Where Lost Things Go | ✓

【零陆】COFFEE FOR TWO

chapter 6.
coffee for two

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ASHER YAWNED.

He rubbed his eyes and looked down at his notebook, filled page to page with his scrappy handwriting. As a bio major working towards pre-med, Asher was not a stranger to overworking himself day and night. Tousling his hair to wake himself up, he glanced up at the clock that read 3:30 PM.

He had worked nonstop for the past two hours and felt like he deserved a break. Slowly pushing his chair back, Asher made his way towards the entrance of the library.

The sound of a book slamming shut in the otherwise dead silent library caught his attention, making his head swivel to the right. Behind the counter, he recognized Reagan's head of dark hair standing over a shelf of books. She looked lost in thought as she slid the book back in its place and combed her hands through her hair.

For some reason, Asher decided to go over.

"Hi," he said, crossing his arms and resting them on the counter.

Reagan turned at the sound of his voice, and he was once again greeted by her cold eyes.

"Hello," she said, walking towards him and taking a seat. "Can I help you with something?"

"Do you work here?"

"Yes."

He looked around. "What do you do?"

"I organize the new books that come in," she replied, gesturing at the stacks behind her. "And I can help you if you need to find a book."

"Sounds fun," he commented.

"Not really," she shrugged.

"Do you work every day?"

"Just the weekends."

He nodded slowly, turning his gaze to observe her work space.

"Can I help you?" she asked again.

Asher blinked and saw her staring up at him, expression as empty as ever. "Oh," he cleared his throat. "I'm taking a break from studying and was just going out to get some coffee."

She blinked.

"Do you want some?" he asked.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah."

She looked around at her desk. "I'm working."

"I'll order and bring it back for you."

She looked back at him, her dark eyes piercing into his. "Sure," she said after a moment of silence. "Why not?"

Asher smiled, "What's your order?"

"An iced vanilla latte, please," she replied, smiling back, although it didn't quite seem to reach her eyes. "Thank you."

"Got it," he said, tapping the counter once and making his leave. He could feel her eyes on him as he walked away.

At the coffee shop, he impatiently waited in line, crossing and uncrossing his arms as he ran his order through his head. When it was finally his turn, he stepped forward and rattled it off, "Two iced vanilla lattes, please."

"Asher!" someone called from behind.

He turned around and was met with Brian and Nick sitting at a table, waving at him. Grabbing his two drinks, Asher headed over.