Love Hearts & Coffee Cups

☕ 1 ☕

: ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: 

"Morning shifts are the worst."

Zane was in the back of the employee's room, mentally preparing for the morning rush that he would have to endure. His coworker, Michi, was there as well since they had arrived around the same time.

"Tell me about it, nya!" She sneered, butting herself into his one-man conversation. "Those night-shift guys are so lucky; they don't even have to deal with the morning rush since most people don't even come here by then."

He sighed and tied a green apron around his waist that was adorned with the shop's logo. It wasn't the most perfect fit, but complaining about it to a manager wouldn't necessarily end well for him.

"You know, I'd suggest you'd be a little less broody; unless you want Boss to get on your case about it." The Mei'fwa left with that, leaving Zane to sulk a bit more in the room with the time that he had before he actually had to go out and do his job.

On his way out, he took a large round wooden serving tray with him. Another coworker called him over as soon as he walked out of the door, much to his demise and discomfort.

"Morning!" They greeted cheerfully. "Hey! The new apron design looks good on you; just like it does on me! Makes you look like you're really one of us here!"

"Really? " Zane thought to himself as he thought he stuck out like a sore thumb. Moodiness and angst practically seemed to radiate off of him, so it was unlikely that what he said would be true.

Honestly, he wanted to ask if what he said was a backhanded compliment, but he just wanted to get as far away from him as he could. To him, he was like Garroth but more of a Pollyanna.

"Thanks... Jared." He awkwardly thanked through a forced smile. Jared was the type to always act as though he drank six or more cups of coffee or some kind of energy drink every morning.

Now that he thought about it, it's probably not too far off from the truth.

"Well, I shouldn't be keeping you! The shop's gonna open soon and I rather not distract you for too long. Laters!"

He waved him goodbye as gauche as he had thanked him earlier and waited by the serving counter for the regulars to come in for their morning coffee and breakfast.

A few minutes later, the bell on the front door rang and quite a few people began flooding in. Most of them were regulars aside from one person; a new person who he'd never seen before in the shop.

It was a pink-haired Mei'fwa.

She seemed in awe at the store's industrial yet trendy design the moment she stepped in. The woman was hesitant when walking about as took a seat at one of the booths. 

The first thing he noticed about her up close was her eyes. They were a warm honey color that suited her pink hair and popped against her darker skin tone. The second was her outfit; very pink and cutesy, but didn't seem as though it would protect her much from the fall weather.

Zane couldn't help but feel a slight sense of butterflies in his stomach. He knew that he normally felt this way before big presentations in school, but this was something else. It was something completely new and nothing like it had ever happened to him before.

What was this?

"Hey Zane, bring this to Table 3, will ya?" The main cook, Madonna, called from behind the serving counter. She handed him a plate with two donuts and a cup of espresso.

He thought that it would be one of those cheesy coincidental moments where this would be her order, but then he realized that it belonged to a regular at the store. Zane seemed relieved yet somehow slightly disappointed at this.

It wasn't until his third run that he ended up giving the Mei'fwa her order. She sat at Table 4, only ordering a slice of coffee cake and a cappuccino.

"Coffee cake and a cappuccino?" He asked, catching her attention as she looked up from her phone and at him.

"Oh! Thank you!" She thanked him as he carefully handed her the cup of coffee and the slice of cake.  He wanted to be especially careful with the coffee to avoid it spilling all over the table and her. 

"Have a nice morning." He said to her. She nodded curtly and beamed sweetly towards him before he walked off. The butterflies seemed stronger afterward but he shook the feeling off as him being, well, off.

"I shouldn't be so focused on someone new at the shop." He told himself, trying to focus on doing his job and ignoring the faint fluttery feeling that still resided with him.

"It's not like I have a thing for her anyways."

: ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ:

Heyo! I haven't written anything for a story in a while, so my apologies if it's very sub-par.

But thank you all for your support on the prologue! You guys are so sweet and supportive of the new book with all of your lovely comments.

Second, I am experimenting this time with KC's design. I've always kept the cannon design in previous books, but I thought it would be fun to do something different this time around.

I am also trying my best to be better with chapter presentations this time around, so let me know what you think! I have great plans for this book and would like some input on what you guys think of it so far.

Thank you for reading! Bye! <3