Maxie tapped her fingers impatiently on the freshly wiped counter as she waited for Trey to come into the coffee shop. Maxie suspected that in some parts of the world, some states in America and even by some people she knew, it was probably considered weird that she was waiting for Trey to come into the shop especially because she had never spoken as much as a complete sentence to him. Probably.
Almost two years ago, not too long after she had moved in with her brother, an isolated, anti social, sixteen year old boy walked into her brother’s coffee shop. She could tell that he was English from his accent when she took his order. He was cute, She though he was very good looking.
He wore his dark brunette hair in bangs that complemented his chiseled jaw. He rarely ever smiled but when he did, it lit up his brown eyes which caused her heart to skip a few beats, a few hundred beats. He was a little taller than average height, she noticed. This was good because she was average height and she always liked guys taller than her.
“Is he late today?” her older brother, Zac, asked as he whisked past her to the cash register. She quickly sat up right from the position she was in. She had been slouching on the counter with her chin resting on the back of her hand. She must have looked like a silly school girl waiting for her much older boyfriend. Pathetic, is how she would have described it if she was asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s never late. It’s just ten past four. He’ll be here before four-thirty, trust me.”
“You do remember that school closes by three, right?” Zac asked.
“Yeah?”
“And if he comes straight from school every day…that would mean he is coming from detention...Every day. Is that the kind of boy you want in your life Max?”
“Never judge a book by its cover or the first ten pages…or how many times it’s been in detention. He probably has a good reason why he’s in detention every day.”
“Why don’t you figure out what that is while serving table four, okay?” He said before whisking past her again and into the kitchen.
Maxie jumped off her seat, got out from behind the counter, grabbed her notepad and walked over to Table Four where a young couple was seated. “What would you like?” she asked.
She absent mindedly scribbled down their order as a tall, brown eyed, brunette teenager entered the coffee shop.
As usual, he rushed to the corner seat where he always sat when he came in. He had no idea how much she had literally fought off customers from the booth when she knew it was only a matter of time before he arrived. Thank goodness her brother had been so patient with her.
She gave the order to one of the other waitresses to deliver to the kitchen as she served the couple their coffee.
Leaning on the counter, she watched as Trey got comfortable in ‘his’ booth. “Why are you so in love with that dude? He’s so weird and he isn’t even cute.”Cassie, a fellow waitress, asked as she walked up to Maxie.
Cassie was in her early twenties and was Zac’s right hand when it came to the shop. She was a full time waitress there and was the person in charge when Zac wasn’t around.
Maxie brushed aside a stray lock from her face, “‘Cute’ is subjective, I think he’s cute. Besides, there’s nothing weird about being a loner.” She stared at him for a second before adding, “We don’t know his story so we can’t judge him for being the way he is.”
She knew Cassie understood by the mutual silence. Together, they watched him sit quietly and stare off in space as though he was lost in thought. He sat motionless for a while, thinking. Different emotions crossed his face; from what Maxie suspected was depression to possible anger and maybe even frustration as his jaw twitched repeatedly.
“I don’t pay you guys to stand around and stare. We have customers here.” Zac said coming up behind them from nowhere.
“Well, technically, you don’t pay me.” Maxie added as Cassie scurried off.
“And technically you don’t pay rent so we’re even.” Zac said “Get back to work Maxie or go over there and talk to the guy…either way, you should be doing something beneficial with your time.” He said before heading towards his office.
No one would believe that Zac was just twenty-five years old; he was an old soul inside. He was a great listener and he understood her more than anyone else ever did. He took care of everyone around him especially her, he was always there for her.
Her elder sister, Kelly, was the fun one. Kelly was a bit crazy and traditionally beautiful with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Like Zac, she had been popular in high school. She was what Maxie described as human tornado, there was no stopping her especially when she put her mind to something. Everybody loved her, well almost everybody, Maxie couldn’t particularly stand her.
Maxie came from a cool family, she knew this because her friends at her old school kept saying it to her. They all loved spending time together and her parents were often hilarious and down to earth; she had amazing parents and even more amazing siblings.
She always believed she had big shoes to fill; as though she had to live up to her family’s ‘perfection’ even though she knew she couldn’t. She knew, for the life of her, she couldn’t have the kind of lives her siblings had.
She had never been part of the popular crowd. She went through an awkward stage of puberty and never really fitted in after that.
All that was now behind her. After she cleaned up her act, her parents agreed that she needed a fresh start. Her brother had suggested that she moved in with him, he hadn’t seen much of her in the recent years and he had missed her. It didn’t take much to convince her and slowly, it became the best decision she ever made. She looked her best now, she might even be able to describe herself as beautiful on days she felt brave enough, therapy was going great and she now had friends.
“Are you serving Trey?” she asked, snapping out of her reverie, as Cassie passed by her with a notepad.
“You mean the weird dude, yeah?”
She decided to take her brother’s advice “Can I serve him?” she asked innocently.
Cassie gave her a sly grin before saying “Knock yourself out.”
Maxie walked up to Trey’s table…and choked. She opened her mouth to speak but the words refused to come out. She had served him a million times before and had never had a problem taking his order. This time around she wasn’t going to just take his order, she was hoping to have a conversation with him as well, that was probably why her words decided to rebel against her.
He looked up and saw her “Ginseng tea, extra cream, extra sugar.” He said. ‘As usual’ she thought as she walked away.
Coming out of the kitchen, she saw him pull out a brown leather notebook; the one he used everyday. She was dying to know what it contained, hopefully his deepest, darkest thoughts.
She knew his routine. At first he would order coffee and later he would order a slice of cake, whatever was on the specials menu. She shook her head vigorously...she needed a new hobby other than stalking the English fellow that would never know how she felt about him. Oh brother.
