Café Curious

2

She was beautiful.

I would never have admitted it out loud, but right in that moment, with one bright smile, she had stollen my heart.

"A girl like her would never want someone like me." I thought.

Yet, every morning at 5:30am, for two months, I'd find myself there in that café. Watching her. Sometimes she'd be taking pictures, sometimes she'd be working on her computer, sometimes she'd just be reading.

"Tonight. Tonight I will go and talk to her." I told myself every day. But... I couldn't muster the courage to talk to her. Once I stood and walked over to her, but I couldn't find my words and sat down again before she noticed I was behind her.

Then, something odd happened.

I was leaving the hospital, heading home for my day off that day. 5:30am, I entered the café. Aka was in her usual spot. Sitting at her table, flipping through pictures on her camera.

When I stepped inside, instead of ignoring me as usual, Aka looked up. Our eyes met.

It was in that brief moment, silver became my favorite color.

"She must be waiting for someone. Guessing by her beauty, she's waiting for her boyfriend. A girl like her is never single." I thought.

I broke eye contact with her so that I didn't seem like I was staring at her. I walked to the counter and ordered my usual Caramel latte and sat in my usual spot.

I had been here so often that I now knew the four morning baristas by name and they knew me by name. There was Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. It was Yang working this morning. Yang was an energetic young woman with long blond hair and purple eyes that could turn red when she was angry. I had only seen her angry once when a couple of drunk perverts were hitting on Ruby, her younger sister, one weekend.

I was examining those two perverts at the hospital later that day. Needless to say. I will not be angering Yang any time soon.

"Here ya go, Aka! One chocolate crueler and a vanilla cappuccino with caramel swirl! Anything else for ya?" Yang asked with a bright smile. Aka thought for a moment.

"Hmm. I think I'll try a vanilla creme horn today, Yang." Aka said brightly. Yang grinned.

"Nice choice! Hopefully it's not too sweet for ya!" Yang said and returned to the counter to retrieve the pastry for Aka and my coffee. Yang left Aka's food for her on the table and delivered my coffee to me.

"Caramel Law-tte for Law!" Yang punned as she reached my table. I rolled my eyes at her bad pun. Yang had a knack for using bad puns whenever she felt like it. It was boarder-line irritating, to say the least.

"Thank you, Yang-ya." I said. She grinned at me.

"Anything else for ya, Law?" She asked. I thought for a moment, looking past Yang's hip at Aka. She was araging her food and drink and peering through her camera at the set up.

"I'll try a vanilla creme horn." I said. Yang cocked an eyebrow.

"Well alright! Finally mister bitter tries something sweet, eh?" Yang asked, nudging me with a wink. I rolled my eyes and smirked at the young woman. She turned and went to retrieve my pastry.

"Why did I order a creme horn? I don't like bread." I thought to myself. I watched Aka as she finally aranged her food to a set up that looked good through her camera. She began to snap pictures, checking them, smiling, then snapping more. I smirked as I watched. I was worried, admittedly. From the angle she was shooting at, surely I was within frame.

She raised her camera to take another picture, then lowered it to check the picture. She started to smile, then stopped as something caught her eye.

"Oh, no. Something was blurry." I thought.

Suddenly, Aka looked up directly at me. Surprised, I blinked. She stared at me with curiosity in her beautiful, silver eyes. Then, she gave me a genuine, kind smile. My heart skipped a couple of beats. I was finally on the recieveing end of that stunning smile.

I blinked, then returned her bright smile with my soft one.

"Alright, Law, here's your creme horn. Hopefully it's sweetness doesn't kill ya!" Yang said, delivering my pastry.

"Thank you, Yang-ya." I said. The blond barista returned to work. Aka had looked away from me. She was now eatting while working in her laptop, camera's SD card inserted.

I picked up the creme horn and took a bite.

And nearly choked.

As if the fact the nasty, bland bread wasn't enough, but the creme was so sugary and sweet it felt as if my mouth was having a heart attack.

I forced myself to swollow and I coughed a few times. I took a big gulp of the bitter coffee to get rid of the overwhelming sweetness in my mouth.

After Aka finished, she left. I finished my latte and didn't bother with the creme horn. I returned home with a soft smile on my face.