A/N: I was prompted to use the song "Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg as inspiration for a shortfic, so here we are. Lyrics in the fic are from aforementioned song - I do not own them.
"Stevie! Your boyfriend's here!"
Stevie sighs good-naturedly, the familiar words, the tinkling of the bell above the coffee shop door behind her, and Zander's footsteps marking the end of her shift. "He's not my boyfriend," she shouts back; she says the same thing every day and she wonders sometimes if they believe her or not. It's hard to tell.
Her back remains toward the door as she wipes down the counters one last time, being sure to mop up every coffee ground, every drop of milk. She hates it when she starts a shift to find the last person left her a mess to clean up, so she refuses to do it to anyone else.
To her side, the two other baristas on duty - Abigail and Rachel - whisper to each other. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see them pointing toward the door and shooting glances at her. She rolls her eyes. Her co-workers are nice enough, but they're a little more flighty and giggly than she is, a little more prone to reading too much into Zander picking her up from work most days. (They live in the same building, and it's usually dark by the time she gets off; she could handle herself on the buses, she knows, but she appreciates the gesture.)
"Are you sure about that?" Abigail asks, and she and Rachel both giggle. Before Stevie can ask what she means, she hears a chord ring out, and then another, the timbre of the notes familiar. Zander's guitar. She whirls around, sees that Zander's grabbed a stool from the bar and set himself up in the corner, strumming absently. Confused, she comes out from behind the counter.
"Hey," he says, when he catches her eye.
"Hey," she responds. The entire shop has gone almost silent and her voice sounds too loud. Her hands take up residence in her back pockets. "What are you doing?"
He grins a lopsided grin and looks down at his guitar. "Now's as good a time as any, right?"
"For what?"
The only response she gets is the opening notes of a song, a tune she can't place until he starts to sing, and she's never heard him quite so quiet and uncertain before.
"I think that possibly,
maybe I'm falling for you."
Throughout the coffee shop there's a collective, sharp intake of breath. She thinks she hears Abigail or Rachel stifle a squeal, somewhere in the back. A glance around reveals that every single person in the room is staring at her (with the exception of Zander, who's still got his eyes fixed on his guitar) and she's not sure why. Zander's the one playing, after all.
"Yes there's a chance
that I've fallen quite hard over you."
It's then that he looks up at her, finally, and it hits her so hard (he's talking about her) she practically falls into the nearest chair.
"Oh," she says. And then again, quieter, "Oh."
She cuts him off with a kiss halfway through the song.
Everyone cheers.