Hatchetfield.

Coffee, Perhaps

Emma has a new crush.

Emma hated her job. If she had known the Starbucks employees down the road wore cuter outfits she would've chosen to work there instead – but she chose to ignore the bickering and fights at Beanie's because some things were worth it. Things like taking the order of the cute, tall man who often wandered into the coffeeshop.

"Black coffee," he said, usually. Sometimes he'd add, "with an iced caramel frappe." And Emma would serve him.

He wasn't particularly 'hot' by any standards. But each part of his face came together quite exquisitely and Emma supposed that made him handsome more than anything. He'd wear the same black and white suit everyday, apart from that one warm day he came without the coat, and he made sure Emma was serving the till before queuing to order.

"Hello, Sir." she said, on one particular day. The shop had just started serving their new October menu with pumpkin spiced lattes but the man hadn't even glanced up to read it. "What would you like?"

"Just a simple black coffee, please." he said, handing over some money and standing as cool as he could, but still rather awkwardly, with his hands in his jacket pockets. "Of course." she said, and through the buzz of the kettle and whirring of the coffee machine she tried to shake the man's face from her mind. Another person appeared to the other side of her and made a gesture as if pointing at a watch. Emma sighed.

She rarely got lucky enough to talk with him for more than a couple of seconds. Perhaps tomorrow.

She poured the black liquid into the cup and pushed it into the customer's hand in a rush. "Thankyousirhaveagooddaybye." Emma quickly disposed of each word, glancing back at the cute, posh man before disappearing into the back room behind the curly-haired woman.

"I see you in here a lot, don't I?" she asks him on another day. He nods a bit and smiles nervously. "What's your name?" Emma asks, and he responds, "I'm Paul."

Paul. Cute.

"Hi, Paul," she grins up at him, leaning forward against the countertop, "I'm Emma."