Coffee

With distinct bags bordering his hazel eyes, Reed stifled a yawn as the line he stood in continued to move sluggishly. He'd been stealing hours from his scheduled sleep to finish paintings and sketches lately, and it had been rendering him completely exhausted the rest of the day. He didn't have a choice, considering the tight due dates his mother has been giving him these days. Reed was beginning to understand Stuart's creepy fixation for coffee.

Eventually, he made it to the front line. "Iced Venti Americano please." Reed had barely taken out his wallet when the boy behind the counter spoke.

"So, you come here often?"

Reed looked up, startled at the amorous tone, to be met with the greenest eyes he's ever seen and the curliest head of black hair. He frowned internally and shook his head.

"Ah. Fate seems to have brought us together then. The name's Shane, Shane Anderson." The boy offered his hand from behind the counter, donning on a condescending smile. "It's my first day."

Reed reeled back at the forwardness. "May I just have my coffee please?"

A flash of hurt briefly crossed Shane's face before he shrugged and scurried off to prepare the coffee. Reed was thankful Shane was silent through the rest of their forced contact. So when Reed received his coffee, he paid for it, said his thanks, and left.

But Reed being Reed, he was as well-coordinated as a drunken monkey. The minute he turned away from the counter, he bumped into a significantly large man and spilled his coffee all over down their fronts. As devastated as Reed was that his new Versaci top had been effectively ruined, the sheer fright that came with the fact that the man who was wearing an important-looking suit had fists the size of a boulder was much more worrying.

"Oh my Dolce- I am so sorry, sir! I wasn't looking- it was my fault, please-"

Looking livid and frustrated, the man turned to Reed with rage-filled eyes. "Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? This is the only suit I have- I have a fucking interview-"

"Hey!"

Doe-like eyes turned to the source of the new noise, growing an inch larger when it found Shane advancing on the man with purpose.

Green eyes flaring, Shane went to stand in front of Reed who cowered gratefully behind him. "Can we please take this outside? I'd willingly pay for the damages."

From terrified to shocked, Reed turned to Shane and forced himself to speak. Someone who worked at a coffee shop most definitely could not afford to pay for a suit. "Shane-"

"Outside then?" Intentionally ignoring Reed, Shane ushered the man outside who nodded once and pierced Reed with one last withering glare before turning towards the doors. When the man was out of earshot, Shane whispered over his shoulder. "Just let me do the talking."

Not promising anything, Reed scrambled behind Shane as he shrank under the customers' prying gazes. He was thankful to be outside, where there was no audience and there was a strangely helpful coffee shop worker. But all positive thoughts immediately vanished once Reed met the man's burning glare. He quickly scurried behind Shane, who he could've sworn was wearing a hint of a self-satisfied smirk.

"So, how much?" Shane asked casually, like their topic was nothing more than the weather, reaching to the wallet stuffed in his back pocket.

"Six hundred." The steely man said.

Reed gasped internally, gripping at Shane's sleeve as if to stop any form of transaction. As son to a fashion editor, Reed could tell the suit cost no more than five hundred dollars. Granted, that was still a pretty hefty amount of money, it was still less than the man's offer. Shane probably didn't know that though. "Shane, I don't think-"

"I've got six hundred dollars right here." Shane said, waving around what looked like six hundred dollars. Reed gaped. "But first, I want you to apologize for snapping at him." Shane nodded at Reed's direction.

Panic surging through him, Reed gaped shamelessly from Shane's smug smirk to the man's torn expression. He quickly felt very small under the man's heavy gaze.

"Sorry, kid." The man grumbled under his breath. "Didn't mean it."

"Well, that wasn't very heartfelt."

Reed wanted to smack Shane.

"Still, an apology's an apology. Here you go." Shane had barely extended his hand when the man quickly snatched the money from him, sent them both brief, hateful glares, and walked away.

Shane snorted. "That was fun."

Reed didn't hesitate to smack him. In the arm. Very hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Six hundred dollars? That suit did not cost six hundred dollars!"

"I know."

"But of course, if you'd only let me speak- wait, what?"

Shane chuckled, his green eyes sparkling in delight, and shrugged. "Probably around five hundred, tops."

For a minute, Reed stared curiously at him. "How did you.. Well then, why did you.. And where did you.."

Shane grinned at Reed's incoherency. "Trust me, I know suits. And I figured he needed the money more than I did."

What? Since when was a coffee shop worker more financially well off than a man who owned a five-hundred dollar suit? "But.. I mean, no offense but.."

"Oh, the coffee shop?" Shane blushed faintly. "Yeah, they're my parents'. They make me work here so I can learn all about the family business."

Oh. Well, Reed knew a lot about learning about the family business. "Oh."

Shane chuckled through the awkward air. "Yeah.."

Reed took a minute to look at Shane, at the undying tongues of fire blazing furiously in his eyes, at the laugh wrinkles on his face, at the huge grin he somehow manages. He seemed like a nice guy, Reed decided. Not in that I'd-like-to-date-him sort of way, because he was not ready for that kind of relationship, oh no. Just in a he-seems-decent kind of way.

Pulling open his bag, Reed rummaged through it and pulled out his wallet.

"What are you doing?"

Reed looked up. "I'm paying you back. It's only fair. It was my fault- I spilled the coffee."

"Oh, no no no." Shane eyed the wallet and pushed it away like it had wronged him, touching the back of Reed's hand in the process. "You're not paying me back."

"Shane, I'm not-"

"You're taking me on a date instead."

Reed didn't think he'd heard that correctly. "E-Excuse me?"

Shane grinned that impossibly smug grin that nearly drove Reed to smacking him in the face. "You heard me." And before Reed actually could smack him in the face, Shane winked, gestured at the empty Styrofoam cup in Reed's hand and walked back into the shop.

With brows knit, Reed raised the cup to eye level and spluttered at the what he saw.

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