» 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: howdy, it's been a while! (at this point, that should just be my regular intro.) my therapist thought it would be a good idea to get back into writing mindless fluff because it calms me, so here i am with another cliche coffee shop au. enjoy! :D
» 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖: 11 / 7 / 21
» 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: katie saves travis from a very awkward situation at the coffee shop.
» 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 1137
. . .
"Large hot caffè macchiato," called the barista, and Travis scolded himself for cringing.
Why did the smallest things have to remind him of Lila?
A hot caffè macchiato was exactly what his ex got every time they came to this coffee shop. He seriously needed to get a grip - the breakup happened two months ago, and he was the one who called it off! He wasn't too upset about it, considering the fact that he knew they weren't good for each other. Still, every little thing caught him up in memories.
Stupid caffè macchiato.
"Thanks!"
Dang, it was worse than he thought - he even heard her voice.
"Travis?"
Fear jolted through him as he realized it wasn't just in his head.
The bustle of the shop shrank and zeroed in on him, standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, and Lila, his ex who looked like she'd taken a breath of fresh air.
Lila, who'd cried when he'd broken up with her.
Lila, who had a guy's arm wrapped around her in their favorite coffee shop.
"Travis!" his ex repeated, confirming that he was, in fact, Travis. She smiled and he felt a pit form in his stomach. "How are you?"
The only thing going through his mind at that moment was that the man next to her inched closer to her with a wary look.
"Uh," he stated dumbly.
"It's good to see you," she rambled, patting the dude's chest. "Dev, this is Travis. Travis, meet Dev."
Distantly, Travis could hear the barista call out, "Medium lavender latte, pump of vanilla."
Focus, Trav.
He just nodded tersely, mentally kicking himself because maybe his recurring thoughts of Lila somehow manifested their meeting. "Hey."
Lila's eyes lit up as she glanced around the immediate area, and with her next words Travis remembered why he'd called it quits in the first place. Her voice was sappy sweet as she cooed, "Aww, did you come by yourself?" But there was a bite to her words.
Seriously? The first thing Lila was going to inquire about was if he'd moved on as quickly as she did? What did it matter to her besides spite?
The worst part was that yes, Travis came by himself, and yes, Travis cared about the spite, too. He panicked for a brief second before reminding himself that it was okay that he hadn't picked up someone new, that he could take as much time as he wanted, that he could...
That he could want to make her feel just as helpless as he did in that moment.
"Lavender latte, pump of vanilla?" the barista announced again, rooting him back in reality.
"Coming!" came a rushed reply, and a girl pushed past the handful of people standing at the counter.
She tossed a braid over her shoulder as she reached for a straw and beamed at the barista. "Have a good one."
The girl turned and made brief eye contact with Travis, and in that moment, his brilliant mind formed a scheme, as his brilliant mind tended to do when he was in a sticky situation. Luckily, the girl stopped briefly to examine the group, and Travis swooped in.
"Actually, Lila, I want you to meet... Amelia." He focused every ounce of pleading in his gaze on the girl, and he was sure a bit of panic was thrown in for good measure. He held out his hand to her and stared at her so hard he figured she probably thought he was psycho.
The girl who'd been dubbed as Amelia stood, questioning, and an awkward silence blanketed them. Travis cussed at himself in his head - he knew better than to drag a stranger into his game of revenge.
But, suddenly, the girl seemed to make it all click. She took his hand with her free one and stepped into the circle of people. "Hi!"
Gosh, her smile was pretty.
Lila faltered, but kept that fake smile glued right on her face. "Oh. Hi."
"So, where did you and David meet?" Travis' veins flowed with more confidence by the second with this poor stranger next to him, and he realized they were still holding hands. He squeezed it and hoped he conveyed gratitude before letting it drop.
"It's Dev," Lila corrected.
"Right, my bad." He couldn't help but smirk when his nonchalance visibly annoyed her.
Dev spoke up. "At the social downtown. What about you two?"
"Here, funnily enough," the girl next to Travis piped up.
Now, Travis' smile grew into an even larger one - she was playing along.
He'd have to owe her big after this.
Lila forced out a laugh. "Aww, so cute! Do you guys wanna grab food and chat over breakfast? Dev, we should totally have breakfast with them!"
At that, Travis briefly drew back. Heck no. But Dev seemed to be just as unenthralled with that idea as he was, and he said, "Uh, we've gotta get going, remember?"
"Aww, I'm sure grocery shopping can wait a little bit."
But, as if the angels descended upon the coffee shop, the barista announced, "Large hot peppermint mocha, heavy chocolate drizzle!"
"That's my drink," Travis hurried, and took the mystery girl's arm. "We should find a place to sit down, Amelia."
All the freckles on the cute girl's face danced as she beamed up at him. "Okay."
"Oh, too bad," Lila hummed, "We'll have to meet up though!"
"For sure," mystery girl replied with some flatness to her tone.
And with that, Lila and her new boy toy walked out of the shop.
Travis waited until the bell on the door stopped ringing before he scrambled to apologize. "Hey, listen, I'm so sorry about that - it's just, that was my ex and I didn't know she was seeing someone else and I freaking broke up with her so I know I shouldn't even be upset but I don't know what came over me and I-"
"Hey, don't worry about it," the girl waved away, sipping on her coffee. "I may or may not have been eavesdropping before you looked at me."
Grinning, he nodded. "Okay. Well, thanks."
"Happy to help. But my name's not Amelia."
"Uh, yeah, I figured."
She scoffed, but in a good-natured way. Extending her arm, she said, "Katie."
"Travis." He took her hand and shook it. "If there's anything I can do for you to make up for it, please let me know. I owe ya."
Tapping her foot, she hummed, "Well, I don't have any exes that frequent the area..." she laughed.
"Well, if you happen to like this coffee shop as much as I do, I sure wouldn't mind grabbing breakfast sometime."
Katie's eyes crinkled. "Yeah, I'd like that. Just, maybe let's not go with your ex."
"Sounds like a great plan."
