Coffee Shop Crush

19

No matter how much I slept my body betrayed me. I was looking like a walking corpse, and it was making the other staff worry. "Loid, are you ok man?" I nod, I don't know who was asking, I was in a trance while I washed the dishes.

I jolt back as a hand waves in front of my face, my eyes flicker to Kristine as she sighs and pulls back in worry. "Have you not been resting well?"

"I don't know." She bites her lip to my response.

"Go to the doctors." I shake my head. "I'm not suggesting I'm telling you to Loid." Yeah, but doctors are scary. I shiver at the thought of walking through the tiny halls with the smell of hand sanitizer stinging my nose. It's not that the doctor themselves is scary, it's how small the building is. Hospitals aren't much better.

I wanted to object more but Kristine insisted I go, and Damien wasn't here today to help me. I settled with booking an appointment and resuming cleaning again, Kristine wasn't too pleased but agreed. I don't even think doctors are walk in be seen anymore.

"Hi, I'm Kye." I was on my break at the moment, still the man sat in front of me. I was confused until I saw the apron telling me he works here.

"When did you start?" I ask pulling the small ceramic cup to my lips to have a sip. Hot chocolate seems to relax me. Speaking of this man smells a lot like chocolate, did he spill some on him? Oh no, yep, there were handprints of badly dusted off hot chocolate powered on his apron and shirt.

"Monday." He seems cheerful, not quite green eyes, look to be more yellow. Thick red hair, like vibrant ginger, pulled into a lose ponytail. He has faint freckles under his eyes, and a simple piercing under his lip. "Have you seen Damien? He was in yesterday."

"He's at Uni today." He seemed happy with my answer before loading a ton of questions about Damien on me. Like when his shifts are, what's his hours, did I know what he likes to drink or do. I eventually just stopped listening and let him ramble on about how he didn't want to seem creepy, he was just interested.

"You like him by chance?" Blush creeps up from his neck, ye he did. Didn't this guy meet him just yesterday?

"Yeah, he was really nice to me yesterday, the waitresses said he's normally grumpy." Oh, was this the reason why Damien came home looking worried? He said he was worried he was too nice yesterday.

"Yeah sorry, he's dating someone," Oof, I sounded defensive. He looks up at me surprised before shaking his head.

"No, they said Mary broke up with him and ran away." Oh, is he's Mary's replacement? He looked so hopeful; I couldn't help but snort.

"Sorry bud, I'm the one he's dating." His face morphed into a mix of hurt and sceptical. His mouth tightens and he stares at me, trying to tell if I am joking or not. I begin to enjoy my hot chocolate again. He stands up abruptly and stares me down, he did not look happy. Should I have not said anything?

"Sorry for bothering you," He spat. Wow he is mad. He turns back to the main counters; you could almost see a thundercloud above his head. Some of the waitresses turn to me and give me a wide-eyed look saying,' what did you do?'

I finish off my hot chocolate and head back into the kitchen, dropping my cup into the tub of water. Fresh water, guess Kristine filled it up for me during my break.

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For some reason, I was in a good mood when I got home. I even snuggled up against Damien when he sat on the sofa. He was confused at first but said nothing and held me. Meeting Kye today did make me realise I haven't been the best boyfriend to Damien. No one other than Kristine could tell, I don't know if that's a good thing, but it did make me feel like shit.

"You smell like chocolate." He says, I nod.

"Yeah, spilt some down my shirt." There was a poorly stacked tray of cups someone brought in when I went to pee, as soon as I nudged it one of the cups fell on me.

"Did you burn yourself?" I shake my head nudging myself deeper into his leg. "Why are you so touchy today?" He asks as he starts slowly stroking my hair. I bite my lip, I want to tell him, but I think he will see it as childish.

"The new kid said he likes you," I mumble. He stops stroking my hair, I turn to look at him. His eyes were wide and... he was blushing. Is he blushing over the fact that kid likes him!? He quickly starts to blink as he notices my face turning sour.

"No, no, I'm just surprised you're acting like this because you're jealous."

"I am not jealous!" I say sitting up to turn and scowl. He smiles, his cheeks were rosy, and his eyes were sparkling. Fuck, my heart is doing that thing again. I lay back down on his legs and face the TV, "Maybe a little bit..." He laughs and resumes stroking my hair.

"It's fine, I like you being jealous." I grumble in response and curl up. He kisses my head gently and whispers in my ear, "You're so cute." I swat him away, but he dodges my hand and grabs my wrist. I look at him to argue, instead all I could hear was my heart in my ears as he pulls my hand to cup his face. He was now watching me with his soft eyes. I couldn't find the strength to pull away. Oh my god I feel like I'm in a cheesy romance!!

My eyes well up in tears, Damien lets go of my hand thinking I was sad. I actually start laughing. "Fucking romance stuff," I say as I start wiping my eyes.

"I forgot you do that. Are you going to cry every time I be romantic?" He laughs.

"I fucking hope not." He moves my hands and starts kissing my tears. I push him off and sit up, "You're not fucking helping!" He laughs and rests his arm on the back of the sofa.

"I know."

Bastard.

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Now a normal boyfriend would avoid the person who has a crush on them after seeing their partner get salty over it. Nope not Damien, he's loving it. But for the sole reason of when we get home, I don't let him go. It's pissing me off, I don't want to be like this knowing he's doing it on purpose. But seeing that ginger prick get so close to Damien nearly every day. It has been two fucking weeks.

"Loid, how'd your doctor's appointment go?" Kristine asks leaning against the counter next to me. I nod and push a clean cup onto the drainer.

"Good, he says I'm having nightmares that's stopping me from resting properly. So, he gave me some med."

"Explains why there's colour coming back to your face." I nod. When he said I seemed to have nightmares I was confused at first, because well, I can't remember anything.

"Have you had any hallucinations?"

Yes, "No." The doctor types some things into his computer.

"If you do make sure to book another appointment. I'm going to prescribe you some medicine that will hopefully let you sleep without any dreams," He starts writing and a small note, "Come back in a month and we'll see how you fare."

"I'm glad to see life coming back into you Loid, it was starting to scare me, you looked like the walking dead." I smile weakly at her joke. Since taking those drugs I have been feeling properly refreshed, but I'm worried those nightmares have left my dreams.

I try not to gag as the smell of rotten flesh comes from Kristine, she is still happily talking. I risk looking at her. Her eyes were still in her sockets but there was a black blood like liquid rapidly gushing out of her eyes. She slowly turns her head to the side and her mouth suddenly drops.

Loud terrifying screams, the words 'You're the reason I died.' Play over and over in my head, almost drowned out by the cries coming from Kristine's mouth as she slowly approaches me. I hate this, let it stop, please, please.

"Loid, are you ok?" The screaming stops, as soon as a pair of hands touch my shoulders the chaos goes away. I look up, Kristine looked as if she was about to cry. "Loid?" I turn to see Damien behind me, his brow low in worry.

"I'm fine." He sighs and pulls me into a hug apologising to Kristine.

"I-It's fine, I just. It scared me, his eyes wouldn't focus." I feel Damien nod.

"I'll get it sorted." I felt calm as he said those words. These hallucinations were popping up to frequently, but true to his word, Damien is always there to protect me.