Chapter Five: The Cleaners
By the third day in Eren's new place, the girls, with the help of Armin and Marco, had successfully unpacked and organized the majority of their belongings.
It was early, Wednesday morning when Eren awoke to the smell and sound of sizzling onions and garlic. She rolled out of bed, yawning and stretching, enjoying the feeling of her back popping back into a comfortable position. She lazily made her way to her bedroom door, passing out into the small walkway connecting her bathroom and bedroom, and into the bathroom to begin her morning routine of refreshing and waking up. She paused as she stepped through the bathroom doors and backed up to offer a tired smile to Mikasa, who was reaching into a cabinet for a plate, "g'morning,"she mumbled lazily, "smells great."
While Mikasa worked on breakfast, Eren took a quick shower and prepared herself for the day. She chose a slightly oversized, yet comfortable fitting dusty rose sweater and her favorite pair of blue jeans. She gave her still damp hair a quick comb through, to lessen the likelihood of tangling and strode into the kitchen to help Mikasa finish up.
The girls ate and cleaned up quickly since Eren's training at the café began today. She grabbed a few of her belongings and organized them in her purse, double checking to make sure she had enough for a train pass and heading towards the door, Mikasa opted to stay behind and finish organizing and cleaning out all the boxes. Eren walked out of the door and down the carpeted hallway to the exit, then down the street to the bus stop, just in time to see the bus pulling up only two stops away.
By the time Eren walked through the door of the café it was 9 AM. She looked around the room and noticed only a few people quietly occupying the corners, some sipping from white coffee mugs while others sipped from paper cups with the café's name printed on the sleeves. There was a short boy, with a buzz-cut standing behind the counter alongside a pretty brunette with her hair in a messy ponytail. They perked up as she walked towards them, ready to take her order and be of assistance.
Eren smiled as she walked towards them, "Hi, I was wondering if the manager was in?"
The boy and girl look at each other for a moment and then back at Eren, she noted their looks of confusion and quickly added, "his name is Ian, I believe… sorry, I'm new, today is my first day." Their faces lightened with Eren's clarification and the boy went into the back saying he would go and find him.
The brunette, whose name-tag read Sasha, escorted Eren around the counter and showed her to a small break room. "You can just leave your bags and things here, we have a uniform so most people usually just wear it to work," she paused and walked further into the room, towards the back where there was a neat wall of lockers, some padlocked while others were not, "I personally like to wear my own clothes here and back, so I change when I come into work, if you get yourself a padlock then you can take any of the open lockers and just leave your purse and belongings in here," she paused again and walked out of the room, back out into the main area where the guests sat, "down that hall and to your left are the bathrooms, since we don't have a changing room, I just change in there."
She walked back behind the counter and directed Eren to follow her through the doors the boy went through earlier. She paused and extended her hand; "I'm Sasha by the way," Eren accepted her hand and shook it politely. "I'm Eren," she smiled. "Nice to meet you Eren, I'm sure we'll get along great… oh and sorry for rushing through that earlier, I just wanted you to know where to put your things, because the boss will most likely have you dress out today even though you're in training."
"No, it's alright," Eren added as she placed her hand on the back of her head, "I'm actually glad to be learning right away, I want to get started as soon as possible so I can learn before things get too busy."
Sasha smiled and lead the way to the manager's office, the door was slightly ajar and two male voices could be heard from inside. She paused and knocked lightly on the door, before stepping back and offering a low wave to Eren, beckoning her to stand beside her.
The boy stepped out of the office, and Eren took the opportunity to read his name tag too, Connie, 'hmm, what a cute name' she thought to herself. Connie walked up to her and extended his hand in greeting, "Hi, I'm Connie, nice to meet you… Eren, right?" He smiled at her as she shook his hand and nodded, "nice to meet you too Connie." With that, he waved the two off and hurried back out to the counter to wait on the guests while Eren began her training.
The manager, Ian Dietrich, as his name plate read, stood from his chair and waved Eren in. "Welcome, glad to see you back Eren," he paused and gestured for Sasha to close the door and wait outside while he and Eren sat down, "I trust you're all moved in and settled now?"
"Yes sir, my friends helped me move this weekend and unpack most of my things, I wouldn't be able to be here now without their help," she smiled and looked up to meet his eyes.
"Before we can begin your training, I need to have you fill out a few papers." He then set a thin stack of papers before her, and a pen on top. "Go ahead and take your time, I'll leave you here while I go prepare things for you. Sasha will be your training mate, so when you've completed everything, I want you to shadow her for the rest of her shift."
Eren nodded, "Yes sir, thank you." She then began to read over the paperwork, mostly tax related documents and deposit information. Within the next half hour she'd finished filling out the forms to the best of her knowledge and walked out to find the Sasha waiting for her. She walked over to her and questioned, "Where did Mr. Dietrich go?" Sasha was about to reply when a deep voice spoke first, "I'm right here, and please, Ian is just fine. We're all friends here Eren, I'm sure you'll come to learn that soon." He smiled and extended his hand to accept her forms.
Several hours and a few cleaned up spills later, Eren was left to sweep and mop up the empty café and the kitchen. It wasn't that difficult of a job and Eren gladly volunteered to stay and do the cleaning so Sasha and Connie could head home a bit early. Sasha had been a wonderful choice for a training partner; she was a little weird in her training methods, but funny, very sweet, and honest with her feedback on Eren's progress. She also had a soft spot for sweets, and whenever a pastry or a waffle came out too burnt for serving to the guests, she was the first to volunteer to eat it. Eren found it incredibly cute, and was a bit envious of how much she managed to eat and still maintained a such nice physique and beautiful complexion. Eren made a mental note to ask her about her beauty routine later, because whatever it was, it worked.
Finally done up with mopping the public area, Eren made her way to the kitchen to finish up and then put the cleaning supplies away. She popped her head into Ian's office to see if he wanted her to do anything else for before she left and he dismissed her with praise and words of encouragement for her first day on the job. He said he would have her name added to the schedule and in the system by the next day, so she could come in and see when she worked and clock in and out like the others who worked with her.
Eren stopped into the break room and grabbed her clothes to change. She made her way to the bathroom and regarded herself in the mirror before stripping out of her uniform and into her regular clothes. Both uniforms for the men and women were brown smocks with large chocolate buttons down the front, like a double breasted coat, they both had a white button down collared shirt and either a brown bow tie or a just a regular tie along with a cute brown beret which was optional, but preferred. Eren's uniform was fitted at the waist and flared out in an 'A-line' skirt shape down her hips and stopped three inches above her knees. The buttons were rounded and held the imprint of a rose on each one. She's chose to wear the silk bowtie and the long sleeved button down with rose lapel pins and cuff-links. She also decided to wear the beret, just to get herself into the spirit and groove of the café.
She exited the bathroom and hung up her uniform smock and folded white button down to take home to wash. Popping into the back one more time to say goodbye to Ian, she left the café and walked back to the station. She took her time, knowing the train wasn't coming for at least twenty more minutes, so she perused the shops illuminated by the streetlights. It was already dark; Eren checked her phone to see that it was already past 9 PM. She decided to spend her time waiting at the train station in case she managed to draw some unwanted attention wandering the streets at that hour. She began to hurry along, slowly increasing her pace as she got closer and closer to the station.
She paused however when the light of a shop caught her eye, the words Dry Cleaning were illuminated in blue, with a neon red hanger drawn around them. That's when Eren remembered being loaned a certain jacket by a certain short and somewhat distant man… loaned that is, almost three weeks ago. She stopped walking completely as her eyes widened in horror upon realizing that she still had his jacket and that she hadn't even made an attempt to get it back to him. She began to walk again, this time her thoughts filled with possible apologies and gifts she could offer him to help ease, what she was sure, by now at least, was a going to be an uncomfortable and tension infused meeting. She kept trying to remember where she put the jacket and where she could have possibly put his calling card. With no way of contacting him, even if she managed to get the thing dry-cleaned, it was unlikely he would be getting it back anytime soon. With a heavy sigh, Eren hopped on the train and sat in a corner, thinking about the possible ways of making this impossible situation work.
Levi awoke to the sound of harmoniously synced beats, repeating over and over, gradually getting louder until he pulled himself from the center of his bed and stretched to dismiss the alarm on his phone. He rolled over, and threw off his duvet and sheet cover leaving his bare chest exposed to the cooler air around him. If the alarm wasn't enough, the sudden exposure to the cold definitely was. He shifted his legs off the side of his bed and pushed himself up into a sitting position, before stretching and popping his back. He reached for his phone and looked at the time, seeing in small bright white letters 8:03 AM, he placed it back down and hurried over to his bathroom to brush his teeth and get dressed in his warm jogging gear.
Following his morning jog around the lake, stretching, and short weights session, Levi showered and downed a smoothie to soothe his growing hunger. He checked the time again to see that it was still early. He decided to do some cleaning and then head down to his favorite little café to enjoy a well made cup of tea and a banana and yogurt berry waffle while he read one of the new books he purchased during an after Christmas sale.
Two hours and a 10 minute car ride later, Levi found himself outside the little café, just parking his car. He walked up and through the doors, relieved to be out of the chilly air and also to see that there was no line for him to wait in. He strode over to the counter and paused, taking in the oddly familiar silhouette of the woman currently facing away from him. She had shiny brown hair, pulled to one side in a messy ponytail, slightly tanned skin shown by the bit of her neck that was exposed as she leaned forward, concentrating on whatever she was doing, slight but sturdy shoulders and slender waist that lead to a little curve at her hips. He decided he'd waited long enough and walked closer to the counter; he looked to both sides of it and realized that she was the only one working.
"Ahem." He voiced expectantly, waiting for the girl to turn around. And when she did, he felt his eyes widen a fraction. 'Hmm, so it was her,' he thought to himself as he waited for her to recognize him, though he doubted she would immediately, based on their previous meeting.
A sound filled with impatience and tinged with annoyance woke Eren out of her stupor. She had been cleaning out one of the coffee machines as practice while the other workers were on break. She turned around, already pink from not noticing the bell chiming to signal the arrival of a guest, and hurried up to the counter, eyes averted downwards. "S-sorry about the wait," she said quickly, "how can I serve you toda-" she stopped speaking when she finally looked up… rather down at the customer in front of her, her mouth agape and eyes wide with surprise and a little bit of fear.
'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' Rang through her mind as she watched the man before lift a brow, questioning her reaction and silently waiting for her to respond. She tried to compose herself and thought back to the name on his card, at this point she needed to be as formal and polite as possible, so simply calling the man 'Levi' would be too rude and familiar. She sucked in a breath of air and spoke.
"O-oh hello again, Mr. Ackerman… I…" she paused and swallowed, willing her nerves down so she could talk without sounding too guilty, but of course that calming only served to clear her mind completely, making her blank and ask, "what are you doing here?" before blanching and mentally kicking herself for the obvious answer. 'You're at work idiot, he's a guest, what do you think.'
He let a small smile play on his lips while he watched her fidget nervously and go blank. 'Kinda cute,' he thought. "Actually I'd like to order a large Earl Grey, loose leaf, and a banana berry waffle with the yogurt on the side." He smirked again as he watched the wheels slowly turning in her head as she processed his request and began to type his order into the machine.
She blushed and told him his total, rang him up and gave him an order number, all the while trying to avoid eye contact. She breathed a breath of relief as he quietly walked further away from the counter, but stiffened when she realized he chose the next closest seat to it. He sat in a corner, placed his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand while he looked on and at Eren, smirking while she tried to avoid his heated and teasing gaze.
She quickly began to prepare the tea; she pulled out a large china cup, and a strainer that fit right over the top. She grabbed the loose leaf canister for the Earl Grey and caringly placed a few teaspoons into the strainer before pouring the hot water over the leaves and setting a cover over the cup to let the tea steep and maintain the its warmth. She then directed her attention to the waffle maker. She set the time on the griddle, poured the amount in just like Sasha showed her, and closed the griddle, flipping it for even spreading and cooking of the batter. While the waffle cooked, its timer counting down, she grabbed and cut a fresh banana into slices and cut two strawberries in half. She lifted the finished waffle off the griddle and placed it on a clean and dainty square plate. She then garnished the waffle with the banana, strawberries, and a few raspberries and blackberries on the side. She placed the dish on a tray, then placed a healthy dollop of vanilla yogurt into a side cup and placed that on the dish next to the waffle. She then checked on the color of the tea, it was just about dark enough, so she removed the lid and carefully lifted the strainer setting both in the sink and the freshly made cup of tea on the tray along with the waffle.
He watched for a few moments, just to make sure she didn't botch up his drink. He relaxed and then pulled out his book to read, leaving the little order number marker visible and out of the way on his table. He didn't notice her come up until she was already setting the tray down on the table in front of him. He smiled to himself, thinking that it was rather quick service and admiring the quality of the display before him. Sometimes the kids just throw things on the plate, not even bothering to make it look nice, there have even been a few times where they didn't even put his yogurt on the side. He looked up at her and said, "Thank you…and you can just call me Levi."
"R-right," Eren mumbled, completely embarrassed, "I'm so sorry about not returning your jacket. I will get it back to you soon, I just dropped it off at the cleaners this morning so-"
He cut her off with a wave of his hand before she could finish her explanation, "It's fine. I have plenty of them, it's not like I missed it." He took a sip of the tea, surprised by how the flavor was bolder than before. "This is good." He said quietly, half hoping she didn't hear it and half hoping she did.
"Really? I'm so glad, that was my first time making it by myself and I was so nervous." She let out a relieved breath, letting a small smile show upon her lips.
"Hmm. I thought you were new. I come here all the time and I'd never seen you here before." He then moved on to try the waffle, cutting a corner off and puncturing a berry before dunking it into the yogurt. He hummed as the treat hit his tongue, the flavors dancing harmoniously with each other, perfect compliments of the sweet and chewy waffle with the tart and juicy flavor of the berry and added sweetness of the vanilla yogurt. "This is a damn good waffle too. I'm impressed."
Eren clapped her hands together excitedly, not expecting the praise, this was her first time getting feedback from a customer on something she did by herself, so she was very, very excited and appreciative of it. She started without thinking much, "Um, if you wouldn't mind coming again this Friday, I get off earlier… I," she paused a moment to form the words before letting them escape her impulsively run mouth, "I would like to treat you, you know, as an apology for taking so long to return your jacket, and I can also give it to you then. I lost your contact information when I moved up here, so I wasn't able to reach you."
Levi let the invitation sink in a moment before answering, "Alright, I'll be here, say around 2 o'clock?"
Eren thought for a second and nodded happily, "Yes, that'll be good."
"On one, no, make it two conditions," he continued, "one you have to make what you're treating me to, and two, don't bring my clean jacket here, who knows what will get on it."
He paused for a moment and pulled out a notepad, scribbled something on it and ripped it out to hand to her. "Here's my number, just call me when it's ready and I'll go pick it up myself."
When he finished with his statement, the bell chimed, signaling that more guests had arrived and that their conversation was over. Eren pocketed the number and nodded before hurrying back behind the counter, a new confidence showing as she took the orders and got to work on them.
After an hour and half had passed, Levi decided it was time for him to grab a nice meal and head home to finish his book. Just as he was ready to leave, he thought back to his earlier conversation, and the agreement he made. He remembered how much he liked to see the girl blush when she was flustered or embarrassed and smirked, patting himself on the back for the new, albeit childish, idea that popped into his head. He pulled out his wallet and pen again, and scratched a neat note, tucking a few ten dollar bills and the note under the empty cup before getting up and leaving, without sparing Eren another glance.
After her fiasco with Levi, Eren got through four more orders on her own before Sasha returned to help her out. While Sasha manned the counter, Eren went out and started cleaning the tables of the people she'd serviced. When she got to Levi's table, she noticed a white slip tucked neatly under the tea cup. She placed the cup and dish on the tray, quickly pocketing the note and going to the back to wash the dishes.
Once she was finally finished cleaning, clocked out and changed, she started towards the train and caught it just in time without having to wait much in the cold. She sat down and relaxed into the seat, remembering the note; she reached into her pants pocket and pulled it out.
She was surprised to see the bills that fell out, she counted them, confused as to why they were there, before putting them into the side pocket of her purse. There were three ten's. He'd left her a thirty dollar tip. She smiled and blushed, thinking that his tip was well over the standard 10 or 15% tip rates, it was well over the price he even paid for the meal. She set her attention back on the note, reading the neatly printed script.
I changed my mind and the conditions again. Deliver it to this address.
~ Levi
Eren nearly fainted when she saw the somewhat familiar home address written out in a more legible manner than the original scrawl left on his business card. After retreating to the employee break room, she folded the note and placed it in the pocket of her purse, letting out a frustrated sigh. The rest of her day went on relatively uneventful, she finished cleaning and made her way to the train, tired, and ready to go home. Thinking back to the note in her purse, she thought, 'This week just got a hell of a lot longer,' as the train approached and came to a stop, allowing the next influx of commuters on and off at their desired destinations. Eren lay back in her seat, thinking of how she ended up with such a sickly strain of luck.