The Coffee Shop Girl ~ Bucky Barnes

Chapter 8

It had been a busy morning in the café and was feeling absolutely exhausted. She was beginning to regret choosing to wear the chunky heeled t-strap shoes she had picked out that morning, rather than her more comfortable flats or boots. She had been bustling back and forth along the counter with barely a break in the tide all morning and she only hoped that it would calm down somewhat in the afternoon. She was unsure what could have caused this sudden surge of people but she was also aware that the café was often like this; some days they only had one or two customers at any one time, but on others the door never seemed to actually close.

Brushing a long curl over her shoulder, Katia took a deep breath and allowed her shoulders to slump slightly, the fixed smile disappearing from her face as she leant on the counter for a single moment of peace. She was sure that her hair, which had been neatly curled before she left her flat that morning, must be in a state of total disarray, in fact she could almost feel the strands frizzing up thanks to her stressed state.

"Hard day?" She heard a voice coming from someone in front of her, but she didn't need to be able to see the woman in order to know who it was.

"Yeah, it's been much busier than normal." Katia told Alice, running a hand through her wild hair and offering the woman a tired smile.

"Well, I've got something that might cheer you up." Alice informed her, offering a hand and leading her out from behind the desk. "I'm here to cover you for this afternoon and you are going to go spend some time with your friends."

"Friends?" Katia asked, unsure who she could be talking about. Not that she was lacking in friends, just that she didn't know who could be visiting her at work but not coming into the café.

"Yeah, Nat and that talk dark haired bloke who was with her a couple of weeks ago." Katia let out a gentle snort of laughter at this description.

"You mean Bucky," She grinned but filed away the information about him having dark hair.

"Yeah, that's the one." Alice snapped her fingers in agreement before placing a hand on Katia's back and beginning to direct her away from the counter and towards the door, stopping only just long enough to allow the woman to pull her apron from around her waist and grab her backpack from the backroom.

"See you later," Alice wished her farewell once they had made it outside the café and Katia turned to face her friend in confusion.

"What do you mean 'See you later'? I have no clue where they are." Her objection did not seem to change the mind of Alice, who simply let the door swing shut behind her as Katia gazed after her in shock.

A few seconds later, a large hand landed on Katia's arm and she let out a soft shriek of terror. She calmed down after a moment as she heard a deep voice.

"It's just me." He sounded awkward and Katia wondered if there were people around them, if so they were probably all staring after her noise of surprise.

"Bucky," She gasped, relieved to know who it was that was touching her arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there."

"I forgot about having to make more noise." She could hear the guilty note in his voice and hoped that he didn't feel too bad about her reaction. "I'm not used to doing anything other than stay as quiet as possible."

"I know, Bucky." Katia reassured him, feeling from his hand up his arm and linking her's though it as she patted him gently in the shoulder. "Normally, I probably would have heard you anyway and not been quite so surprised, but I was a bit too focussed on Alice leaving me out here by myself."

"What are you two doing‽" Katia gave a soft grin as she heard Natalia's voice call out across the street to them. "We can catch up in the car."