the ultracheese (Alex Turner fluff one-shots)

You Could Meet Someone You Like (Part One)

You're a barista and Alex gets in line.

- 

Dusting off your apron as you came back from the back room into the front of the coffee shop, you sighed at the long line that had formed at the counter which your co-worker was attempting to manage by herself.

You hurried to refill the cocoa powder that you'd gone to fetch and quickly stepped to the other side of the counter, waving some customers over to you, the queue instantly brought out of order as half of them ran over to you in hopes to get their coffee sooner.

It wasn't like it was rush hour, or lunchtime or like they had to get to work or back to work quickly, people were just so damn impatient.

You noticed a guy getting slowly into the end of your line, looking down at his phone and scrolling through something, only looking up briefly to make sure he wasn't bumping into anyone and when you saw his face, your heart skipped a beat.

Alex Turner.

Just earlier that morning on the bus, you'd watched the new Arctic Monkeys music video and Four out of Five was now stuck in your head all over again. In fact, you'd been humming it all morning.

Everyone else seemed too busy to even notice him at the back of the line, either also on their phone or their laptops. You took the order of the next customer and began making it, glancing over to him every now and then. He'd now put his phone away and brushed his long hair back from his face, looking up and studying the sign above the coffee machine that had all the new specials listed. You smiled to yourself, curious to find out what kind of drink he'd order.

He seemed like a black coffee kind of guy to you, too cool to bother with complicated drinks that had ten ingredients. He didn't seem that extra, not when it came to simple things like coffee. But listening to his lyrics ... his words and metaphors were a whole other level of extra. But with strawberry swirls, soy milk and coconut sprinkles, you expected him to dismiss things like that like the grandpa he also seemed like when it came to social media.

You handed the customer his drink and gave him back his change before taking the next order. Alex was now on his phone again, you observed while foaming up some milk. He then looked back up at the sign with the specials, then back at his phone. Was he googling a drink?

You wondered if it would be unprofessional of him to take a photo with him. You wanted to prove to everyone that you'd really seen him, but you weren't about just secretly taking a photo of him so you wondered if you could maybe ask him for a quick selfie. Although, more people would probably notice him then, especially now with the attention back on him from the new album release.

You sighed. It was more important to you to be decent than to brag about seeing him and selling him coffee. Then you realised, you were about to talk to him.

"Excuse me?"

You looked up to see the woman whose drink you were making staring at you. "S-Sorry..." you said quickly, pouring the milk into her cup and adding some coconut syrup before handing it to her and taking her money. "Thank you, have a nice day."

She nodded to you before leaving and now there was only one more customer before Alex, whose order you took without looking at her, looking only at him behind her.

He looked up in that moment and your eyes met for a moment, your knees getting weak as his lips curled into a polite smile.

You swallowed and managed a quick, very awkward forced smile back and instantly turned your back on the counter to make the drink for the woman in front of him. Fuck. How were you going to go about this? You didn't want to let this opportunity slide, how often was it that the person you looked up to the most marched straight into your work and ordered coffee from you?