coffee boy ∆ m . c + a . i

one

[Sorry for taking years]

As hard as I tried, I couldn't completely focus on anything the next day. I found it impossible to rid myself of thoughts of 'Fletcher' as I mindlessly took orders, billed and made drinks that had been branded into my brain over time.

"One tall latte to go" stupid cheeky grin.

"Primo vanilla coffee cooler" bloody hazel eyes.

"Medium pumpkin spice, cream, no dust" damned dimples.

"One venti triple caramel frappuccino," fucking dirty blonde cur- wait what?!

I looked up to see Curly - that's his name from now on, I decided - and interrupted him with a warm smile, "With cream and am extra shot of coffee and caramel because I love you." and I even winked for effect.

My smile was not returned.

However, upon actually looking at Curly's face, any initial happiness I had drained away and I was actually mildly repulsed in the nicest way it could be said,of him

A flourishing purple-y blue bruise spread over almost half of his face and completely surrounded his left eye and his lids hung droopily, as if he could fall asleep standing. The whole of his lower lip looked painfully swollen and the largest bit played host to an angry red cut  Someone had dared to hurt my Curly.

Well, not mine, but I had bigger problems to think about?

"A-are you alright?" I asked then mentally smacked myself, of course he isn't alright, knob, he's had the literal shit beat out of him.

"I'm fine," he snapped and pulled some coins from his pocket, "here's... $3.45 can I just have my drink and go?"

I shook my head to bring me out of whatever I was thinking, "Sure, who for, Curly?"

I'm almost positive that I saw the /slightest/ flicker of a smile on the corner of his mouth at the nickname before he winced and his face turned blank again. "For Ash- um, Fletcher please."

"Okay, Ash um Fletcher, coming right up" Laughing, lightly to myself, I turned away and  pulled a cup off the stack and wrote it on the side before I could see his reaction. At a leisurely pace I put all the ingredients into the blender, not forgetting the extra pumps, and set it on to mix.

Turning back to face him, I assessed his visible injuries again, that bruise looked pretty nasty. "Are you sure that you're fine, Curly? Is there someone I could call or-??"

He cut me off. "Listen," he glanced at my name pin, "Michael, I'm fine, nothings wrong. Just take the money and give me the drink, damnit." He held out the hand with money in, waiting for me to take it.

I sighed, "Keep the money, this one's on me. You come here religiously and you look like you could use a pick me up." Curly still persisted and gestured at me to take the coins, stubborn knob, so I reached over and closed his fingers around his palm. "Shh"

The quick beep from behind me signalled the finished drink so I span around again and poured it into his labeled cup before snapping on a lid and putting a straw through the gap. I held the cool plastic to Curly and stared pointedly at him until he sighed and took it from me.

Point to Clifford I cheered mentally. Almost as if he read my mind, Curly responded.

"You may have won this time, Fluffy, but mark my words; never again."

I laughed at the boy briefly as he walked out of the store but my smile quickly morphed into a frown as I saw the way he limped heavily on his left foot.

that's not good

But he has really soft hands...

[The response to the prologue has been absolutely incredible. Thank-you for the comments you left on it, someone said that this is the best 5sos story they have ever read, I can't see why, but I almost cried so this chapter is dedicated to her when I get onto a computer :)

Also, thanks to the amazing @IHaveNiamFeels for the fab cover. You should go and read some of her stories because everyone ships Niam even if they don't ship Niam

Again, sorry for taking so long to update and for the poor quality of this one. Its something past four in the morning when I finished this and bold/italics are being stupid but I'm tired af so night :)]