Don't You Remember?

Chapter 1 - I'm New Here

Getting up in the mornings was always one of the things Louis found hardest. It was no different today. His vision was fuzzy with fatigue and each of his limbs felt lifeless as he walked down the sidewalk, his head bowed down so the only thing he saw was the weeds and pebbles on the path. Louis was headed straight to the coffee shop around the corner to get his usual order before the big day with his buddies.
The bells at the top of the door rang gently as Louis opened it and stepped in. The aroma of brewing coffee and muffins immediately filled his nose, brightening up his mood a bit, but that barely changed his grumpy morning-self.
"Medium roast please, two milks two sugars." Louis said with his hands fiddling in his pockets. It was always unexpected to speak for the first time in the morning, you never know if your voice if going to sound hoarse or if you'll crack. He grabbed his coffee, gave a quick smile to the woman working at the cash and slipped into a seat beside the window. Louis cupped the mug as it warmed his fingertips and looked out at the morning, city streets, his mind absent with thought. It must've been 7:45 or 8 o'clock by now, the spring sun was just barely rising and all the roads were still mostly empty.
Louis was a second-year college student and it was the first few days in to spring break. The time to let loose, to meet some girls, to get some hookups, right? I mean, Louis was kind of excepted be that way since he shared an apartment with some 'frat boy jock' type boys with a 'save water, drink vodka' type mindset. His pals were always encouraging him to go out and find a girl, but it honestly didn't really concern him, he was happy without a relationship at the time.
Louis lifted his mug to his lips and took a sip. Without a second thought, he spit out the coffee on the table, then immediately froze from embarrassment.
"Shit, shit, shit," he mumbled, wiping up the mess with a few napkins that he found from the centrepiece at his table. They forgot to add milk. No wonder his mouth rejected the bitter taste. Louis was quite taken aback that they would mess up his order, he gets the same thing every day and he's sure the staff are relatively familiar with him. Taking a deep breath, he stood and walked over to the front counter.
"Uh, hello," he leaned over the counter slightly, scanning further back into the kitchen. Louis pursed his lips together in attempt to control his irritation. When he's tired, and it's early in the morning, and he didn't get the right coffee, he's definitely going to be cranky. "Hello..."
"Hi." Said a male voice in a very employee-like way. Louis spun his head around to the other side of the kitchen where the voice was coming from. A boy, probably around the same age as Louis, came up to him and tilted his head in waiting to hear the problem. Louis paused for a second; pale green eyes, dark hair pushed up into a tall, curly quiff. He read his name tag: 'Harry'
"My coffee," Louis started, "I asked for milk and I didn't get any." He pushed his mug towards Harry without breaking eye contact.
"Oh I'm really sorry about that, I'm new here... Still learning!" Harry said with a bit of a grin. His smile was very gorgeous, Louis thought. Wait, what...? He stopped himself. It's not necessarily that he felt weird thinking that, he just never thought of another guy like that, or even considered that he could find a man's smile attractive too.
Louis smiled. "Makes sense, I come here every morning and get the same thing so I was a confused when my order all of a sudden changed." He said with a little bit of teasing tone, feeling a lot more relaxed and awake. Harry had filled up Louis' mug with the milk he asked for and handed it back to him.
"Sorry about that, here you go." Harry said, again with a small grin. Maybe he was just always a smiley guy... Who knows. Louis thanked him and sat back in his seat to finish his drink. He looked out the window. The sun was higher in the sky, shining through the clouds and onto the roads. The town was now buzzing, cars going by, people walking in and out of stores. That boy - Harry - his smile, Louis thought. It was one of the nicest he's ever seen.