Smells Like Coffee ~ (Etho x Bdubs)

Chapter 13 - Nicknaming nonsense

Friday: Fine, throw away my heart like that.

The line was long, and crowded. And Bdubs and Keralis were working without talking much, just orders and names. They were switching roles every once in a while to keep focused so they wouldn't zone out on one task, and it was going pretty well. Celebration coffee on Friday's were common, so orders were usually bigger and more complex, and the little shop was busier.

Bdubs's classes were canceled, so in the goodness of his heart, (and totally not because of the tips) he offered to take an extra shift at the cafe in the late morning.

Halfway through, Bdubs was hardly registering names more than something to scribble on a cup, and started making up his own little nicknames to remember orders better. Hey, whatever works to fight boredom and keep going I guess.

Knock-off Ren with indoor sunglasses: "Mericano, extra shot of espresso."

Tired mom and 2 gremlins: "2 kids hot chocolates, and an extra strong black coffee please."

Sweet Tooth: "A cake pop, a muffin, a croissant, and a white hot chocolate please!"

"How many shots are you allowed to put in a drink?" A customer asked, and Bdubs paused before giving a nickname to this person.

"Uhm what?" He asked, looking up to see their face better. They had a striking yellow sweater and a blank beanie, with round glasses almost hiding the dark eyebags that really sold the tired college student look.

"How many?" They repeated with a deadpan voice.

"Uh, 4 at most but it'll cost-."

"Cost isn't an issue. My essay is due in two hours."

"Ah." Bdubs nodded, understanding. He named them "College Ghost" in his head.

Orders and nicknames continued, and Bdubs was getting a little more tired with each order.

Basic: "Cinnamon latte."

Cookie kid: "Cookie frappuccino! Oh! Oh! And one of those cookies in the display!"

Blondie: "Caramel macchiato, extra shot and extra whip."

A Whole Group, Ugh!: "A strawberry frap, extra cream. Half decaf cardamom mocha, extra whip. Cookie frap- really Vurb? Fine whatever. And uh, just write it down Mega, I'm too tired to read sign language."

After the group, which thankfully Keralis did the drinks for without mistakes- or at least without any that the group mentioned- there was a bit of a break in orders giving the two a well needed break.

A message popped up on both of their phones, assumedly a group message, and Keralis picked it up while Bdubs slouched on a wall. He was almost regretting taking the extra shift, even if the amount of tips with all of the extra customers was surely more than normal.

"Grian's almost here. A test kept him in class longer than normal." Keralis explained the text, clicking off his phone and putting it back into his back pocket.

"Finally!" Bdubs exclaimed. "I swear he purposely chose the worst time block just to skip off work sometimes." He grumbled, half joking, half actually annoyed. Keralis huffed a chuckle and looked at Bdubs sympathetically.

"He can't help it Bubbles, he needs the science credit and that was the last one available." Keralis defended Grian.

Bdubs sighed, he wasn't really mad, and knew that Grian was really working hard in this class. It was just annoying how flaky and unpredictable he was with schedules sometimes, especially when Bdubs was so keen on things like that. Dates, sleep schedules, even just the time of day, everything had a spot on his internal clock for.