Tongues & Leather

Is This.. A Date?

The work day was coming to an end, and it was about time to close the store up. I finished checking out the last customers, and once they left, I locked the doors and flipped the "Open" sign to "Closed." I did a quick walk through the building to make sure no customers were in here anymore, and accidentally knocked over a clay pot in the process. Of course, it shattered all over the floor.

"God dammit!" I spat out as I went to grab a broom. Thankfully, the pot wasn't for sale and was only decoration. However, it still sucks that I have to clean up all the broken bits now.

"Stupid me and my STUPID luck today." I was mumbling to myself as I swept up the pieces of clay into a pile and onto the dustpan. I started walking to a trashcan, but ran into Mr. Sabash in the process; quite literally. The clay pieces fell from the dustpan to the floor, and I just stood there, staring at the mess once again. I think my emotions just overwhelmed me because I started crying a little bit.

"Oh jeez, I-I'm so sorry, Lillith. I didn't mean to do that. Here, let me just -" I didn't even want to hear him say sorry again.

"It's fine, really, it's fine. I'm okay." I bent down and swept the clay pieces back onto the dustpan before walking as fast as possible to a trashcan. I just wanted to finish closing the store and go home to my bed. Footsteps trailed behind me. I quickly threw away the bits of clay that were now in smaller pieces than before and kept walking.

"Lillith, please, just let me get you a coffee. Or, dinner. Something. I feel worse now than I felt earlier. I didn't mean to cause you trouble." Mr. Sabash was walking faster to catch up with me.

"Fine, whatever will help you sleep at night, okay? I'm just overwhelmed and would rather not talk about...earlier." I let him win, I was too tired to argue, and he was trying to be nice. Not to mention, a coffee or food sounds good right now.

It was almost as if I could feel him smiling behind me, and it made it easier for me to feel better about what just happened. I finished cleaning up the store, counting the money in the tills, and doing all of the other "fun" stuff. Mr. Sabash helped me, and we were able to get done pretty quickly. After grabbing our belongings from the breakroom, we both left the store.

"If you'd like, I can drive you, and then we could come back so you can get your car.. Or, we could just meet each other at whatever place you'd like to go to. It's up to you."

"Sure," I responded. "We can meet up. I know it sounds lame, but.. Starbucks? I'm in LOVE with one of the drinks there, and I haven't had it in a while."

Mr. Sabash nodded at me with a smile, and we both got in our cars before driving off.

When I got to Starbucks, I sat in my car for a bit and tried to mentally prepare myself.

This isn't a date.. Right?

I couldn't tell if I was excited or if I was panicking. Maybe it's a little bit of both. Whatever it was that I was feeling, I decided to look in the mirror in my car and fixed up my hair a bit. I'm not sure why I suddenly care about my appearance around Mr. Sabash, but I do. I guess I just want him to think I'm this complete and total mess, considering I cried over clay pieces falling to the floor.

I took a deep breath and got out of my car, letting the slightly brisk weather cool the panic off of my body. I walked up to the Starbucks building and heard footsteps trailing behind me. When I turned around, Mr. Sabash was approaching with a small smile on his face. I waved awkwardly before opening the door to the building for him.

When we walked in there was a really nice girl behind the counter. Her name tag read "Beth" and she had ash-blonde hair.

"Hello, welcome to Starbucks! What can I get started for you guys?" She greeted us with a smile and excitement.