He walks up to the counter, grumbling a thanks under his breath.
Without looking in his direction, I give a chipper “Have a wonderful day!” and continue making drinks. He doesn’t deserve any more of my attention, but I let out a big sigh when I hear the door close behind him.
While we haven’t been too busy during this whole escapade, it is my job to make sure we don’t get backed up. The next three drinks are made at record speed. The small black iced tea, medium iced chai latte with whole milk, and black iced coffee don’t know what hit them. I call them out, and when I grab the next cup in line, the bold letters of Patrick’s name jolt me back to reality.
With the relief of Greg leaving, I had completely forgotten that Patrick was still in front of me, elbows propped on the edge of the counter in front of the machines. But, he has moved himself back to a more appropriate distance, like the decent man he is. Amused by my gaping stare, he asks, “So, are you going to explain that to me, or should I just assume I am seeing you this weekend?”
The only thing I can think to do is to start apologizing profusely as I pour the shots for his large iced vanilla latte, trying to avoid eye contact. “Oh my god. I am so sorry. So extremely sorry. More sorry than anyone has ever been!” I stumble over my words, trying to explain and avoid eye contact at the same time. “I really didn’t mean to pull you into that, but that jerk bag has been bugging me all week, and he kept asking to take me out, and it’s just so creepy! Ugh, he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I saw you and I—” When I finally get the courage to look up, his smirk says it all. More than anything, he looks oddly entertained, and it catches me off guard. “...you’re not mad?”
“Of course, I’m not mad,” he says, sounding surprised that I even asked the question. “That guy sounds like an asshole, and you don’t deserve that. It pisses me off when people can’t catch a hint. You’re literally stuck here making drinks. It is not your job to entertain lonely, middle-aged men. I’m sorry that happened to you, Ellie.”
The way he says my name sends a spark through my body. There is a tenderness to his voice that I’ve never heard before.
I put a lid on Patrick’s drink and hand it to him through the machines. “Thank you so much. I’ve got you covered on Monday; it’s the least I can do for you saving my ass.”
He chuckles to himself. “No worries, and if any more jerks bother you, tell them yourboyfriendwon’t be happy when he finds out.”
The added emphasis to the word boyfriend leaves me flustered. Whether it’s the chaos of what just happened or the potential flirting, I’m a mess.
As he turns to walk towards the door, he shoots me a lopsided smile. “Have a good weekend, Ellie.”
“Yeah, you too,” I say, but my voice trails off.
Chapter 2
Patrick
TherewasnowayI could have predicted how this morning was going to go even in my wildest imagination, and I can’t stop myself from replaying the moments in my head as I make my drive into work.
It’s not like I was running late, but I was later than I normally am. My personal belief is that early is on time, and on time is incredibly too close to being late for my comfort. Luckily for me, I was still going to be twenty minutes early even with my stop at The Brew this morning.
A fog clouded my head, but the smell of coffee woke me up just enough to make it through the line.
There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary going on. Nick was manning the register like normal, and he gave me a welcoming nod while I stood in line. He’s newer than the rest of the crew, but he’s been getting the hang of things really well.
If I’m being honest, I don’t really talk much to the baristas, but that’s only because I know they are busy and trying to get through their shift. I’ve been coming here for so long that they know a little bit about me, and I know a little bit about them. We have a mutual understanding: they make my life easier, and I appreciate what they do silently.
Everything was the same until it wasn’t.
My phone beeped when I scanned my app to get the daily reward points, and I thanked Nick while the transaction was processing. As I got ready to move to the spot where I wait for my drink, my eyes met Ellie's, causing me to stop in my tracks. Seeing her every single morning made me fairly familiar with her mannerisms, but I had never seen her like this.
One of the things that I’ve noticed is how calm she is while making drinks. No matter how busy the store is or how many drinks are piled up next to her, she is always collected and professional, but today she looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. Her lips moved fast, and I almost missed that she was mouthing the word help.
Her demeanor changed in an instant.
If I wasn’t looking at her, there’s no way I would have seen the shift. The pieces started to move together when a middle-aged man near the drink counter stared at me with annoyance. He was already standing way too close to Ellie for my liking, and it was even weirder when he stepped back as I approached her.
Ellie started talking, and the bigger picture revealed itself. Her words shocked me for a second, and I had no idea what to do. There were so many thoughts running through my head: Did she just call me babe? Why was she talking about me? Why did she look so scared a second ago?
My lack of caffeine was definitely the reason I needed those extra seconds for my brain to catch up with what was happening. This guy was making Ellie so uncomfortable that she had to pretend I was her boyfriend.
Anger burned at my core, but I knew that it would not do any good. There was nothing I could’ve done to help other than playing along with this weird charade. Weighing the risks, I didn’t want to do anything that could’ve gotten Ellie in trouble or me banned from the store, so I went along with it.
Trying to play along, I leaned over the counter to make it seem more believable, but that’s when I realized that I had never been that close to Ellie before. And, I was not prepared.
It was obvious that she was flustered, but I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her hair was pulled back into a low bun, and there were little pieces of bangs messily falling in front of her eyes. I had an urge to reach across the counter and tuck it behind her ear that I ignored. The freckles that were haphazardly spread across her nose and cheeks were revealed from this new perspective. I already knew she was pretty, but being this close to her was making me realize how beautiful she is.
We continued our back and forth, but when she started talking all sweet and looking up at me with those big brown eyes, I couldn’t help myself.
