Liquid Courage

Night 006

I was dead tired. Thank goodness some genius invented the elevator or I’ll probably collapse now before I reach 38th floor. School plus work is not really a good combination but you gotta learn how to handle both to survive.

Adjusting phase was really hard. As someone born with a ‘golden spoon in mouth’, it’s true that I do not know anything about household chores, let alone working in a café. I’ve been working for a month now and I can proudly say that I’m no longer making mistakes.

Not until today happened.

And speaking of that, I need to do some scolding. As I told earlier, I am so exhausted I wanted to just go straight to bed. But I have to deal with this beer monster first.

“You really look cute in that outfit, Marg!” he said, laughing.

And look at that, the beer monster is here already. I glared at him while making my way towards the gutter. Fucking hell, I didn’t realize I was still wearing my work uniform, and he’s right, it’s a little too cute for my liking. It was actually the café’s anniversary today and our boss made us wear this pink freaking onesee.

Imagine a tall girl wearing a pig-designed onesee. Gross!

I rolled my eyes and opened a bottle of beer. No cans today, I see. “No shit, Esquivel. Just stop.”

“But why? I’m just stating facts here.” He rose up both his hands and shrugged as if he’s innocent.

Oh my gosh, this guy. Really. Here I thought he was some quiet guy!

I took a swig from my bottle and sighed. It was a really long day. And an unsual one too, because apparently, someone decided it was nice to order an Iced Americano.

“So, Alfonso. I’m curious,” I called his attention. Still drinking from his bottle, he looked at me. “What the fuck entered your mind that made you think it was a good idea to visit me in the café?”

He grinned. That, I hate that smile of his! I know I used to say I love his genuine smile, but definitely not this one. I noticed he’s using this smile whenever he’s teasing or is thinking of some prank he’ll pull off.

“What? I didn’t visit you. I just want to have some Ice Americano,” he said, as if he’s clueless to what I’m talking about. “But apparently, some barista here didn’t know what Ice Americano is.”

Oh how I hate the playful glint in his eyes right now. I wanted to just forget about that freaking mistake and there he is mentioning it again.

And yes, that’s the mistake I was talking about. I swear I’m so good at my work now that no matter how many customers there are, I don’t make any mistake. When I focused into something, it will be hard to distract me.

But some beer monster made me lose my focus. Well, in my defense, he wasn’t really a regular in the café so I was so shocked to see him in his stupid uniform, grinning stupidly at my surprised face and ordering a stupid Ice Americano. And slap me ‘cause I’ll be admitting how he looked stupidly good while I probably looked like a witch.

And yes, I’m so stupid for serving him my favorite espresso frappuccino when he clearly ordered Ice Americano! Stupid, Margaret.

Count how many times I used stupid. That’s how stupid I am! Face-palm. 

I took another sip. Fuck, I wish this day never happened. “Shut up, Esquivel. I still don’t forget you visiting the café without my permission.”

“Forgive me, Santua but I don’t remember me being banned from the café. If anything, I even brought a lot of customers today,” he said, wiggling his brows. “I’m sure your boss wouldn’t mind seeing me in the café everyday.”

I grimaced. Alfonso here is pretty famous at the university that wherever he goes, he’s got students going after him. Well, they’re not literally tailing him but they’re sneaking, as if Alfonso doesn’t realize they are following him not-so discreetly.

So basically that’s what happened today. Alfonso showed up at the café where I’m working and then minutes later, the place was packed with people from university. It was a rare sight, the café isn’t really near the university and our regular customers are employees from the company across us.

He played with his bottle while smiling a little. He seems happy tonight.

In one gulp, I managed to finish my beer. I wasn’t really planning on staying, as much as I wanted to, my eyes are already giving up.

I put the bottle on the plastic bag and stood up. The moment I did, I can feel my legs getting wobbly. There were really a lot of customers today in the café so I was three times busier than normal. My feet hurt from standing all day and moving around a lot.

“What? You’re bailing out already?” he asked.

I can’t help but roll my eyes again. “Apparently, someone drained my energy by bringing the whole university in the cafe.”

He pretended to be shocked. Oh god, I wanted to erase that funny smile of his! “Really? How did he manage to bring the whole university? That was so awesome.”

“Ask the jerk. And tell him he’s gonna pay for that, alright?”

I don’t know what the hell was funny but he seems to find everything amusing tonight. Or maybe he was really in a good mood.

“Copy that, Ma’am,” he playfully saluted.

And I don’t know what the heck was wrong with me too. I was smiling the whole elevator ride.

To be continued…