chapter 2: some damn good coffee

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i lazily tied my hair up into a bun, which happened to look more decent than i had intended it to turn out; i was originally expecting a more messy look, but this is more than fine!

it was currently 12:48pm, and i had just finished eating a bagel for lunch. in all honestly, breakfast for lunch was the right way to go for me—it never let me down! liza always pondered the fact that i enjoyed breakfast more than any other person of my age, for it wasn't something common among others to relate to. that's what she would tell me at least. she's more of a lunch and dinner type of person, so i could see why she'd question my love for the meal that is normally served only at the beginning of the day. i mean, i literally work at a cafe, which makes sense with this logic of mine.

suddenly i heard the familiar noise of a buzzing sound, and i immediately knew it was my phone. i also could quickly determine that it must've been liza or kathy, and once seeing that it had been liza, i answered with a chirpy "hello?" i was expecting some sort of rant about kathy's horrible mood due to her miserable hangover, but liza had also seemed pretty chirpy this time.

"hey," she dragged out the word. "can we pop in to beans 'n' cream later today?"

"no, sorry," i replied sarcastically. "you cannot."

"shut the hell up," she playfully retorted, laughing right afterwards.

"no, you," i joined her laughing. "but for real, of course you can. don't be dumb, liza," i chuckled.

"okay, see you then, meri." i heard her sigh. "oh, and beware of kathy. her hangover truly makes her bitch-mode activate." she didn't even say anything else before hanging up, leaving me to laugh a bit about what she had said. i had a feeling something like that would be brought up.

i looked out from my apartment window to see that it had been overcast once again, rain pouring down from the thick clouds. i walked into my room to retrieve a cardigan; i didn't want to freeze to death for the second time. this weather was something i didn't mind much since i personally enjoyed the rain. too much booming, scary thunder along with the striking lightning and frigid wind was not my thing, however.

when i noticed the clock on my nightstand beside my bed had read 12:55pm, i realized the bus would probably be leaving soon. i quickly grabbed my converse, doing my best to tie the laces the fastest i could without screwing them up and possibly tripping over them in the near future due to my hastiness and lack of precaution.

halfway out the door with the hopes of actually getting a seat on the bus, i realized i had forgotten my phone.

"dammit," i cursed, running back into my bedroom where i knew i left the device on my bed when i had gotten my cardigan. my feet then quickly took me out of the apartment room once again.

are you kidding me? i thought to myself as i stood at the front of the bus, desperately looking for an empty seat to occupy before the bus driver had to scold me. that's when i noticed one right next to some random guy whom i didn't want to have to interact with by awkwardly sitting next to. i couldn't see his face, for he was wearing sunglasses—quite inappropriately, may i add, due to the weather—with his head down. all i could observe from where i was standing was the fact that he had brown hair with some curls, but maybe that was just because it was messed up. he almost seemed familiar. . .

"ma'am, if you could please have a seat . . ." the bus driver's voice was directed right at me.

i instinctively starting muttering apologies that he probably couldn't even hear as i quickly made my way to the empty seat next to blondie-boy. plopping down with a sigh of annoyance and slight embarrassment, i realized curly-boy was too busy on his phone and listening to music to even become aware of the fact that i had taken occupation of the seat right next to his. to make the matters worse, he had placed—i assumed—his beanie right on my seat, obviously not thinking that someone would've had to sit here. this caused me to sit awkwardly on the edge, for i didn't want to sit on it, of course, and i didn't want to make him angry by moving the hat myself.

"oh, shit. sorry," i heard him finally speak, and his deep, english voice was all too familiar. it was the guy that lives in my apartment building! he moved his beanie, but i suddenly didn't want to sit any closer anyways. he still intimidated me, and i was still embarrassed about what i mistook him for doing last night.

"thanks," i managed to reply while scooting one millimeter closer. there was an awkward five seconds of silence.

"scared of me, wanna-be hero?" i could hear the smirk through his words. he finally realized it was me.

i purposefully acted as though i hadn't heard what he just asked me and looked around the bus instead, pretending like i was distracted. this was a tactic i had used plenty of times before when i didn't want to have an awkward conversation with someone. silence fell upon us for the next several moments, and while some would consider that more awkward, i was actually thankful for it.

"what's your name?" he eventually inquired for the second time since i've met him. he seemed to ask this in almost a concerned manner, for a reason i did not know.

my eyes then flew to his, and i seemed to be distracted by them. he had taken his sunglasses off, revealing the beautiful color of which his eyes beheld. green was definitely one of my favorite colors. he raised a brow at my staring, and i quickly came back to reality.

i cleared my throat and flashed a shy yet nervous smile to him. i didn't feel quite comfortable yet with letting him gain the knowledge of my name. even with these feelings, i spoke, "uh . . . what?" once again acting oblivious to what he was questioning. that's when i realized the bus had been stopped, and it was specifically stopped at my destination, nearest beans 'n' cream. i guessed we had been at a halt for quite some time since the bus driver began to start up the vehicle again.

"oh, wait!"

"honestly, brett is such an asshole sometimes," liza spoke lowly of her boyfriend.

i was currently counting the money within our cash register for the third time today due to orders made by rob. he had informed me of his fear about money being misplaced, miscounted, or stolen; he was such a paranoid guy, in my opinion. i did my job, nevertheless, in order to make him happy.

"well, liz, that's why i'm lovin' the single life. stop shitting on me for it," kathy responded to liza as they both sat at a table on the right side of the cafe, but still near where i was working behind the counter. kathy loudly slurped her nearly-empty drink after this statement. i could see liza shoot her a glare for it, but she seemed to take what kathy said into consideration.

"kath, that's gross," i finally entered the conversation, making my disapproval of kathy's slurping apparent. she put her hands up in defense, thankfully stopping. "it's only 3:30, but it hasn't been that busy today. i'm really hoping rob lets me off early," i sighed as i closed and locked up the cash register, feeling confident with the amount of money i counted three times.

as i finally made the decision to make my way to the back room with hopes of spotting rob in order to speak to him, the all-too-familiar sound of a jingle had rung in my ears. it was the bell atop the entrance door that had indicated whenever someone decided to come in.

my eyes instantly flew to the noise as a feeling of dread came over me; i did not want to have to possibly deal with someone else's complicated order once again. that's when shock immediately followed after my dreadful feeling. it was curly-boy.

i heard kathy take in a sharp breath at the sight of him. "i suddenly don't love the single life anymore," she tried to whisper nonchalantly.

liza laughed aloud at this as i mentally scoffed in response. my eyes didn't leave curly-boy as he made his way towards me, finally taking his own eyes off his phone to lock them with mine. i shot him an awkwardly forced smile that definitely looked hideous. i didn't know how to handle these types of situations, obviously.

"ah, so you work here," he finally spoke before leaning down to meet my height, lying his elbows on the counter that separated us. his face was only, like, a foot away from mine, and just this seemed to give me heart palpitations. i was horrible around guys, especially ones that intimidated me.

"uh—yes," i quietly replied as if he had asked a question, instantly hating how awkward i constantly acted. my eyes then began to widen once i realized his were looking down to my chest. for a second i had the thought that he was possibly being some sort of pervert, but i took notice of the way he seemed to be reading over something, which i then knew was the name tag attached to the working apron i was made to wear.

"merideth," he read aloud with a firm voice of confirmation.

i looked over to kathy and liza, noticing the way they had obvious shocked expressions written on their faces. their eyes kept looking back from curly-boy to me, back to curly-boy, then back to me. they were surprised we had known each other.

"and you are . . . ?" kathy spoke up, questioning the boy in front me who seemed to just now notice there were two other girls in here.

as he turned his head to look in their direction, his eyes looked kathy up and down in a questioning manner. he then, however, showcased a small smirk. "harry."

kathy raised her eyebrows with a slight smile in response to this, then looking over to me.

i cleared my throat before speaking again, "what can i get you?" my voice sounded small and weak, which i mentally scolded myself for. everything felt awkward and embarrassing in this moment, and i wanted nothing else but for harry to make his way out of here.

"just a medium coffee. light on the sugar."

for some reason, he didn't seem like the type of person to enjoy coffee at such a time like this. don't get me wrong, that's how a lot of people were like (or so i've observed), but usually you can tell when they're coffee fanatics. also, let's not forget the fact that harry didn't even bother to say 'please'. this seemed to bother me a bit, but it was only because i was quite the well-mannered person. well, at least i tried to be.

harry then took his elbows off the counter, standing to his full height. this intimidated me even more because of how tall he was.

"we'll be right back," kathy informed me before taking liza's arm and dragging her outside the cafe. i knew them well enough to realize that they were going to talk about harry and how i possibly got to know him. this, in particular, would be a big thing for all three of us because of the fact that i never bother to even talk to boys. i've been hit on before by quite a few, and every time i just shrug it off; this was either because i felt weirded out by it or because i had been too much of a nervous-nellie to go along with it, which are things i have come to accept and admit.

"medium coffee comin' right up."

i turned around to the coffee machine conveniently placed right behind me in order to serve curl— i mean, harry. i grabbed the plastic white cup that was soon to be filled with the wonderful beverage of coffee, and i made sure to put the lid right next to it. as i started to make harry's drink, i wondered if liza and kathy were going to come back in anytime soon.

the coffee was ready to be poured into the cup, but when i turned to the place where i had put it and the lid down, i noticed the cup was suddenly gone, only its lid being there. this is impossible—i put it right there! i thought to myself.

"what the hell?" i whispered aloud, questioning my previous actions and if there was a possible chance that i could've already been showing signs of dementia or something crazy. when i turned around to face the front counter, i spotted the cup right next to the cash register. wha—

"you good?" harry inquired from the table he was now sitting at. i almost wanted to interrogate him about the cup, but if he was the one who had moved it, i would've already noticed since it was behind the front counter with me. someone his size next to me would have definitely caught my attention.

"oh, yeah, i'm f-fine," i somewhat lied.

he stared at me as he bit his bottom lip, like he was trying to figure out if i was lying or not. i was never a good liar, so i wouldn't have been surprised if it hadn't gone unnoticed. he then got up from his seat to come up to the counter, and i silently hoped he wouldn't question me any further.

"i—uh, let me just finish it up for you," i referred to the coffee that hadn't been poured into his cup yet. i tried to smile but felt my face fall into a grimace instead. finally filling the cup with his desired coffee, making sure to add a little sugar, my hands instantly warmed up as they held onto the hot drink. i gripped quite tightly to it in fear of my clumsy self making a mistake by spilling it (it has happened before, unfortunately). "that'll be $3.50."

he quickly fished out a five dollar bill and held it out toward me in his rather-large hand. i took the money after setting the drink down in front of him, my fingers brushing against his and causing a blush to creep up on my cheeks.

i handed him his change, and he was then on his way. before he completely exited the cafe, he turned around after taking an obvious sip of his coffee and spoke, "that's some damn good coffee, merideth." his eye then dropped in a wink as he, once again, flashed another smirk. my own eyes went wide at this and strange butterflies were felt within my stomach.

———

a/n: This was kind of another filler and was a bit boring but it's progress my dudess.

. . .the coffee cup was suspicious huhhh???

Ok ok sorry ily all. vote comment and share maybe? ;)
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