❁starbucks❁

❁ two ❁

It wasn't like she wanted to see him again.

No, she was just there to get a quiet space to do her homework and maybe have a cup of coffee after getting off her long shift.

It was just a cup of coffee. Nothing else. Nothing new.

So why did Nini feel these butterflies in her stomach?

She walked into the dimly lit Starbucks, which was bustling with customers and staff. One of the people running around had a mess of curly brown hair. Nini felt her heart flutter.

She stepped in line behind a dozen or so people and waited for her turn to give her order (she decided to try the blonde roast again) to the barista, a redheaded lanky boy, who Nini could tell was stressed

As Nini finally stepped up, she heard a voice behind the counter say "take a break, Red." The redhead stepped aside to reveal Ricky.

Nini could've sworn she saw a shimmer of light and recognition in his brown eyes before he gave her the formal welcome to Starbucks.

"Hi, can I just have a venti blonde roast please?"

"Will that be all?" Ricky asked, smiling wide.

"Yes."

"Your total is 4.58. Name for the order?"

"Nini," she said, fishing in her coat pockets for her wallet. "Shit. I forgot my wallet. I'm so sorry." She couldn't believe this. Ricky (and the customers behind Nini in line) probably thought she was an ass now. Her face burned with embarrassment.

Ricky pushed some buttons on the cash register and her total went down to zero.

"Don't worry about it." Ricky smirked, giving a ghost of a wink that Nini almost didn't see. He took a cup, wrote her name, and shouted for the next customer to order. Nini was stunned.

"But," she tried to protest. She HAD to pay.

"Next, please!" Ricky was smiling. Nini finally moved aside, still so shocked.

She sat down at the empty bar, took out her laptop, and tried to start her homework, but the fact that Ricky had just given her a free drink distracted her to the point where she couldn't focus.

"Venti blonde roast for Nini?" A voice called from behind the counter. Nini reached for the drink. She looked at the cup. Her name was written in shaky handwriting, along with a small smiley face. Nini smiled and got to work on her homework.

Three hours later, the Starbucks was closing, and Ricky was hanging up his apron and gathering his things to leave; bidding all his co workers a quick "bye" or a "see you tomorrow".

Surprisingly, as Nini was packing up her laptop and her textbooks, she felt a presence of someone sitting down beside her.

"Hello, Miss Venti Blonde Roast." Ricky smiles at her. He had remembered her order from three hours before.

"It's really just Nini." She laughed. "Thanks for earlier by the way. But I really feel like I need to pay you."

"Don't worry about it. Starbucks isn't exactly in dire need of your five dollars. After all, you treated me like a person yesterday." Ricky snorted. "Ricky. Nice to meet you!" He smiled.

"I saw it on your apron. You have interesting handwriting," she said, displaying her cup.

"That's an incredibly nice way to say I have shit handwriting." He said, laughing. He looked down at her backpack that she was halfway through packing. "Whatcha working on?"

"School stuff. I have a paper due in a week that I wanted to get a head start on." Nini said. Ricky nodded.

"I admire your lack of procrastination." He chuckled. He checked his phone. It was almost 10:30. "See ya. Have a good night, Nini." He said, getting up to leave.

Nini watched him. A blush crept up her cheeks and her ears.

Fuck, this boy was cute.

a note from the author: this is a shorter chapter than my usual length (sorry! i usually try to do around 1200 words per chapter) but i have the next part planned and it would be easier to make it into the next chapter instead of making this chapter extra long in my opinion aha. also is it obvious that i don't drink coffee and don't visit starbucks? i have two friends that work there but i don't go lol.