The one where Kyle is doing his Best

"Venti no-foam caramel latte with whole milk and a shot of vanilla, for Alex?" Kyle called out and he brought the drink to the counter, peering at the array of customers loitering in the Coffee Horde. He watched as a tall, middle-aged woman approached the counter, not looking up from her phone, and felt a familiar rock drop in his gut as she made for the coffee.

He didn't let go of it as she came up, "Venti caramel latte, no-foam with whole milk and vanilla?" he asked her carefully.

She barely looked up from her phone, "Oh, yeah, that's mine," she answered.

The rock in his gut didn't go away, and so Kyle glanced at the name Lonnie had written on the cup. "Alex?"

"Yeah."

Maybe his fears were for nothing, maybe it was just a byproduct of the stress and lack of sleep. So he swallowed back his apprehension and gave the woman the drink. She said that it was hers, and that she was Alex—and it wasn't as if anyone else was coming up to claim it. Best to hand off the drink and be done with it.

Turning away from the counter, Kyle glanced over to where Lonnie was working the register, taking some new orders while Rogelio was making drinks like a pro. They were both doing much more than he was, Catra had put Kyle on expediting, to hand out the drinks when they were done. Took no real skill, and she said it was something even he could do without messing it up.

Well, it wasn't as if Rogelio could call out drinks. Lonnie was the best on the register, so really he was the only one left to do it.

Speaking of Catra, their shift manager was in the, probably putting the afternoon counts in the system or whatever it was managers did when the door was closed, so it just left Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio to man the front at the moment. Not that it was bad, that's usually how it went.

He hadn't even gotten to return to Rogelio to grab whatever drinks he'd just finished before Alex stormed back to the counter, drink in hand and looking pissed. The anxiety returned.

"This isn't what I ordered," she snapped as soon as Kyle approached her, slamming her cup onto the counter. "Whatever this crap is, that's not what I paid for."

Kyle wrung his hands, glancing nervously around him—he hated confrontation like this, didn't know how to act when customers got like this. "I'm sorry, Alex, was the vanilla shot missing? Or, um, was it not a caramel latte?" he asked, trying to grasp for what was wrong with it when she wouldn't say.

"I ordered an iced cinnamon macchiato," Alex was close to yelling and Kyle wanted to shrink back. "Who the hell is Alex? My name's Karen, you know, the name on the cup!"

At this point, Rogelio had turned around to watch them, as had Lonnie. Kyle glanced away and saw that even Catra had come out of the office to watch, leaning against the doorframe, her face was a mask, but her ears and tail gave way to her feelings through how the tail lashed about and her ears pressed back. She wasn't going to step in, she wanted him to handle this, she wanted him to get better at handling these situations.

So many people were staring, he felt like he was going to die, it was too much, too overwhelming.

"I'm sorry, but, um, then why did you—" Kyle didn't get to finish before Karen blew up on him.

"Why did I? Are you trying to make this my fault?" Karen snapped, glaring at him like he was the dirt on her shoes. "Do you treat all your customers that way?"

Kyle flinched back, taking a step away from her and tried to find his voice, he wanted to disappear, to sink down and hide.

"He called out for a caramel latte for Alex, he asked you when you came over if yours was the caramel latte if you were Alex and you said yes," Lonnie had slid up to stand beside Kyle, arms crossed over her chest. "If it was clearly not your macchiato, why did you say it was your drink and take it?"

The woman, Karen, looked aghast at the accusation, looked ready to tear into them for talking back. Kyle took another step back as if to hide behind Lonnie, heard Rogelio let out a low growl as he started towards them. "I demand to see your manager!" Karen yelled, scowling.

"And I'd be happy to talk with you," Catra smiled as she walked towards them, seeing a moment to step in. "Kyle, Lonnie, could you two help Rogelio with the other drinks, we'll have to remake the latte."

"Come on, Kyle," Lonnie nodded, ushering him over to the machines while Catra talked with Karen.

The conversation wasn't the quietest with how Karen was growing more and more livid with each sentence. He tried to keep his attention off of it, helping Rogelio and Lonnie as best as he could, though he spilled a few drinks, burned his fingers on the coffee, got a few syrups mixed up. He did his best, that's all he'd been trying to do ever since he started working here.

Lonnie and Rogelio didn't seem to get upset when he got things wrong and they had to fix it. Maybe it was because they felt bad for him having to deal with customers like Karen, maybe it was just pity. He appreciated it, regardless of why they were being nice and tolerating him.

Eventually, the woman stormed off and Catra came over, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Kyle, Rogelio, how about you two head out on break," she said, jerking a thumb towards the door. "Lonnie and I can handle the counter for a while. You two get a breather, alright?"

Kyle blinked, "You sure?" he asked carefully as Rogelio wiped his hands clean on his apron. "I mean, if you're sure, alright." It wasn't like he was against it and it was clear that he wasn't given a choice because Rogelio was already grabbing his hand and tugging him away.

Lonnie chuckled as Kyle was led away, "Have a quick date you two," she teased, to which Catra laughed along, grabbing a few cups to start making coffee. "Take a thirty minute rest."

Kyle couldn't say he was against it, he gave a smile as he entwined his fingers around Rogelio's, nodding his head, "Alright, thank you," he couldn't help but chuckle a little as Rogelio impatiently tugged him along, eager to get away.