Chapter Six: Patron
Levi began to stir with the first light of dawn, early Friday morning. Before his alarm could even go off, it was silenced, and he was up and stretching to prepare for his morning jog. Feeling a bit hungrier than he usually did, he stopped in his kitchen to snack on a protein bar, washing it down with a sports drink.
In his delay, the first light of morning had long since passed, the sun was already past the horizon line. He secured his music player to the strap on his shoulder and placed the ear buds in, ready and motivated to run longer and harder than he had done earlier in the week.
He made his way out of the small entryway and into the open aired hallway that he shared with the other inhabitants of the newest addition to the loft styled apartment complex he lived in. He took his time, walking through the narrow hallway then down the stairwell and onto a sidewalk that led to the lake's walkway. Once his feet touched the large bricks that made up the walkway, he began his jog, going slow at first then steadily increasing his speed as his muscles warmed, until he finally set a challenging yet maintainable pace.
He appreciated the cool air as he ran through it, helping to cool his body down as he pushed himself to work harder and go a little faster. Once he'd made it to the other side of the lake, he slowed his pace slightly, returning to a steady jog long enough to take a drink of water without spilling it all over the sidewalk. After a few good swigs, he returned to the more grueling pace and maintained it until he reached his starting point. He again slowed down to a light jog so he could catch his breath and take a few more drinks of water.
By the time he made it back to the opposite side of the lake for the second time that morning, he had allowed himself to come to a brisk walking pace, stopping to sit on one of the benches near the public entrance. He decided to take a five minute break on the bench. He finished the remainder of his water while he looked around at the few other morning joggers and dog walkers who decided to join him. He sat, panting lightly until his breathing returned to its normal rate.
As he pushed himself off the black metal bench, he turned and heard an electronically produced female voice announcing the arrival of a train. He paused and watched the train stop, allowing a few people in business suits to exit as they hurried out and towards an awaiting bus, and then it announced its next stop and started off. As the train started moving, so did he, but this time only a normal walking pace all the way back to his apartment.
After a long, well deserved shower, Levi emerged from the bathroom, hair still damp and slightly dripping while he made himself a light breakfast. Opting to let his hair air dry, he walked out of the kitchen and sat on a stool on the other side of his island to eat his breakfast. He cleaned and set all the dishes on the drying rack to put up later, then directed his attention to the little office nook that held his laptop and a few of his old course guides and texts from previous semesters.
He decided to revise the reading materials for his students, making the list a bit smaller this semester. Less to grade, and a lot less bullshit for him to have read through for those who were forced to take his class and clearly didn't give two shits about it. He decided to lighten the reading load for his upper level courses as well, he just needed to decide what was the most important to include and what could be left as optional extra credit assignments. He sighed and stretched while he waited for his laptop to wake up, taking the opportunity to start a pot of hot water for tea.
After fixing himself a cup of chamomile, to soothe the headache he was sure to give himself, he sat and checked the time, so he could gauge how long to work before he decided to take a break and visit the café, to keep his promise to the jade eyed beauty who offered to treat him. He smiled to himself, thinking how pleasant it would be to have a well made cup of black tea, he was also a little excited thinking about what she was going to treat him to.
He shook his head to rid himself of thoughts of her perfect and supple cheeks blushing from embarrassment and began to go through his course guides, picking out the most important topics and compiling a list of what could be completely removed from the curriculum and what could stay as extra credit.
As Eren dressed herself for work, she couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the plastic wrapped suit jacket, hanging on her closet door. She had an internal squabble with herself about whether or not to just save the trouble of having to deliver it herself and take it with her to work against Levi's request and suffer a tongue lashing, or just suck it up and follow through with his orders. Although it was really tempting to be scolded by him, she figured that it was probably best not to get on the bad side of someone who could possibly end up being her professor during her next few years at Rose University.
She checked the time on her phone and hissed, letting a quiet "shoot" slip past her lips. The bus was going to be there soon, and she hadn't even had breakfast yet. Mikasa had gone out with Armin before Eren even woke up, they were going to pick out a few winter essentials and the 'early bird sale' only lasted until 1 PM so they wanted to get there before the rush came.
Eren hastily finished getting ready, hurrying to the pantry to grab a granola bar and mini water bottle before rushing out of the apartment, just barely managing to lock it in her haste, and down the hall towards the bus stop.
She arrived just in time for the bus to spot her, slowing and stopping on the side of the street to let her in. The rest of her commute was smooth, she arrived a little earlier than she was scheduled to, but not so much that it perturbed the boss.
She and Sasha shared a similar shift, so Sasha was assigned as her training partner for the day once again. Today, Eren would learn how to prepare the brunch waffle plate. Since it was relatively quiet, Sasha opted to begin training her immediately, leaving Connie to service any guests that might come through in their absence.
"Okay, I know this looks intimidating, but it's really not." Sasha pulled out a menu to show Eren what the plate looked like. "Each item has a fair amount of ingredients, but it's easy to put together once you get each individual piece." She pointed to the salad on the picture, the part that took up the most space on the plate, and handed the menu to Eren while she walked around to the fridge to pull out the ingredients, making sure Eren was watching so she knew where to get them from and where to put them back. Sasha then pointed Eren to the sink, where there were three boxes of green colored, disposable gloves, sizes small to large. She washed her hands and then slipped on a pair of small gloves.
"The salad is just a mix of greens, don't worry too much on getting a certain amount of any type of lettuce, I literally just grab a decent handful and position it on the plate… just make sure it looks nice." With that, she took a handful of the mixed lettuce leaves and placed them in a neat row on the large square plate. "Next, you need to add the toppings…these can pretty much go in any order so it really doesn't matter as long as the dressing is last." Then she got a healthy bunch of sliced almonds between her gloved thumb, index and middle fingers, caringly spreading them over the lettuce. She did the same with the roasted pecans and sundried cranberries. The last topping was a white, crumbly cheese, which she put in a more generous amount than the others. "We usually put halved cherry tomatoes too, but Ian hasn't been satisfied with their quality lately, so we're just skipping that for now."
Eren nodded, taking a mental note for later reference, she laughed a little to herself, thinking how nitpicky Ian was. He was a wonderful manager, and she felt lucky to have this job.
"Last," Sasha continued after returning the other ingredients to the fridge, "You top it with this caramelized balsamic sauce. And don't worry about having to make this yourself, we have a chef…you haven't met him yet, but I'm sure you'll see him soon, who comes in at the start of each week to make our sauces and mixes for the gelato." She punctuated her sentence with a generous and neat drizzle of the chocolate colored sauce over the neat row of salad.
"Oh wow, that smells amazing" Eren said, mouth starting to salivate from the thick and sweet smell of the dressing.
Sasha only nodded, swallowing to prevent herself from drooling over it as well. "Y-yea."
"So how do you make this?" Eren asked, pointing to the little white ramekin with egg inside of it.
"Ah, that's called the egg cocotte, and we make it in the oven. It's actually really simple." With that, Sasha went over and gathered up the ingredients again, setting them out on the counter and grabbing a clean white ramekin. "First, you butter the bottom and sides, otherwise it'll be really hard for the guest to get it out if they don't want to eat it in the ramekin." She did so, neatly buttering up the sides and bottom , then set the butter to the side and picked up a few loose leafs of spinach. "You place the spinach first, and then some shredded chicken over it." Next she got a small handful of a white cheese mixture, "you cover all of that with a nice layer of cheese and then crack a whole egg over everything." She rinsed off her gloves after cracking the egg, to get the raw gooey substance off of her hands, returning with slightly wet gloves hands. "Then add a little bit of cream over this and a pinch of salt and pepper for seasoning, Ian is a stickler for appearances, so go ahead and add some chicken or parsley as garnish on top of everything… basically, just make it look nice."
Sasha then turned and showed Eren how to operate the little oven then got a small pan and filled it with warm tap water, setting the ramekin in the center and then placing the whole thing in the oven to cook.
"Usually regulars will tell you how they like their egg when they order, some will say runny and others firm, for a runny yolk just leave it to bake for 6 minutes then let it broil for a minute, and for the firm or well done yolk, leave it to bake for 10 minutes and let it broil for a minute or two… it's really your call on that unless they specify though."
"Okay, thank you… though I just want to apologize now because I know I'm going to ask you about that a few times before I remember it." Eren offered a sheepish grin and Sasha smiled back at her.
"Yea, I figured as much. I was the same way."She laughed a small laugh then pointed back to the picture on the menu Eren still held, "This is the honey, toast, which is exactly as it sounds. You just grab a nice thick slice of toast, put it in the toasting oven and then butter it up with the honey butter."
"So the waffle is the same as a normal right? Or is there a special batter I need to use for that?" Eren asked, pointing at the last item on the plate.
"No need for anything special, it's just a regular waffle without any toppings… So…think you got the gist of that?"
Eren studied the plate and compared it to the picture for a few seconds before looking up and smiling brightly at Sasha, "Yea, I think I've got it just fine, thank you for helping me again. You're a great trainer."
"Thanks Eren, you're a pretty great trainee too, you're learning a lot faster than Connie and I did when we first started, I'm really impressed, and I know Ian is too. You're doing great!"
"Thanks Sasha" Eren said, allowing herself to smile a full toothy grin.
The rest of their shift passed fairly slowly. The rush coming right about lunch time, and then quickly dying out as it neared time for Eren to get off.
Sasha noticed the nervous and somewhat frantic glances Eren would grace the entryway with every time she heard the bells chiming, signaling the arrival or departure of another guest. With close to fifteen minutes before her shift was over, and still no sign of Levi, Eren was distraught.
'Alright, I need to calm down. Why am I getting so worked up about him not showing? I just wanted to treat him to a nice late lunch, it's not like he promised to go on a date with me or anything… he's probably busy. He's a professor, and classes are starting soon, of course he's busy you idiot. It was probably stupid of me to invite him out anyway… oh wow… what is wrong with me, why am I still thinking about this?' These thoughts played through her mind as the clock drew closer to two thirty. 'He said he'd be here at two o'clock, it's already fifteen minutes passed that… almost twenty now he's not going to show…just forget about it… why am I so worked up about this?'
Her inner dialogue continued, distracting her, and preventing her from noticing the small and casually dressed figure slipping in and sitting in his corner. Observing her and laughing to himself as he thought about how distressed she looked. 'So childish. She probably thought I wasn't going to show…cute.'
A not so gentle nudge in the ribcage from Sasha jolted Eren out of her negative mental stupor. She then noticed the intense and amused gaze coming from a certain patron who sat in a familiar corner. Eren's eye twitched in annoyance when she saw it, 'Did he just smirk at me? I bet he showed up late on purpose...' Though she wore an annoyed look on her face, she was happy to see that he actually kept his word and showed.
She explained to Sasha what the situation was and Sasha gladly offered to ring her up and help her prepare the waffle brunch they had worked on together earlier in the day. With Sasha's help, Eren was able to finish with a minute to spare before her shift was over. Sasha worked until four, so she offered to take the brunch and the cup of Earl Grey prepared by Eren to Levi, while Eren went to clock out and change into her regular clothes.
Several minutes later, Eren was walking out of the bathroom feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to see the look on Levi's face when he tried the dish. As she approached the corner table, she thought about topics of conversation. She hadn't really considered what to even talk to him about when she extended the invitation to meet, so she nervously rattled her brain in an attempt to find anything interesting she could talk about. 'School? Well I guess, but he's a professor so I'm sure he'd be bored… and I don't even go to Rose yet, maybe I could ask him a few questions? That could work. Hmm, what else? The weather… well yes how do you find the weather lately, I think it's been cold. Yes, imagine cold in the winter. Conversation win, nice going that will make me seem real intelligent, great work Eren.' She mentally slapped herself and sighed in defeat as she finally rounded the corner and stood next to the table, pausing a moment to offer a shy smile and a nearly whispered "Hi" as she pulled out the chair opposite of Levi to sit down.
As graceful as always, she knocked her knee into the side of the table, jostling it and nearly spilling the tea and small water cup. She flushed and quickly planted her bottom down on the seat, sitting in an awkward and even more nervous position. 'Ugh, what's wrong with me? Just act normal for once!' She mentally berated herself and then offered a quick apology with her eyes downcast, then looking everywhere but Levi.
Levi had to struggle to not laugh at her little display, opting instead to sneer at her, "You alright there…?"
"Y-yea, sorry about that…" She turned to the side and took a deep breathe before returning her gaze to Levi and studying his features. He had fine lines around his eyes and a few around his mouth, probably from the way he seemed to always look uninterested and bored. His skin didn't look tired or old… but it didn't really have that radiant youthful glow of someone in their early to mid-twenties either. So maybe… late twenties, early thirties would be pushing it… but he is a professor so he had to at least gotten his masters… and that's at least eight years in school.
Eren's thoughts and the brief awkward silence that invaded the space between the two were interrupted by Sasha, who placed a waffle with whipped cream and neatly placed strawberries and a paper coffee cup in front of her. With a lift of her brow and a completely sophisticated "Huh?" escaping her lips, Eren looked first at Sasha, who offered nothing but a wide, toothy grin before leaving their bubble, then she turned to look at Levi, who opted to ignore her questioning stare in favor of putting a forkful of salad into his mouth.
"Mmm," his eyes widened a fraction as the flavors of the salad medley danced across his tongue and melded together. He swallowed and tasted another bite of the salad, before trying the egg cocotte.
Eren's embarrassment and annoyance at being made fun of and essentially ignored faded away the moment she saw the subtle change in Levi's demeanor. The hint of satisfaction in his voice, the slight widening of his eyes, and the small slump he allowed in his shoulders as he relaxed into the environment. She paused a moment longer to study his reaction, happy with herself for being, at least part of the cause of it.
She gingerly took a sip of the coffee cup, delighted and surprised at how sweet it was, there was also a faint flavor of vanilla, present and strong enough to taste, but not enough to overpower the slight bitter taste of the coffee itself. She smiled and looked up from her cup, greens eyes meeting sharp gray ones, locking for a moment before he spoke.
"I take it you've never had a vanilla latte before?" He posed the question and took a sip of his tea.
"Is that what this is?" Eren asked, pointing to the cup in her hand, "It's really good, and no, I haven't." She paused again and looked back to the waffle, "Did you order these too?"
"Hmm, I figured you would like something sweet." He smirked at the light blush, slowly returning to her cheeks as she glanced down and took another sip of the drink, "And yes, it would have been rude of me to be the only one eating. This is great by the way. I've never had it before." He directed his gaze back down to the plate, "the egg is a bit too runny for my taste though."He poked at it and watched as the yolk slowly spilled over the contents of the ramekin.
"I'll keep that in mind for next time…" she paused and quirked an eyebrow at the grown man playing with his food, "aren't you a little too old to be playing with your food...?" She jeered at him, hoping to get a rise.
"Please do." He quickly replied, adding a glare that sent chills down Eren's spine. "Watch it with your words, brat." His voice quieted at the end of his statement, as if he was a bit insecure about his age… but Eren couldn't really tell.
"So how old are you anyway?" Eren asked, wanting to steer the conversation away and hopefully get rid of Levi's sullen face. "I think it's only fair you tell me since I told you."
"That's unfortunate because the world isn't fair, next question." He replied without missing a beat.
'Obviously his age is a soft spot, whatever, I can come back to it… maybe… wait why do I care so much. Eren just stop it, okay moving on.' Her brows knit together as her thoughts wandered off again, reading too much, or not enough into the situation.
"So, if I remember correctly, on your business card it said that you're a psychology professor, what classes do you teach?" Eren asked, honestly curious and thinking that she worded the question well enough.
Levi's blunt and unamused reply was simply, "Psychology."
His bored expression had returned and his attention went back to finishing off the salad and waffle and last bit of the toast, leaving the yogurt aside for a snack later on.
"Well I knew that-"
"Then why did you ask?" He looked up and raised his brow at her, as if she was the dumbest person he'd ever met.
"What I meant was what courses, as in, the class titles, not the subject. I didn't think I had to be so specific." She let out a huff and took a generous bite of her own waffle, getting a little whip cream on the side of her mouth.
"Not thinking is going to hurt you now, and later on in life." He said it in such a steady manner that Eren didn't notice the way his eyes fell to her lips, partially parted as she let her tongue slip out and sweep over the corner where the whip cream had previously been. She also didn't notice the inaudible gulp he made as his eyes ventured back up to her own. "I usually teach upper level courses for Psychology majors, Developmental and Physiological, this semester I'm going to be teaching General Psychology too."
Eren rolled her eyes at his 'not thinking' statement and sighed thinking 'that's not what I meant but sure.'
The two continued on, back and forth, Levi correcting Eren's word choice and commenting on her reactions, while Eren became progressively more interested in learning more about Levi, or psychology… or Levi and psychology. They bantered on into the early evening, until Eren noticed that daylight was fading far faster than she wanted. Usually welcoming the darkening of the sky, since that meant the end to her day and beginning of rest, she found herself wishing that the daylight would last longer, so she could stay and talk more with Levi.
After one of the many pauses their conversation held, Levi turned away from Eren and looked out of the window, seeing the streetlights begin to flicker on, as the sky darkened. He sighed and said, "It's getting late, we should be both be getting home, I have things to do and I'm sure you do too." He stopped, and thought about his words, deeming them a bit too harsh for what he originally intended to be a good natured end to their time together. "This was fun, thank you Eren." He hoped adding that would brighten the dulling mood of the girl, rather, young woman, sitting before him.
"You're right… I'm sure Mikasa's worried, I didn't think I would actually enjoy talking to you so I told her I would be home a little while ago… hmm I'm surprised she hasn't called me yet." Eren said this as she pulled out her phone, again, not really thinking about the words that came out of her mouth before they were already gliding past Levi's ears.
"Oh? What, did you think I would just be a boring old man?" He raised his brow, this time challenging Eren to speak against him.
"N-no that's not what I," she put her hands up in defense, then hid her face in them, cradling her heated cheeks with her palms, letting out a muffled, "Ugh, never mind."Her hands did little to hide the redness that spread to the tips of hers ears as Levi let out a small chuckle.
"Alright, alright, I think I've teased you enough for one day," he pushed himself away from the table and stood up from the chair, grabbing his and Eren's empty plate and cup and taking them back over to the counter for boy on shift to clean, he returned to the table just as Eren was standing, ready to throw her disposable paper cup in the trash. He took the cup from her and gestured to the door, "Come on, I'll walk you to your car, it's dark now."
Eren gathered her things, pulling her coat over her shoulders and getting ready to greet the cold winter air. "Um, no it's fine. I ride the train… I don't have a car at the moment." She added, glancing away, slightly embarrassed, but not enough to let her cheeks become colored.
Levi stared, regarding her for a moment before turning and walking towards the door, with Eren following in suit, "Then I'll take you home."
They'd already walked out of the café, standing to the side of the entrance, "What? Oh no, it's fine really, I ride the train all the time. It's sweet but no thanks." Eren denied the invitation as politely as possible, 'I've already usurped a few hours of his time and now he wants to drive me home? No, this was supposed to be my apology… he even treated me.' Her mental tirade began, but was quickly shut down by Levi's next words.
"It's late, and it's dark. There's no way in hell I'm letting you wander around with only the light of these crappy ass streetlamps. Come on." With that, he turned and walked towards the fairly full parking lot.
Having left no room for argument, Eren begrudgingly followed behind the short and forceful male. She was surprised when they stopped in front of the Coupe. She wasn't expecting such a nice car. Levi walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for her, gesturing for her to get in with a tilt of his head before closing the door and going around to the driver's side.
"This is really nice." Eren said, her eyes wandering around the inside of the vehicle, sitting in the black leather seats which hugged her almost non-existent curves, cradling her in comfort and sleek sophistication. The all black interior was accented well with the brushed aluminum details. It had that new car smell, and feel, like it was fresh from the dealership, clean and neat.
"Thanks," Levi said as he smiled at her wide and wandering eyes, "buckle up brat. And please, try not to drool on my interior, I just had it cleaned."
"I told you I'm not a brat! My name is Eren… so kindly use it."She sounded a little more annoyed than she intended, but let the thought fall out of her head as he started the car and ripped out of the lot.
"Alright Eren, where to?"
Eren's emerald orbs reflected a smirk of pure evil, the look of a demon that was all too happy to scare the hell out of anyone he came across. She learned the hard way, not to piss Levi off if he's going to drive, especially in his own car. The only solace Eren found in, what seemed like a mad dash to hell, amidst the blaring horns and angry drivers, was at the few stop lights and stop signs that Levi was obligated to at least slow down at, in order to reach her new home.
By the time she got out of the car, she was a mess of nerves, her legs felt like jelly and she didn't think she'd ever be so happy to walk again. She vowed to never let Levi drive her around again… or least not to piss him off before getting in a car with him.