Marble Statuette | T. Drake

[07]

Steph wasn't surprised to get a call from Olivia, asking her to meet up with them at Nico's café. It was time for Nico's shift so she knew her boyfriend would already be there and Olivia's offer was a good suggestion of spending the rest of the evening with her friends.

She gathered her curly blonde hair up in a ponytail, threw on a cardigan and some shoes then left the Manor to head to Central District.

When she stepped into the café, she caught sight of Tim and Olivia in a corner with loads of shopping bags under the table. Olivia saw her too so she waved enthusiastically, signaling her to join them.

Steph smiled at them but headed to the counter where the too-cute barista with sandy hair and hazel eyes was taking the orders. She noticed the queue of teenagers in front of her, knowing that more than half of them had come to the café just to see Nicolas Orwell. In every other girl's perception, he was like the dream barista boyfriend, and they often tried to get his number or to get him to interact with them.

Nico was friendly with all their customers but he was also very loyal, as his heart would beat only for his beautiful girlfriend. He wouldn't hesitate for even a second to let others know that he was off-limits as his heart was already taken by a certain lovely blonde girl.

Seeing her in front of him, his face lit up with a bright smile, "Hey, I was just wondering when you'd show up since these two have been here for a long time now."

"I hope they weren't pestering you then."

"Oh no, not at all," he smiled, eyes flickering to their friends who made quite an unexpected pair, "They are quite a treat to watch, still acting like toddlers who love to argue." But then he turned his gaze on her, subtly noticing that the queue behind her was increasing, "Anyways, what would you like to have?"

Steph gave her order and knew Nico would call for her when it was time for her to pick it up. So she approached Tim and Olivia's table, shaking her head to see them up to their usual chaos.

"Hi guys, what's with all these shopping bags?" She took the seat across from them, knowing both of her friends hated shopping so it was quite surprising to see such a lot of bags at their table.

"I took Timberly here for shopping and then it just became a challenge of who could persuade the other to buy more stuff," Olivia replied, her eyes flickering to Tim who had given a single nod but then turned his attention back to his coffee. "Also, he's dragging me with him to some International Fair kinda thing and I needed new clothes for that."

"Oh, that's great," Steph was about to congratulate her but stopped, seeing her expression, "Wait, you don't look too happy about it?"

"Frankly speaking, anything with public speaking in it takes the fun out of my life," she shrugged, "I'm only going because of Tim, or else it wouldn't have taken me a second to refuse Bruce and get him to reconsider his decision of sending me as a Wayne Tech rep."

"Liv, we talked about this," Tim joined in, "You're going because VANYA is our combined effort and it's your idea to begin with. We can't just show up at the fair without the brains behind this masterpiece."

She rolled her dark eyes with a soft sigh, "I wouldn't mind if you took credit for it, honestly..."

"No, that's not how it works!"

Tim looked intent on explaining all the reasons why it was a bad idea for her not to go. However, Nico's voice shook them out of their conversation and they turned to see him at the counter.

"I've got a caramel macchiato for my girlfriend," he announced, holding up the cup that had Steph's name, "a macchiato for Stephanie?"

Her cheeks shaded pink as Olivia nudged her playfully, "Go on, get your drink."

Steph went to the counter and Nico handed her the caramel macchiato, his fingers brushing lightly over hers. They had been together for quite some time by then but it still gave her the butterflies of early romance whenever he flirted with her.

Nicolas was special, she knew that as she had never before felt that way with anyone.

"My shift ends in ten minutes," he told her, "then I will join you guys too."

"Great."

In a short while, Nico had joined them at their table, bringing another cup full of black coffee for Tim and an iced lemonade for himself.

"Nico, you're an angel," Tim's eyes widened in disbelief to see the fresh cup of coffee but that disbelief soon turned to gratitude, "Thanks."

"No problemo," he smiled, his eyes lighting up as always. 

He was the perfect representation of a sunshine boy with his bright hazel eyes and dimpled smile. No wonder the teens who came to his café were so smitten with him.

But right then with his friends, he had shut out the mild knowledge of people watching him. He just wanted to have a good time without having to act a certain way.

Partly why he enjoyed the company of the chaotic trio in front of him was that they let him be himself and valued him nevertheless. He always had fun and relaxed himself when he was with them.

"You know you should get me a job here instead," Olivia offered and Tim turned to look at her as if shocked to hear that she wanted a job at a coffee shop so she elaborated, "I mean if I am at the counter, I am pretty sure Nico won't have to bother about all these queues of admirers."

"Pray do tell how you would manage that?" Nico asked, looking genuinely curious to know her answer.

"Here, I will demonstrate." She took Tim's cup before he could grab it and faced him with a cold, empty stare.

It was almost as if she had disconnected herself emotionally at will and everything about her felt robotic. Her eyes were the scariest of all. Large pools of ink black pierced deep through his soul.

"A depresso for Timothy," she handed him the cup but didn't retrieve her gaze, "don't go to sleep or you'll die."

Tim gulped, seeing that she didn't even blink as she stared at him. "Uh, Olivia... I don't think I'll ever go to sleep now."

"Exactly... Close your eyes and poof."

"Okay that's enough, snap out of it. You're actually scaring me."

Olivia did snap out of it but Tim was still a bit shaken, contemplating heavily whether he should drink that coffee or not.

"See, I'm a pro at this," she remarked proudly, facing Nico. "People look at you and they go, oh he's such a friendly kid. It will be so easy to talk to him. But if I'm at the counter, none of that nonsense."

"Yeah if you were at the counter serving coffee like this, then this shop would seem more like a horror café," Tim added.

"The scarier the better."

"Wow, I get it... You're gonna scare all the customers away if we hire you," Nico remarked, slightly amused at Tim's reaction.

"Maybe but look on the bright side, at least there will be no one to bother you anymore. And I'll get paid to scare people, perfect!"

***