Heartbreak Hypothesis

e p i lo g u e

I didn't realize how hard a barista's job was until I became one.

And trust me, nothing was more annoying than entitled college students screaming bloody murder because they didn't have enough foam in their coffee.

"You can put the measuring cup down, Noah." I turned to Natalie who was dressed in the cafe's apron, the words, 'The Daytime Cafe' printed boldly across it. She had on the widest smile I'd ever seen. "We don't want you smacking someone with it, now, do we?"

With a sigh of frustration, I placed the cup back with the others on the shelf, picked up the coffee--with more foam this time--and passed it to Natalie over the counter. "I can't believe she made such a scene about extra foam. Who does she think she is?" I asked, annoyed.

Working as a barista had taught me a lot so far. For example, there were more Chanelles out there than I thought and most times, I couldn't do anything about these rude customers. Plus, considering I'd only been working here for three weeks, I had to learn to stomach the snarky comments and customer tantrums if I wanted to last here.

Natalie chuckled. "You're handling this great, Noah. I'm proud of you." And she walked away.

With the whole Chanelle drama behind me now, and with how dwindled my savings were, it was only right for me to get a job. I could really use the extra money. So, I got a job at the newest Cafe in Furman. The owner was a super nice middle-aged lady who had a sprinkle of sass in her attitude. Safe to say, we got along quite well.

my phone made a beeping sound as messages from Ali and Manu came in.

Ali:

I have a date. Nothing too serious. we're just grabbing lunch together. Dress or Jeans?

Manu:

Wow. So detailed. Go with the dress. You look super cute in dresses.

I typed a quick response.

Me:

I vote for dresses too. Don't forget to fill us in later! Sleepover at mine on the weekend? Carol and Cherry are going on a hiking trip so we have the room to ourselves.

Natalie returned with a now empty tray. "Table nine needs extra napkins. A lot of them." Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a few from the lower cabinet.

"This is the second time they're asking for napkins."

Natalie muttered her thanks while collecting the napkins from me. "Hopefully, this would be the last."

As she walked away, the door of the cafe opened and Asher walked in with Daniel on his tail. The second Daniel's eyes found me, a smile stretched on his lips. My heart did at least twelve summersaults in those moments.

Ever since I'd got this job, Daniel always stopped by in the evening to grab the same order; a hot chocolate latte. In his words, or mine, "The hotter the better."

"How's my favorite Freshman handling another day at work?" he asked on reaching the counter. Leaning over, he planted a kiss on my cheek and slid into one of the barstools front.

I groaned. "I almost chucked a measuring cup at a customer a few minutes ago."

Daniel let out a small laugh under his breath while I stood and stared like an absolute fangirl. A huge part of me was finding it so difficult to believe that this beautiful man was my boyfriend now. "At least it wasn't a glass jug this time."

"That was ages ago!"

"And it remains the highlight of my year so far." He grinned. "Actually, it comes in a close second to the day I asked you out."

For some reason, I found myself grinning too. But I caught myself in the next second and got to preparing his order. "How was practice?"

"Hectic. We have scouts from the state team coming to our match next week, so he's being extra tough on us."

Appearing from behind Daniel, Asher cut in with a scoff. "Coach just wants us to impress the pants off of them so they'd drop another huge donation for the team."

I placed Daniel's drink in front of him and turned to Asher. "Isn't that a good enough cause?"

He shrugged. "It is. Doesn't make the laps we run any less of an annoyance though."

Natalie came over and dropped the tray on the counter, smiling and asher and sharing a short kiss with him. "The stress only names you look forward to this weekend more, doesn't it?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I don't even wanna know what the two of you are up to." After taking a sip of his drink, his face scrunched up in disgust. "This is torture."

I snorted. "Then why do you keep taking it?"

He smirked up at me. "Because I'm trying to figure out why you like it so much." So adorable. Daniel picked up his phone and looked at the time, then he smiled up at me. "Your shift's over," he said, hopping out of his seat. "Time to go."

Inside, I was jumping with excitement, but outside, I managed to hold the calm and collected front. tonight, I was going to sleep over at his place and watch a movie or two till we fell asleep or got distracted. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it.

In the following moments, I took off my apron and tucked it into my cupboard at the base of the counter. then I grabbed my bag from the back, let down my hair from its ponytail and came around the counter to where Daniel was. together, we walked out of the Cafe and towards his car.

As soon as we were both inside the car, he reached out to pull my face towards him and planted a long kiss on my lips. 

"What was that for?" I asked when he pulled away with a smile.

"Nothing," he replied. "You just look extra beautiful each day." and just like that, heat rose to my cheeks. There was no way I'd get used to this.

daniel turned on his car engine, placing one hand on the steering and one on my thigh immediately after. "Shall we?"

I bit my lip and nodded, staring into his eyes. I couldn't believe how wrong my hypotheses of him had been.