Phantom of the Coffee Shop

Barista

     Raoul de Chagny had been going to the same coffee shop for quite a while. It was smaller and didn't really get busy during the week, and the service was always great, not to mention their coffee was wonderful. Though all of these things were true, Raoul's main interest was one of the baristas. Something about him captured his interest in a surprisingly fond way, as this barista was certainly not the most physically attractive. His whole body was almost skeletally thin and his skin seemed permanently a sickly pale tone, and the distorted features of his face, including a lack of a nose, did no help. He had dark eyes and even darker hair that, for all Raoul knew, could be a wig. Even so there was something oddly endearing about this man.

     As usual he walked through the door and up to the counter, where he was greeted by the barista he was actually here to see, ordered his usual cafe mocha with a hazelnut flavor shot, and waited. It was prepared and handed to him and as he was about to leave he glanced down at the barista's nametag. It read "the Phantom of the Opera." He smiled a bit to himself. Someone who could put a nickname on their nametag was usually someone interesting. "So...is the a Mrs. "of the Opera"?" He asked, half joking and half flirting. Okay, mostly flirting.

     The barista had been caught so off guard he didn't know how to react to being flirted with. Usually his face was enough to scare off even the slightest thought of flirting so all he do was stare, speechless. Raoul waited a moment before getting disheartened and just turning back to leave. By the time the man had regained some sense, Raoul was gone. He finished his shift and clocked out, still thinking over that incident.

     "Ugh Erik you're an idiot..." he muttered to himself as he shut the door to his apartment behind him. "What am I supposed to do now?" He went about the rest of the day, kicking himself over that horrific incident.

     Raoul's response wasn't that different. He got back to the apartment he was sharing with his childhood friend, Christine, and shut the door behind him, sitting on the couch. "Is something wrong?" She asked, seeing his expression.

"There's this barista in the cafe I go to all the time. I tried to flirt with him because I kind of like him, but when I tried he didn't say anything. In fact he didn't even react!" Raoul replied.

"Well...maybe you should try again. Maybe he just didn't know what to say." Christine suggested, sitting down beside him with a friendly smile.