Cup of Roasted Coffee

3; Instagram DMs save lives

Emma unlocked the door to her apartment and pushed the door open weakly. Inside, she found everything as she left it. The bed was a mess, the dishes were piled in the sink, the TV was on, and the dining table was littered with textbooks and school work.

The day had been a repetitive race between school and work. She worked at Beanies for an hour, and then class started afterwards. After class she went to Beanies, worked a while, and the cycle began again. She hadn't been on her phone all day and was pretty sure anyone who had tried texting her was either beyond pissed or thinking she hated them.

The only notification on her phone, though, wasn't a text.

Instagram; Paul Matthews (@ paulmatt) is now following you

Shit. She had completely forgotten about that. That had been an act of God apparently. She knew damn well that God was a vicious two-faced prick by now.

After sorting out her life for a couple of minutes, Emma curled up on the couch with a blanket and her phone. Paul, the guy she barely knew anything about but still did the cliche barista flirting move with, had quite an interesting Instagram page. No more than 30 followers, but one hell of an aesthetic.

He didn't have any story posts up, so she couldn't get any information from that. Hmph. That would have to be it for the day then. There wasn't much else she could do.

She set her phone down and roamed around on Netflix for a while. There wasn't that much to watch but she picked out a random Disney movie from the list. She was considering just going to bed afterwards when an idea popped into her head. It was probably the unhealthy amounts of caffeine in her system and ungodly time, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

emmaperk -> paulmatt
I know its 2am but you seem like the kind of person to be up this late

She really wasn't expecting a response right away, but that's exactly what she got.

paulmatt -> emmaperk
I'm normally not, but you caught me during an all nighter :)

A casual conversation in the earliest hours of the morning. Not something she should be doing on a school night, so of course, she's going to do it.

emmaperk -> paulmatt
For work?

paulmatt -> emmaperk
Yeah. If I don't have this turned in by tomorrow, Ted won't let me hear the end of it

What are you doing up this late?

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Not being as productive as you, that's for sure

I just watched Mulan

They spent the next couple of hours talking on random topics. Favorite movies and dumb stories from high school were the main subjects. Emma was pretty sure they were both distracted from their actual work by the time the texting had slowed down. She checked the time. Shit.

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Did you know it was 5am?

paulmatt -> emmaperk
Oh shit

No I didn't

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Well I should probably get some sleep before my work shift starts

She contemplated sending the next text. It wouldn't hurt to ask a simple question she figured.

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Will I see you at Beanies today?

paulmatt -> emmaperk
Of course

Sleep well :)

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Thanks. You, too

-♡-

Emma arrived at work around 8am, tired and not in the mood to talk to her fellow employees. They either didn't care or couldn't read the room though, because they had a whole pile of questions when she pushed through the front door.

"Where were you? You're supposed to be here at least an hour before we open!" Nora looked pissed. Not normal Nora-pissed, but like actually-could-fire-her-ass pissed, a side of her that Emma has rarely seen.

"I was up late last night. I'm sorry, Nora, I'll do better next time." As much as she hated to give into the younger girl's attacks, Emma was just not in the mood to fight back. It was definitely the lack of sleep. The only thing she'd be running on today would be caffeine.

The sign on the front door was flipped to say 'open' and the girls all took their respective places: Zoey and Nora in the back, Emma doing everything else in the front.

Luckily, a less than average amount of customers had come into the shop today. She most likely would've blown up at someone if too many people walked through the door.

Being so tired, she had forgot about what she asked Paul a couple of hours ago, so when he walked in, she was surprised by his presence. She rubbed under her eyes and was quick to jot down his regular order. "Let me guess, a black coffee?"

He smiled at the notion. "Actually, make it two this time. Two venti cups." Emma really couldn't blame him for being so tired. It was partially her fault in a way. Then again, he could've ended that conversation at any time. It was both of their faults then. Maybe she should apolog-

"Emma, are you ok?" Paul wore a look of concern when she looked up at him. She must've spaced out again. Not the first time this had happened. She shook her head, clearing away the sleepiness.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry. Are you sure you want two venti cups of it? I feel like that could easily kill a person," despite her words, she had begun to make the drink while she spoke. She had to try her hardest not to faze out again though. That would be embarrassing.

"Well, one's not for me."

Oh that made more sense than whatever was going through her head. In an attempt to keep the conversation up and running, she looked up at him. "Who's it for then?"

Paul gestured to her. "You seem like you could use it. 5am, was it?"

"5am, 2 hours of sleep. How much did you get?" Emma poured coffee into two of their largest cups and snapped lids on them. Using a sharpie, she wrote his name out on a cup sleeve and slid it onto the first one.

"3 hours. Some things are worth it though," he took the cup and took a sip. The statement puzzled her. She'd have to think about it later, when she wasn't so sleep deprived.

She smiled at him and did a mini salute. "Until next time?"

He smiled back and raised his cup in the air. "Until next time. Bye, Emma."

"Bye, Paul." And like that, the Beanies door was shut and the day was back to boring.