Coffee Addicted Authors

Tall Latte for Tall Men

Sam was feeling ridiculously cliché. Like seriously, he was an author sat in a coffee shop while typing his latest masterpiece. To make it worse, he'd chosen spot that was by the floor to ceiling windows so he could watch the people wandering by. Not that many people were out seeing how it was pouring down with fat droplets of rain. The water trickled down the glass making him feel poetic and inspirational, not to mention, thoroughly typical. He felt like he belonged in some kind of book or film. The scene was almost perfectly set after all and he should know being an author.

He rolled his eyes at his own melodrama and lifted his latte to his lips to sip at the cooling liquid. Writing was slow going today as the scene he was focused on was built up of mostly character building, which Sam knew the book needed, but it wasn't his strong point. Conveying his thoughts to paper at times like this was a monumental challenge.

This lull in productivity allowed Sam to peer around curiously. The coffee shop was relatively quiet compared to most days. There were a few small groups of friends or sometimes a couple or two huddled around the circular tables, sipping their fancy coffees and teas. Sam sat on his own to give his brain space to work.

While glancing around the shop, Sam noticed that the short, handsome barista was watching him with a fond smile. Blushing, the writer peered back down at his keyboard and willed words to form from his fingers. He could feel the man still watching him which made his cheeks burn a deeper crimson.

The man was short with golden blond hair and eyes that shone gold. Sam supposed that he was new as he'd only seen him a few times before when he came in for his daily writing sessions. He'd automatically thought that the little man was stuff-into-your-pocket cute and had formed somewhat of a man-crush on the barista.

Sam had always been pretty much open about his bisexuality, much to his father's disappointment and disapproval. It wasn't exactly odd for him to be crushing on a dude instead of a girl, actually it seemed to be more common for him to be checking out a guy rather than a chick. It had taken Dean, his brother, a little while to come to terms with it but now he was more than okay with the situation. He often tried to get Sam to hook up with guys whenever they went out drinking or spent time together.

The barista smiled when Sam peaked a look over at him. The writer cursed the lack of customers that weren't keeping the man occupied. He could see the short man chuckling at him from across the shop. Sam groaned to himself and focused back on the half typed paragraph on his laptop. He forbade himself from looking at the handsome man until he was done with the writing.

Ignoring the world around him, Sam dived into his fantasy world and began to type. This was his third book in the trilogy and was hoping that he could wrap up the story by the end of this book so he could move on to other projects. His books had both hit the top best seller list in three countries and there was even talks of them becoming a series of fast paced films. Sam had decided to use a pseudo name to avoid people recognising him. He'd never wanted the fame that came with the release of his book, he only wanted to write and get the plots out of his head.

He was typing a particularly hard to word sentence about the main character's difficult childhood when someone collapsed onto the chair opposite him making him leap out of his skin. He peered over the top of his laptop lid with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello," The man grinned, creating dimples in his cheeks which the other man found somewhat adorable. He pulled out a cherry sucker and stuck it into his mouth.

"Hi?" Sam answered in confusion.

"I'm on break," The barista whispered like it was a conspiracy. Then he straightened up in his chair, "D'ya mind if I sit here, giagantor?"

Sam was shocked at the nickname but nodded non the lesser. The barista settled himself into the opposite chair and peered around at the different perspective the seat gave him of the cafe. The tall man watched him for a few minutes before shaking his head and continuing typing out some more. He'd only managed to do another paragraph or so when the visitor to his table coughed to gain Sam's attention.

"What'cha writing? A college paper?" He lent his head curiously.

Sam couldn't help but laugh,"You're new here, aren't you?" The man with golden eyes showed a question with furrowed brows, "I come in here everyday to type. I've been doing this for 2 years. That'd be an awfully long paper."

"You're an author?" He beamed happily at the tall stranger.

Another quiet laugh, "Yep." He tried not to smirk at the look of awe on the short man's face.

"Anything I've heard of?"

He hesitated for a moment before, "No, probably not."

It was a blatant lie. The book shop across the road had them on display in the front window, different book clubs were always advertising his latest releases and he'd even been asked to go on a chat show to talk about it, he had declined that offer. He enjoyed writing with all the frustrating plot lines and God forbid, the fiddly characters not to mention disastrous dialogue that requires rewrite after rewrite. All this but yet he wouldn't swap it for any other job in the world.

"Ah, shame... I'm Gabriel by the way." He winked at the tall man.

"Umm, Sam."

"Well, Sammy, I'm certainly glad that you'll be in here everyday. You give me something to look at when I'm bored." Gabriel grinned. He was obviously flirting and clearly not trying to be subtle.

The writer blushed and dropped his head down to avoid his gaze. His fingers typed onto the keyboard rapidly to stop any more attempted conversation. It was only a few sentences later when Gabriel coughed and stood.

"Well that's my break over but I'll catch you again soon?" He didn't wait for a reply instead he just turned and walked back to serve behind the counter.

Sam shook his head in disbelief sending his long hair over his eyes. The short man was unbelievable, in Sam's opinion anyway. He'd come over here distracted the author from his writing before he flirted and vamoosed. It was a bizarre experience for him since he'd grown to know everything that happened in the shop yet this encounter left him with butterflies in his stomach.

It was over two hours later that Sam was typing on his MacBook Air when he could sense someone coming over to him. He lifted his head, making his stiff neck complain, to see who was approaching him. The barista, Gabriel, was looking rather sheepish as he got closer.

"It's the end of my shift..." The confidence he had displayed earlier was pretty much gone but his golden eyes still sparkled. "So I thought I'd bring you this, you know, on the house."

Gabriel placed down a tall latte beside Sam's empty cup. It made the write smile a little at the random act of kindness. This man may just make it into his book as a character with the way he's going and maybe he won't kill him off in the next few chapters. The golden in his eyes would make a good character feature, Sam mused.

"What have I done to deserve this?" Sam could help but smile at the man.

"I think I'm pretty safe in saying that you, kiddo, are our best customer."

Sam couldn't help but laugh. He really enjoyed the the quiet atmosphere of the cafe and the ease in which he'd leant to work there. A light blush formed high on the writer's cheekbones as he thanked the handsome man for the drink.

With a quick smile, the barista turned away from Sam to leave for home. The author's eyes followed him as he left the coffee shop and walked down the road away from him.

He continued his writing as he'd fallen behind due to a distractingly good-looking barista that was always hovering around the serving counter. He lifted the cardboard cup to his lips and sipped up the liquid happily. It was when he was putting the cup down when he realised there was something written on the cup in permanent marker pen.

Sasquatch, Call Me. - Gabriel

Sam smirked at the number that was messily scrawled beneath the message. Today had been the best day he'd ever had in this coffee shop and he knew there'd be many more similar. He also knew that he was going to call the small man.