The Story // Harry Styles AU

Part 1

Harry’s POV

Late Sunday morning, I walk into the Starbucks down the road from my University and take my place in line.  You can find me here every Sunday, finishing my homework for the upcoming week.  You can also find me here on a lot of other days.  You can also find the bus girl with brown hair always tied up in a bun and a green apron tied around her waist.  She’s always working on Sundays, which is a problem for me as I usually have homework to complete but I often find myself watching her walk around doing the most un-glamourous things.  She’s a bus girl so she wipes down tables and collects dirty dishes and cutlery.  I’ve yet to speak with her.  I’ve never even heard her utter a word.  I bet she has a beautiful voice.  I find myself looking around for her when I realize it’s my turn to order.  I get my usual: a chai tea latte and some kind of Panini, depending on how I’m feeling that day.  And yes, a chai tea latte is probably the girliest thing to ask for but I don’t drink coffee and I like my tea.

I walk over to the pick-up and wait for my order.  When it comes, I grab the plate and my cup and choose my usual table.  I settle down and open my laptop and get to work but not before I catch a glimpse of my favorite bus girl, tying her apron around her waist.

I’ve been working diligently today.  I’d finished my food and my tea long ago but it’s still sitting on my table, not that I mind.  My laptop in front of me caused enough of a distraction to not really care about much else going on.  Although, more than once, the bus girl would walk by my table to get to another one and I would get a whiff of her perfume which sent my head spinning. 

I finished my essay which is due on Wednesday and I open up iTunes on my laptop while digging around my bag for my sketchbook.

“Mind if I take this?” I hear a quiet voice.  My head shoots up and I immediately see the bus girl standing before my table, one hand touching my empty sandwich plate.  I quickly push my headphones down around my neck and sit up a little straighter. 

“Um, no, go ahead,” I say, rubbing the palms of my hands on my jeans.  The bus girl nods and picks up the plate before turning and walking away.  With a sigh, I tear my eyes away and look back to my bag.

***

Sundays are the only days I look forward to going to work.  Don’t get me wrong, my job is all right and I work with great people, but Sundays are the only days I am positive he will be there.  By ‘he,’ I mean Harry Styles; only the most gorgeous guy to walk the planet.  Well, at least I think so.  My roommate thinks he’s okay, if you like thrifty clothes, tattoos, and grubby fingers.  His fingers are almost always dirty because he’s an art student.  I’m an art student too but I’m majoring in photography and Harry is in drawing so our paths don’t cross too often, though I wish they did.  I see him here at Starbucks more than I do in the art building at Uni down the road.

When I come into work today, he’s already seated with his food.  He always gets tea and a sandwich.  I watch as he slips headphones on over his beanie, plugging them into his laptop.  Maybe today will be the day I finally talk to him.  I’m the bus girl at Starbucks so it’s my job to clean up after people.  But I’ve always been too afraid to go collect Harry’s things.  I either wait till he leaves to get the dirty plate and mug or I watch one of my co-workers collect it.  With a sigh, I turn away to tie on my apron.

He’s been typing on that laptop for two hours.  I lean my elbow on the pick-up counter and rest my chin in my hand, just watching Harry.

“Why don’t you make yourself useful and go grab his plate?” my favorite co-worker Leia nudges me after a minute.

“What?” I sit up straight.

“Jeez, Poppy, were you drooling?” she laughs lightly. “Please, my hands are full, go grab his plate.  I’m about to do a bunch of dishes and you’ve been staring at that guy ever since he first came in here two months ago.”

I watch as Harry starts digging through his bag for something.  I smooth down my shirt and walk around the counter and straight over to his table.  I reach for his plate then I realize he has headphones on still but I speak anyway, “Mind if I take this?” Harry looks up at me and his green eyes make my breath stop in my throat.  He pushes his headphones down around his neck and shakes his head.

“Um, no, go ahead,” I smile slightly and grab the plate, turning away and hurrying back behind the counter and back into the kitchen.  I drop the plate into Leia’s sink full of soapy water.

“Never make me do that again,” I growl and she laughs.