I might actually die from boredom or struggle bussing with the identities stuff." Claire just tilted her head a little to the side before pushing herself off the counter and standing back up to her full height.
"That's what you and Toby always work on in here, right? Pre-calc? Is that specifically what you're struggling with?"
"I-I mean- Yeah, but-."
"I can help you if you want?" I felt as if I was staring like a deer in headlights as the honor's student just gave me an easy smile in reply. "Math is my strength in school anyway. Might as well put it to good use."
"Y-You wouldn't mind?" I stuttered a little in my response as her smile seemingly brightened in reply.
"Why not? Make good use of my time."
"Y-You think tutoring me with would be a good use of your free time?"
"I think you in general is a good use of my free time, if I'm being honest." I felt my face flush as she calmly grabbed an order pad, scribbled something down on it, before ripping the page off the top of it and handing it to me. "Here, give me a text when after you and Toby are done working today and we can figure something out. If you want, that is."
"T-Totally." I took the piece of paper from her gingerly as I was mentally pinching myself in reply.
This isn't a dream, right? Right?
"Cool! Maybe we could do something more relaxing as well? Like a movie or something?"
Oh shit.
I smiled at her as I tried my best to keep myself from fainting a little.
Most definitely is not a dream.
"O-Oh yeah, totally. I would love that, honestly."
"Cool. Cool." Claire gave me a softer smile as she released a breath she was seemingly holding for the duration of our conversation. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the one and only Claire Nuñez was just as nervous as I was within the moment. "We'll text later, then. Right?"
"Totally." I mentally kicked myself in the ass as I realized just how many times I said "totally" within the last few minutes. "I'll text you when I'm done with everything. Don't need to be distracted too soon."
"Probably best." She gave me a smirk for a moment as her normal confident aura took place once more. "I am on the clock still, don't need to be glued to my phone when I'm supposed to be serving people." The bell from the front door rang, cutting our conversation short as Claire smiled toward the new customer. "Talk to you later, Lake." She gave me a soft wave as she made her way to the counter once more. I decided at that point to take the pastry in my hand, turn on my heel and make my way back toward my table before my knees gave out on me too early.
But as I turned to take my seat once more, I could hear Claire whispering over toward Douxie who wasn't too far away from her now.
"I did it! Pinning over with. Your turn now." As Douxie's response was one simple word in reply.
"Fuck."