A Young Plumber's Heart

Chapter 1

6 am. The sound of the beeping alarm woke Luigi up bright and early. He and Mario were heading out to the cafe to work on planning out their commercial for their plumbing business. The both of them quit their jobs at Wrecking Crew and their lives haven't been more relaxing. No jerk bosses and harsh employees to work around with. Just the joy of helping people in Brooklyn, New York. Of course, they had a website but they needed to get their commercial filmed and out to the world in order to get customers.

Spring has just arrived and their goal was to get this commercial out before the end of the month. 

His older brother, Mario, walked into the kitchen. He had his blue jeans and red sweatshirt on. Luigi, with brown cargo pants and a green sweatshirt.

Mario had the laptop and journals packed in a bag, all ready to go.

"How soon until the van is fixed?" Asked Luigi, putting his shoes on.

"Eh, not until this afternoon." Mario shrugged. "The cafe isn't too far from the apartment and plus the weather is great for a walk."

Luigi laughed. "Yeah, I don't think I can stand another freezing day where it's hard to breathe."

It took the twins at least 15 minutes to get to the cafe and they arrived just as the sun rose.

They both found a seat by the window and set everything up at the table.

"Man," said Mario, admiring the view. "It's been since last fall that we've been here."

Luigi agreed. The cafe had a nice aesthetic vibe to it. Lights hung up around the building wall, plants hung above the windows, and relaxing jazz music.

"Great view, huh?" a female voice said. The brothers turned and saw a girl barista with a pen and paper, ready to take their order.

Luigi's heart dropped when he saw her. She was at least 5'3", had medium-length, wavy brown hair, and beautiful brown eyes, and she wore a long green and white stripe sweatshirt with blue jeans. "I gave them advice on the lights when we were remodeling the place." She glanced at Luigi and looked down at her paper shyly, blushing and smiling, moving her hair from her face. "So, uh, is there anything I can get you two?"

"Just a black coffee, please," Mario said with a thumbs up. He glanced at his brother and cleared his throat.

"Luigi."

Luigi snapped out of it and stammered, rubbing the top of his hair. 'Uh a-a latte with extra vanilla cream, please."

The barista nodded. "Alright, then I'll get those ready for you two." She walked away and looked back at the brothers, mostly Luigi, and went to make their drinks.

Luigi smiled and looked back at his brother, who gave him a teasing look. Mario started to chuckle.

"Lu! What was that?!"

Luigi shrugged. "What was what?"

"I saw that look in your eyes! Do you have a crush on the barista?"

Luigi's face turned red. "She-She's very pretty, yes but..."

It was quiet for a moment until Mario spoke.

"You're afraid she's not going to like you back if you end up asking her out."

Luigi nodded. "I never felt more shy in my life! Just thinking about asking her out for a coffee is making my knees lock!" He buried his face in his arms. Mario put his hand on his little brother's shoulder.

"Hey, if you really want to ask her out," he chuckled, "now's your chance."

Luigi lifted his head up and saw the barista walking to their table with their drinks.

"Here you are."

She gave them their drinks and asked, "Is there anything else I can get you two?"

Luigi glanced at Mario, who was gesturing toward him. Luigi couldn't spit the words out.

"No thanks. I think that'll be it."

The barista smiled. "Alright then, enjoy your morning."

She walked away and Luigi called out. "You as well!"

Mario groaned. "Oh, Lu."

"I don't know why I'm so scared to ask her out, Mario." Luigi sighed. "I don't think I have the guts to ask any girl out."

Mario smiled and opened the laptop. "Don't sweat it, little brother. Come on, let's get this commercial scripted and planned out. Maybe it'll help clear your mind a bit. And hey, I know you have the guts to ask her."

Luigi smiled and nodded.

An hour went by and the two had nailed down half of their script.

Luigi heard the barista's voice behind him.

"How are the drinks?"

"Great, thank you!" Mario replied. Luigi took a deep breath.

Okay, Luigi, you can do this...

Before he could say anything, the barista spoke.

"I couldn't help but notice that you two look like you're working on a project. What is it?"

"Oh! We just opened our plumbing business and the website." said Mario. "We're uh...kinda trying to work on getting our name out there by airing a commercial."

"No way! Really?" the barista said in excitement. "My friend's mom works for the news! I'm sure she could get some word to have your guys' commercial air! Name's Grace by the way!"

"Seriously?! That's awesome!" Luigi called out. "And-uh...this is my older brother Mario and I'm Lu-Luigi." he said shyly.

"Nice to meet you both!" Grace smiled. "Good luck on your business and the commercial!" She walked up to the front counter and was talking to the other baristas.

Now's your chance, Luigi! Luigi said to himself, and cleared his throat.

"I-I'll be right back, Mario."

Mario winked and gave him a thumbs up for good luck.

Luigi took a deep breath and walked up to the front counter.

"G-Grace."

Grace jumped. "Oh! Hey, Luigi."

"H-Hey...I...Uh...I was wondering if you were free to maybe...uh...get some coffee...and...uh..." he started to get embarrassed and he looked down at his shuffling feet. Grace chuckled and her friends smiled.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Grace smiled. Luigi blushed and nodded shyly.

"I'm free tomorrow morning. My shift isn't until the afternoon."

Luigi smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Oh! Sounds great! Opening time then?"

"Sure!"

"Oh!" Luigi grabbed a pen out of his pocket and wrote his number on a napkin.

"Just in case you want t-to call or...uh..." he backed up as he spoke and bumped into one of the tables and almost tripped. He walked back to the table, blushing even more and told Mario all about it.

"See!" Mario said, high-fiving his little brother. "Told ya you have the guts."

Grace smiled and looked at the number.

"Girl!" one of her friends, Ava said excitedly, clapping her hands. "You got yourself your first date!"

"Okay," Grace laughed. " Ava, the word date might've came out of my mouth but we're just getting coffee."

"Honey," said Ava with his arms crossed, "when a man asks you out for coffee, that's a date. Plus, you're not gonna find a better-looking man than those two at the table. His brother's kinda cute." She went back to work and Grace smiled as she looked back at the number on the napkin. She put the number in her pocket and went back to work.