Here Comes the Heat (before we meet)

Chapter 2: Meeeetch!

 I'm really sorry about how long this took to get posted, but I'm a really slow writer and... GAAAH! No excuses, sorry! I'm also not very happy with how this chapter turned out, so I might rewrite it and post it another time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this crappy chapter!

Pairings (as of this chapter): merome

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A little while after Jerome left, and after Mitch had served the college kids, Ashley finally showed up. Her cheeks were red and she looked ruffled with her hair windswept and tangled.

“Oh damn, I’m sorry for being late, I ran into traffic, and-”

Mitch cut her off midrant. “Nah, don’t worry about it! Everyone has bad days,”

Ashley stared at him incredulously, green eyes filled with bewilderment. “Did you- did you hit your head or something? Normally you’d be kicking my ass for showing up so late.”

“No, my head’s fine,” Mitch chuckled, untying the knot on the back of his apron. “But, while you were gone, I did get to meet a hot guy, and I gave him my number.” Mitch grinned triumphantly at Ashley’s stunned expression.

“What the hell? How come you always get to hook up with the good-looking ones?” She muttered in faux-anger as she pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

“Dunno. I don’t really care why it happens so long as I get laid.”

Ashley laughed, smacking Mitch’s shoulder playfully. “Well, what’s the lucky man’s name then?”

“Jerome. And, before you ask, yes, he’s tall and muscular.”

“I knew it! You always go for the buff ones.”

Mitch gasped with pretend astonishment. “What? How dare you accuse me of such a thing!”

Ashley rolled her eyes, hanging her stylish coat up on the rack. “Mitch, we all know what your taste in men is.” She deadpanned, slipping into her apron.

“Oh, hush,” Mitch pouted, sticking his tongue out at her. “Anyways, I let you handle the shop for a while. I’m gonna head out for some lunch, I think.”

“Lunch? It’s 9:00 a.m.!”

“Oh, breakfast then. You know how bad my time telling skills are. Make sure those two,” Mitch pointed over at Adam and Ty, who seemed to have calmed down slightly and were now sipping their drinks peacefully. “Behave themselves. They were about to attack each other earlier, and I don’t want anything to break.”

Ashley arched a perfect eyebrow at Adam and Ty. The were behaving pretty serenely for the moment. “Sure… well, enjoy your food. I’ll make sure Ian leaves the kitchen at some point today.”

“Thanks, you’re a babe~” Mitch said in a sing-song voice as he threw on his jacket and wrapped his red scarf snugly around his neck.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Make sure you get back relatively soon. It’s the dead of winter and I don’t want you to freeze to death.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, mom.”

Ashley ignored the nickname bestowed upon her, waving the Canadian away instead.

Mitch pushed the front glass door open, its bell chiming familiarly. He shivered immediately when a gust of freezing air hit his uncovered face. Jamming his ungloved hands into his coat pockets, he set out on a brisk pace across the slightly icy sidewalk.

Winter had always been his favorite season, though that didn’t necessarily mean that he enjoyed the frigid temperatures. He loved the snow, since it meant skiing and snowboarding and pissing off his friends by chucking snowballs at them. Even though he usually fell on his ass most of the time, he also liked iceskating. Something about gliding gracefully across the ice, or in Mitch’s case, wildly and recklessly, filled his heart with childlike glee.

He occasionally waved at some of the locals that he knew, but mostly he kept to himself, mind still focused on Jerome. Mitch wondered when the bacca would call him, and something about the other man made the butterflies in his stomach flutter. A soft smile spread across his lips, and his already windblown red cheeks flushed slightly when he remembered how Jerome had looked at him.

Mitch was jerked out of his thoughts when a delicate snowflake floated down onto his cheek. A quick look at the sky revealed that the clouds were light gray, and the snow drifted to the ground in flurries.

“Ah, shit, missed my stop.” He said under his breath as he backtracked, searching for his destination.

The restaurant he was looking for belonged to his good friend Rob. Whenever Mitch felt the urge to eat out, he always made sure to head over to Rob’s.

As soon as he sighted the restaurant, he raced over, not wanting to be in the cold anymore. Begrudgingly, he slipped one hand out of his warm pocket and opened the door.

Mitch breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into the brightly lit (and warm) building. There weren’t many other customers, which wasn’t really surprising since most people were at work already. Some catchy radio song (which sounded suspiciously like Lady Gaga) was playing quietly in the background.

“Meeeetch!” Rob came bustling over, throwing his arm around Mitch’s shoulders.

Mitch ducked away from Rob’s grip as soon as the other man started to ruffle his hair. “Yes, hello to you too-”

“I’ve missed you bro! I mean, I saw you last night, but whatever.” Rob exclaimed, ignoring the startled looks his patrons kept shooting him.

“Yeah, yeah, missed you too,” Mitch said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “Hey, could you, like, set me up at a table now or something? I’m starving.”

“Sure thing! There’s free tables over there,” Rob waved his hand at the general direction of the far left wall. “I’m guessing you want pancakes or something?”

“Pancakes sounds good.”

“Alright, I’ll tell Mat to get on that right away~”

Shrugging, Mitch sat down at a vacant table. Pretty soon, Rob came skipping (honestly, Mitch was used to it by now) over, holding a plate of delicious looking pancakes.

“Here ya go! Oh, and Mat says hi.”

“Tell him I said thanks,” Mitch mumbled, eyes glued to the gorgeous, perfectly golden heap of pancakes in front of him. Rob left to go seat some new customers while Mitch devoured his meal.

He finished his breakfast in record timing, and nearly fell asleep. When he checked his phone, it said it was already 11:00 a.m., so he decided to finally head back to his cafe.

“Don’t even think about paying,” Rob said as soon as Mitch came over with his wallet out.

“Oh, fine. That means I owe you a free drink or something next time you come over.” Mitch pouted, tucking his money safely back into his pocket.

“That sounds great, actually. Oh, and Preston said he has next week off. We should go do something when he gets here.”

“Oh, he does? Well, you can figure something out. I gotta get back to the shop before Ashley starts texting me.” Mitch said, tightening the scarf around his neck again.

“Haha, alright. Stay safe bro, ‘kay?”

“Yeah, I will. You too.”

Mitch managed to make it back to his cafe before Ashley could worry, and the rest of the day passed in a blur. He couldn’t keep his mind off of Jerome and the call he was hoping he would get.

Around 7:00 p.m., when he finally got home, and just as he was settling down for some dinner, his cell started ringing