A Love Triangle Most Unusual (Season 1)

Call Me Maybe?

The next morning, I highly dreaded heading to work. I stayed in bed for as long as possible and willed for the bus driver to hit every single stop along the way. I was not looking forward to dealing with the king of douchebags himself, and certainly not while sober.

Maybe he won't be there today during my shift, I prayed. I mean, dude's gotta have classes of his own, right?

But no. Within ten minutes of my shift starting, I spotted him strutting in confidently, scanning the area for me. I quickly ducked down, pretending I needed to grab something from a cabinet, but he still got in line. I immediately moved to the other side of the bar, annoyed.

What kind of persistent fuck gets in a thirty-minute queue, just to stalk some guy he isn't sure will be there?

Honestly, he could have just came for his drink. But I was still unhappy. I groaned and started vigorously mixing the monster of a frap that some guy with an alarming sweet tooth had ordered. I hoped that maybe, the line would take too long and he'd give up and march out impatiently. But today, he seemed strangely calm, as if he was patiently waiting for his plans to come to fruition. Once he was just two to three customers away, I knew he had noticed me. I turned my back to him and continued to fulfill orders, pretending to check on the panini toaster repeatedly.

Finally, it was his turn. I looked around me. Everyone was busy and nobody wanted to serve him. I sighed and, resigned to my fate, took my place at the register.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" I asked, trying to stop my eye from twitching.

"Hey, David," Jason smirked. I wanted to roll my eyes. Or maybe punch him. Punching him sounded really good right now.

"Oh, so you know my name," I sighed. "How can I help you?"

"You know you're my favorite barista, right David?" Jason drawled. "You always know exactly what I want."

Ew. I don't want you to imply we have that kind of relationship. "Um, so will that be a Grande Americano with two pumps of mocha and one pump of chai?"

"Yes, exactly!" Jason grinned, and I resisted the urge to step back. "See, David. This is why you're my favorite."

The people lined up behind him started to give me the evil eye. I began to also feel rather evil myself. "Um, thanks," I replied.

"So, I met your girlfriend the other day. She told me all about you, about us," Jason gestured between us. Again, please do not imply we have that kind of relationship, or any for that matter. The only thing that you are to me is a nuisance. "What was her name again, by the way?"

I ignored him and continued to ring him up. "So, will that be it? Just the grande Americano?"

"Oh yes, that will be quite enough," Jason smirked, and I started to feel the sweat run down my back. I kind of prefer it when he was being rude to me.

"Okay. Your total is $2.85."

"Thank you, David," Jason smiled, and held out his black credit card. I reached out to grab it from him, but he did not let go. "You're a real one." 

The girl behind him was practically glaring daggers into me. I swallowed and awkwardly tried to pull the card away, but he kept holding on to it tightly. "Um, thanks," I replied.

"Great!" With that, Jason finally let go and allowed me to ring his total up. I wanted to sink into the center of the earth.

Just to avoid talking to him, I took as many other orders as possible and fulfilled them first, completely ignoring his drink. But he continued to wait patiently by himself, sitting on the bench as if he didn't have a single care in the world. Finally, when I tackled his drink, I added too much water and an extra pump of peppermint, just to fuck with him.

"Jason?" I called out. "I have your uh, Americano."

Jason immediately stood up and marched over to me. "Thank you, David," he grinned, taking it out of my head. To my horror, instead of leaving, he instead opened the lid and took a sip.

Uh-oh. He is not going to like this...

I shut my eyes and flinched, waiting for him to throw it in my face.

"Whoa! This is different," Jason's eyes widened. "You added something else, didn't you?"

I felt embarrassed. "Here, um, just give it back to me I'll remake it-"

"No!" Jason held it out of my reach, and took another long sip. "This is good. What did you add? I want this in my coffee next time."

Another cold chill ran down my spine.

He likes it?

What kind of MONSTER is this guy?

AM I LOOKING AT THE NEXT TED BUNDY?

"Um... I'm not sure, but I may have accidentally added an extra pump of peppermint," I replied, trying to ignore the alarm bells going off in my head. THIS MAN IS AN ABSOLUTE SOCIOPATH. RUN. RUN. CAN WE GET OPRAH ON THE PHONE? BECAUSE THIS MAN IS DEFINITELY SOME KIND OF FUTURE SERIAL KILLERS.

Jason took a huge swig of his drink and wiped his mouth, exhaling contentedly. "Peppermint, I see...well, thank you David. I like the way your mind works."

Actually, I was trying to mess with you, I grumbled internally. But I guess it worked out for the better.

"Hey, here's my number," Jason said, handing me a piece of paper. I stared at him, bewildered. "Listen, I got some classes to go to now, but we should totally hang out. You seem like a cool guy. Catch you later!"

And with that, he turned and marched out just the same way as he had entered, looking like he owned the place.

I stared down at the paper on the counter, unsure of what to do with it.

"Want me to throw that away for you?" Jenna asked.

"Please do."