Coffee and Cream

Chapter 1 - She wanted a bagel

December 24, 20XX

It wasn't supposed to be his shift today, but one of the part time workers had quit so the manager asked him to fill in for him. He leaned against the counter, taking a hard earned break before the next customer would come in. It was pretty early, most of the customers being white collared workers heading to work.

Ding. The bell on the door sounded. A woman walked in.

[Ah, it's another office worker.]

"Hi, welcome to XX XX. What can I get for you?"

[Sigh, this same boring shit, day in day out.]

"Good morning, can I get a xxx with xxx and x pumps of xx and a bagel?"

[I want a bagel. No scratch that, a donut instead.]

"Do you want your bagel heated up?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," she replied.

"That'll be 4.99."

She handed him her credit card.

Ding. The bell on the door sounded. He glanced up.

"Hi welcome to XX-" His eyes slowly widened, and his expression cracked for a sliver of a second.

The man took off his hood and shook the snow out of his hair.

"Damn, it's snowing like hell out there." The man glanced at him, gauging his reaction.

He let out a choked laugh. "Took you long enough, I thought you'd never come." His voice unnaturally cracked, but the man didn't say anything about it.

Beep. He packaged the bagel, capped the coffee, then handed them to the woman. "Have a nice day~"

"Thanks, you too." The bell rang as the woman exited the coffee shop.

He turned his attention back to the man. "Give me your address, I'll head over after my shift is over." He handed his phone to the man. "You're taller this time," he commented, after giving the man a one over.

"I know. Same password as usual?"

"Yeah." They exchanged a glance. He gazed at the man's face. It hadn't changed for some reason, with the same facial features each round.

[I missed you.]

The man handed him back his phone. "I'll come back home from work at six."

[Home.]

His heart sped up. "Okay," he replied, a bit breathlessly. "I'll wait for you."

The man reached out and softly caressed his hair. "I'll try to get back early."

He gripped the man's hand. "Okay."

The man walked to the door, glanced back, then left.

Ding.