you're my hope ~MILEVEN AU~

iv - the love-struck boy

Mike was stressed. He had been volunteering at the cafe with Jane for the past week and every single shift he either dropped a bag of ingredients or spilled a drink over a customer. Being the nice boy that he is he automatically fumbled around apologizing and trying to get the messes cleared up, however he was just naturally clumsy. 

Jane took notice of this and after multiple attempts to get him to concentrate more, she finally relented and asked him to work some of the machinery. She had him making the drinks and pressing buttons but Mike always found some way to mess it all up. He was a science geek that was a huge fan of mathematical problems and experiments, not working in a cafe with customers and operating hot coffee filled machines. He was like a helpless kitten with its head trapped in a Kleenex box. 

"Okay...okay!" Jane tried to stop herself from laughing. "That's enough of that. Why don't we try you taking people's orders? All you have to do is work the till, pressing buttons should be easy enough?" 

"Okay.." Mike hesitated. 

He had really regretting agreeing to do this under his own will. It was hard work and he just couldn't seem to get it right. He wasn't getting anything out of it, no money or benefits but then he heard a laugh. When he turned around and saw Jane giggling at the sight of his coffee covered apron, her eyes tightly closed with crinkles by her eyes, he suddenly remembered why all of this was worth it. He got to spend time with Jane without worrying about his friends making fun of him or being rude to her. 

He wasn't worried to tell his friends about his new affection for this girl because they could call him names, he was worried that they would use it as an opportunity to talk more shit about Jane. Now that he had spent his time with Jane talking about hot chocolate toppings and heard her read to him every lunchtime for a week in the AV room, he did not understand how anyone could ever call her a weirdo or say that she was scary. She made him feel like he was reaching out and touching the sun. 

"Come on, Mike! This is easy, just press the order on the till of what they want and the machine will do the working out for you!" Jane convinced him, pushing him to the till as the next customer approached, a kind old lady. 

"Um. Hi. What can I get for you?" Mike tried, running his hand through his hair nervously. 

She smiled at him kindly and ordered her tea. Mike breathed out a sigh of relief and squinted his eyes in concentration, making sure that he got it right. When he saw he had clicked on the right type of tea, he smiled and relaxed until a laugh was heard from behind him. 

"Uh...Mike? Are you sure you should be charging that lady for fifteen cups of tea?" Jane giggled, pressing a hand over her mouth. 

The old lady gave him a confused frown and he stuttered out multiple apologizes while she simply shook her head in confusion. The truth was, Mike was never good at this type of thing. He was better off sticking to books and studying and playing video games, not actual work that required full concentration and steady hands. But he was also terrible because he found it hard to concentrate on his work at the same time as making sure Jane was having a good time. 

"You're hopeless at this" Jane giggled after the end of the shift, removing her hat and apron. 

"Yeah..." he sighed, staring down at his stained apron. 

"Why did you even offer to do this?" Jane asked with a shake of her head, still laughing at him, "you are so clumsy!"

"To spend time with you" Mike blurted out suddenly, feeling slightly relieved to be honest for once. 

He saw Jane freeze, folding her apron three more times than was necessary before glancing up at him with soft eyes. She opened her mouth slightly as she stared into his dark eyes as if she was going to say something, but then she shook her head slightly like she had changed her mind. She picked up her jacket and bag before turning to him once more.