Café Curious

1

It was late.

Or should I say early? I had finished a 7 hour surgery. It had started at 8:00 at night, and I had finished at 3:00 in the morning. The patient survived. I spent the two hours after filing paperwork and filling out my report on the surgery.

It was 5:00 in the morning when I left the hospital. I would have to be back to finish filing and filling out another 10 hours worth of paperwork before I began my forced vacation.

I had worked enough overtime to where I hit two weeks vacation. My superior told me that if I didn't take these next two weeks off, then he would force me to take all of next month off. Naturally wanting to take as little time possible off, I agreed to the two weeks.

It was 5:30 in the morning, the sun barely touching the sky when I entered the small coffee shop. I didn't have enough time to go home to my fancy coffee machine, so I figured I would step in to the small café called "Redhair's Café."

As soon as I walked in, I knew exactly who owned the café franchise just by the decoration. The mentor of my close friend, Luffy. "Redhair" Shanks LeRoux was the owner of this café franchise. "Redhair's Café"s peppered through out every island on Grandline.

I met Shanks when he was helping my close friend "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy start his own café, "Straw Hat's Café." Which is where I would have gone if it weren't across town from the hospital.

The barista greeted me as I walked in to the café decorated in historical paintings. Shanks seemed to always have an interest in history.

I walked to the counter and ordered myself a caramel latte. I paied for my drink and sat down and waited for my coffee.

That's when I noticed her.

I couldn't see her face as her back was turned to me. She wore her long, purple hair down her back in a braid. Her skin was tanned. She was down on one knee, a bulky, expensive camera in her hand pointed at a basket with a chocolate crueler in it, snapping pictures from various angles.

The barista approached her with a cup.

"Here's your Vanilla Cappuccino with Caramel swirl, Aka." The barista said. The purple haired girl let the camera hang from her neck as she took the cup from the barista.

"Thank you, Blake." She said to the barista girl. Blake nodded at her and watched as she adjusted the cup to line up with the chocolate crueler. She looked through her camera, adjusted the cup once more, then took a few pictures of the set up.

"A photographer. She seems well known since the barista girl called her by name." I thought.

"Sir, here's your Caramel Latte." The barista girl, Blake, said to me, handing my drink to me.

"Thank you." I said. My curiosity was peaked by this photographer girl.

"Excuse me, Miss. Who is that girl over there?" I asked, nodding to the photographer. Blake's golden eyes followed my nod to the girl, then she turned her gaze back to me.

"That's Aka. She comes in every day around this time. She says that it's something about how the lighting here works perfect for her pictures. She's a photographer. She's got quite the eye, too. People pay pretty good for her photos." She said.

"Miss Belladonna! Stop chatting with the customers and return to work please!" A dark green haired man wearing specticals from the counter called.

"Sorry, Mr. Oobleck! Feel free to ask if you need anything else." Blake said and returned to work.

I returned my eyes to Aka. She snapped one more photo before she sat down and began to eat the crueler and drink the cappuccino.

"She's got a sweet tooth, that's for sure." I thought.

I don't know what it was about this girl that had captivated me, but the more I watched her, the more curious I became.

After finishing my latte, I still sat and watched her. After finishing her breakfast, she left, giving Blake a kind smile before leaving. I stood and left as well, and returned to the hospital to finish my work.

However, thoughts of Aka filled my head. It delayed my work. Instead of 10 hours, I put in 12. Finally, at 6:00pm, I went home.

Once again, I was plagued by insomnia and nightmares. I didn't sleep until 1:00am and I woke up again at 3:00am. I sighed and stared at my clock for an hour and a half.

"Blake said Aka was always in the café around 5:30ish every morning. It's a half hour drive from my apartment to the café. Why not?" I pulled on my sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. I put my hat on my head, pulled on my boots and grabbed my wallet and keys and drove to the café.

As soon as I walked in, I noticed Aka. Instead of snapping photos on her camera, she was on a laptop I assumed to be hers and her fingers were flying across the keyboard.

I stepped up to the counter and ordered a Caramel Latte. I sat down in the same spot as the day before and just watched as Aka worked away. I could see over her shoulder enough to see she was working in Photoshop. Probably cleaning up one of her photos from yesterday.

"Here's your Vanilla cappuccino with Caramel swirl, Aka." The barista girl said. Setting down a cup next to her.

"Thank you." She replied and returned to her work.

"Another great shot, as usual. You have an excellent photo eye, Aka." The barista said.

"Thank you. Now if only I could make a career of this." She sighed. The barista returned to the counter and Aka returned to her work.

"Sir, your Caramel Latte." The barista said, handing my cup to me. The barista tonight wasn't Blake. Instead of black hair and golden, cat-like eyes, this girl had white hair and icey blue eyes. Weiss her name tag read.

"Thank you." I said, taking my cup from her. I continued to watch Aka as I sipped my latte. It was only me and Aka in the café tonight.

"Hey, Weiss. Mind if I take a few shots of you working?" Aka asked, turning to see the barista. I noted that she wore dark rimmed correctional glasses. Light farsightedness from the looks of it. As for her eye color, I couldn't quite see.

"Sure, Aka. Go for it." Weiss said. Aka pulled her camera from her bag. When the girl turned again to start the pictures, I saw her full face. She was smiling.

Oh that smile... It was the brightest smile I had ever seen in my life. And it looked as if it belonged on her face. It was beautiful.

I felt my heart race as I watched her. After snapping a picture, she'd check it. If it was a good shot, she'd grin. If it wasn't, she'd wear a small grimace. But...

She was beautiful.