You Belong To Me

Chapter nine:

The cute little door chime tinkled through the small cafe, announcing someone's presence. Scott looked up, his customary smile already forming on his face to greet the guest. The cafe was in a little strip in the downtown area with a little neon sign in the shape of a coffee cup. The inside was designed like a college girls dream dorm with olive colored walls and dark shelves covered in plants, most of which were real. Scott's manager insisted that real plants brought a sense of life to the little cafe that fake plants could never. "In their plastic little plant dreams." She had said with a determined face.

Scott smiled think about it, only solidifying his cheesy customer service grin that hid the it's-way-too-damn-early-to-do-this look that Scott would be more than happy to project. At least the air seemed better compared to the stuffy diner that was right next door which was called "The Top Bun", which Scott found himself eating at much more than he would have liked.

"Hi, welcome to Bean's Brews!" He greeted in a cheerful voice, turning his back to the counter to wipe one of the blenders with a paper towel to dry the inside.

"Hello, how are you?" The customer responded. Scott turned, immediately intrigued by the voice, half-hoping it would belong to someone who had looks to match. He was pleasantly surprised, but at the same time, there was nothing particularly special about the man, but he was fairly attractive. Black hair with silvering temples, blue eyes and a strong jaw paired with high cheekbones. Someone Scott might have found attractive when he was younger and still in college dreaming of sugar daddies that could pay off his painful student loans.

"Good, and you, sir?" He asked in response. The man nodded, but only stared harder at Scott until Scott looked away, flustered. He shuffled awkwardly as he waited for the man to pick what he wanted from the menu. "And what can I get for you, this morning?" Scott asked, trying to move things along. He loved this job, but simultaneously, he hated the strange interactions. Meeting the people was interesting, but it grew boring after you realized that in a town this small, you would be getting the same people at the same time. In fact, Scott was pretty damn sure he had just about everyone's orders memorized due to the frequency of seeing them. But this man wasn't familiar to Scott. Maybe just a tourist.

"Sure, I'll just get a coffee." He shrugged. And a PR style grin filled his face. Scott smiled nervously in return and furrowed his brows. He hated when someone said something that broad. There were so many things you could do with just 'coffee'.

"Do you want cream and sugar? And what size would you like." He gestured to the cup sizes displayed on the counter beside him, his infinite patience blooming. He realized he might need to make yet another espresso shot for himself if he was going to get through this breakfast rush.

"No, black will do just fine. And I'll take a medium, please, sir." The man said with a gesture to the cups as well, cocking his head ever so slightly. Not enough to be strange, but plenty to be mildly unnerving.

"Su-re..." Scott mumbled, grabbing a cup from beneath him and prepping the machine. "And can I get a name for the order, sir?" The man only smiled in confusion, shaking his head slowly.

"Of course it's-"