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"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK." Benjamin Laurent cursed as he rushed down the street, the wind blowing through his hair, staining his cheeks red. He was late.
It was his own fault, of course. He had stayed up watching a few episodes of Supernatural and had convinced himself that he could get a few extra minutes of sleep that morning. Needless to say, he slept a whole lot longer than a few minutes.
He frowned as he fixed his cardigan while turning into a small café just down his street. Living in the city where everything was so close together came in handy at times like these. He fixed his hair as he walked behind the counter, quickly wrapping an apron around his waist, tying it in a secure knot.
"Benjamin Archer Laurent." He winced and slowly turned around at the use of his full name. When he did, he was met face-to-face with his boss, her eyebrows knit together and her arms crossed over her chest. "That's my name..." He said with a small voice. "Why are you late? And you better not say Supernatural."
Instead of answering, he just gave her an awkward smile, confirming her suspicions about him staying up all night to watch the show. "Benji, you can't do shit like that when you know you aren't going to get up."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry." He looked down at his brand-new shoes, so new that they didn't have a single speck of dirt on them. "I'm warning you, Benji, this is your final chance. Now go take that order."
Ben sighed and nodded, turning on his heel to walk toward the front counter. When he did, he could've sworn that his heart stopped working then and there. On the other side of the counter stood a male not too much taller than himself. He wore a cute vest that reminded him of something you would wear at a library. He had a large satchel bag thrown over his shoulder and curly brown hair that stopped just above his shoulders. Not to mention he was extremely good-looking. "What can I get for you?" Ben asked him, giving him his best smile.
"I'll have a black coffee with two teaspoons of sugar, please." Ben nodded and rang him up. "That'll be $2.18." The male nodded and fished out his wallet from his khaki jeans. He handed him the money and waited patiently while Ben counted out his change and handed it back to him. He then turned around and started to make the coffee. It was simple enough. Just plain coffee with a little bit of sugar. He couldn't help but feel like the male was watching him intently from behind.
He carefully measured out the teaspoons before snapping a lid over the cup, making sure no coffee had managed to drip down the sides. He turned back around and handed him his coffee, catching sight of the book he was holding. The Sign of Four. "That's a good book." The male looked up at him in shock, looking back down at the book he was reading.
"Do you like Sherlock Holmes?" The male said, seemingly unable to keep himself from talking. Ben nodded. He had read every Sherlock book there was. Ben watched with a smile as the male in front of him started to ramble on about random facts about the series. Ben didn't mind one bit because it wasn't busy and he was hot. The male in front of him suddenly stopped talking, looking like he had been snapped out of a trance. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."
"I don't mind. You seem to know a lot about the series." Benjamin reassured, leaning onto the counter a bit. "I grew up reading the stories, so I guess it holds a special place in my heart."
"Ah, I understand." The male's phone suddenly started ringing, interrupting their conversation. He quickly answered the phone, eyebrows furrowing immediately. "Sorry, I'm on my way." He brought the phone down and stuffed it in his pocket. "I've got to go, I'm gonna be late."
"Maybe I'll see you around..." Ben looked at him expectedly, waiting for him to tell him his name. The male seemed to take a minute before he noticed what he was waiting for. "Spencer. Spencer Reid."
"Benjamin Laurent. See you around, Spencer." Ben shamelessly flirted, giving him a charming smile. Spencer gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded, turning around and rushing out of the door, accidentally bumping into the doorframe. "Benji, what did I say about flirting with customers?" Ben laughed softly and turned around to face his boss, who was once again looking at him with a disapproving look on her face. "I'm sorry, Lia, but did you see that man? He was hot as fuck."
The corner of Lia's mouth started to curl upward as she shook her head, a few strands of hair falling from her messy bun. "I'll let you off the hook this time. Get back to work. Stock the cups and clean the machines." Ben groaned and grabbed a container of coffee cups, tearing the plastic that covered it. "I hate this."
At around 10:00, Ben's shift finally ended. He felt like the day had dragged out horribly because they barely got any customers. He slid the apron over his head, folding it up nicely and setting it in the back. "Lia, I'm heading out now."
"Alright. Be safe. Don't be late on Tuesday." Ben laughed and nodded, throwing his hands up in defense. "I'll try my best." He fixed the cardigan he was wearing before walking out of the café, turning to the right to make his way to his apartment. He yawned and ran a hand through his hair. It was dark out. The only light came from the dim, almost broken, lights outside of the stores that were about to close.
If Ben was going to be completely honest, he hated walking home at night. It made him uncomfortable. Especially with how high the crime rate was in his city, he just didn't like it. However, nothing bad had seemed to happen to him just yet so he had managed to convince himself that he was just being paranoid.
He gripped his cardigan, bringing it closer to his body as he walked into his apartment building, fishing out his house key from his pocket. He fiddled with the number of keychains that he had collected over the years before finally grabbing ahold of a key. He unlocked the door as quickly as he could and slid inside, closing his door as soon as he was inside.
Sure, call him paranoid, but if you lived where he did you would do the same. Ben yawned once again and hung his keys onto the hook next to the door, shrugging his cardigan off of his shoulders. He folded the cardigan over his arm and headed straight for his bedroom, kicking off his shoes as he approached his bed. He didn't even bother changing out of the clothes he was wearing and fell onto the bed. He closed his eyes, his body immediately relaxing.
He knew he was tired but damn, he didn't think he was that tired.
He heard his phone ringing but didn't care. Whoever it was could wait until the morning. The last thing he remembers before finally allowing himself to fall asleep was the faint sound of music playing from his neighbor's apartment.
NOTE. so thats the first chapter. it's not much cause it's more of like an introduction, but whatever. ben is 100% going to be flirting all the time so beware
