conversations at starbucks

two

Eloria walked into the familiar place a week later, feeling even more grouchy and annoyed. She has three huge assignments that she needs to finish by next week and she doesn't know if she could finish in time. She knew she should be doing her work right now, but she wanted a break from all the unwanted stress.

There wasn't a lot of people today compared to her last visit. A man sat at one table, hunched over a laptop and typing away like a mad man. A teenage couple sat at another table on the opposite of the room, smiling and talking quietly as if they were in their own world. A woman sat alone at a window seat, sipping her coffee while reading a thick book. Ignoring them, Eloria walked up to the counter.

The blonde haired boy was there again, ready to take her order like the last time. He smiled brightly at her, but she didn't seem to notice as she said her order. Caramel macchiato in a venti cup.

"Your name?" the boy asked, but he never forgot her name when she said it the last time.

"Eloria," she said, without much of a thought. Her mind was consumed with all the assignments she had to do. She was stressing again, and she didn't notice it.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows slightly in confusion. Didn't she say her name was Sophia? He thought. But then another thought came. People always say different names when they ordered in Starbucks. But he never thought she would.

Nevertheless, he wrote her name neatly on the cup. Eloria finally snapped out of her thoughts of work and noticed that she had said her first name instead of her second. She also noticed that he spelled her name correctly, which has never happened before when she told other people her name.

She smiled slightly as she handed the exact amount of money to him. Her smile did not go unnoticed by him, and he smiled wider.

Eloria took a seat at the far end of the shop, like the last time she did. She waited for her name to be called, but to her surprise, the cup came to her.

Her eyes trailed from the cup, to the hand that held it, up to the face of the person who delivered it to her. The blonde haired boy with the blue eyes.

He smiled at her, again showing off his dimples.

"Thank you," she said in a soft voice. "You're welcome," he replied.

"Can I sit here?" His question caught her off guard, but she nodded anyway. He took the seat in front of her.

"You look pretty when you smile," he said kindly. Eloria's eyes widened slightly at his compliment.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" She couldn't help sounding a bit cold, but it seemed as if he didn't care.

"I am, but Damien can manage without me," he said, referring to the raven haired boy behind the counter, who was now managing the cash register alone with an annoyed look on his face.

"He doesn't look too happy about it," Eloria pointed out.
"He's always like that," he shrugged with a grin.

"What was your name?" Eloria asked curiously, after giving up remembering.
"Chad," he smiled. She nodded silently.

"Is it Sophia or Eloria?" he asked, catching her off guard again. Then she remembered last week.

"It's both, actually. Eloria Sophia," she explained.

He smiled, silently agreeing with himself that he liked Eloria more than Sophia, even though they're both basically still her name.

"I like your name, Eloria."