Coffee Beans || Sasuke Uchiha X Reader

.:Chapter Six:.

            September turned into October, and warm, sunny mornings turned crisp and cool. This was your favourite time of the year; when the air nipped at your exposed skin, and leaves fluttered off of the trees in sprinkles of brilliant reds and warm oranges. Espress would be decorated in fall décor and special fall-related items would appear on the menu, like peppermint drinks and pumpkin desserts. You loved breaking out your fall wardrobe, leather boots and knit sweaters in cozy colours. Fall was truly amazing.

You were especially jolly on one Monday morning. Espress had just opened up, and customers were already wandering inside. Because it was a weekday, most people didn't bother to sit down and order food, and instead walked straight to the front counter to order a coffee, and maybe a quick danish or bagel to go. It was a hectic flow of people inside of Espress until usually around 9 A.M. when most people's work days had begun and the scene of elderly people, all retired and wanting to get out of the house, filled up the dining area. They were your favourite crowd to serve, since most were kind grandparents who always addressed you as a lovely young lady.

But at the moment, you were helping Rin behind the counter, fulfilling drink orders and putting donuts into to-go cups. Emiko handled the tables alone as there weren't many people sitting down, and without your help the counter would have been overrun with caffeine-deprived customers.

Rin took the two paper coffee cups from hands and told you, "Take over for a sec." Before handing the coffees off to two customers, then going through the kitchen doors to grab more milk. You quickly took over the cash register and took on the next customer. Rin came back a second later, just after you'd taken the customer's order. As they handed you the money to pay for their single coffee, you shouted the order to Rin who quickly poured the cup, then handed it to the customer who was waiting on the side while you attended to the next person in line.

To your surprise, it was a certain raven-haired male that stood before you. He wore that arrogant smirk he always seemed to have on his face as he looked down at you. You were a little startled, since he'd never come to Espress during the morning, only at lunch with Naruto. It was a little strange to see him here, but nevertheless you put on a smile.

"Good morning," you said cheerfully.

"Good morning," he repeated. Ever since you'd visited his office just a few weeks ago, he had a different attitude towards you. Before, he was cold and nearly expressionless whenever you spoke to him. But after going to his office and personally returning him his wallet, suddenly, things changed. He less cold and distant, and instead enjoyed teasing you about little things and, if you dared say, was a little flirtatious. You weren't fazed by this, since you were hit on daily by male customers, ranging from obnoxious college students who thought that calling you 'hot-buns' was a genuine compliment, to middle-aged men who actually believed your giggles of politeness at their dumb jokes was genuine amusement. Sasuke was different. He wasn't direct or creepy about it. It was the way he spoke and the little smirks he would give you. It was how when you brought him a fresh coffee of strawberry danish sent by a shy girl from a different table, he'd push away her romantic gesture and say she wasn't his type, despite not knowing a single thing about her, and look at you with those intense eyes of his. Maybe this was just a paranoia of sorts from having been approached by so many men, but whatever it was, he was still arrogant and demanding, so you didn't take anything he said to you seriously.

"What can I get you?" you asked, looking him in the eyes.

"Large coffee, black."

"Is that all for today?" you asked, already ringing up his coffee.

"That's all."

"$1.57, please." He handed you a few coins, which you counted quickly in the palm of your hand – exact change – then dropped it into the cash register and gave his order to Rin. As he side-stepped out of line while waiting for his coffee, you could tell he was staring at you. It was annoying you slightly, and you almost wanted to snap at him and say, 'Who gave you the right to stare at me?' But remained silent with a smile on your face. He left less than ten seconds later, coffee in hand, but you still felt his eyes on you as he was leaving.

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"Your favourite regular is here," Emiko said teasingly, and without even looking at who had just walked through the door, you knew who it was.

"Great," you muttered, and approached their regular table just as they sat down.

"Twice in one day? You must really like it here," you joked half-heartedly.

"The service is good," he said smugly. You nearly rolled your eyes, but instead smiled and addressed his blond friend.

"Hello Naruto, how are you?" you asked, and unlike if you were to ask Sasuke this, you genuinely liked Naruto. He was funny and kind and always apologized for Sasuke's rude behaviour, which had died down over the past few weeks. At least, to you it had.

"I'm great!" he said enthusiastically. "How are you?"

"I'm good." You smiled, then tapped your fingers on your thigh. "You want your usuals?"

The two men exchanged looks, then Naruto nodded. "Sounds great."

"Perfect, I'll be back in a second with your drinks." You snuck away to behind the counter and pushed through the kitchen doors to place their orders. You handed the small ticket of paper with their orders on it to Kou, Sora's husband and head chef, who took one look at the paper, then at you handing him the paper, and sighed.

"He's back for another day," he said, putting down the ticket and going back to cooking his omelette that belonged to table #4.

"Yep." You sighed, and put your hands on your hips.

"What's going on?" Shima, the second chef asked, as he passed by you and Kou to put down two steaming plates of food on the pick-up table.

"The guy who's always askin' for (Y/N). He's still comin' by," Kou said, and flipped the omelette in his pan.

"He doesn't ask for me, he just always sits in my section," you said.

Kou shrugged. "It's practically the same thing."

"Is this guy bothering you?" Shima asked, acting all tough. "You know, I could take care of this sleazebag for you," he said, flexing his muscles and sending you a wink. Shima always had a habit of hitting on all of the waitresses.

You rolled your eyes, but you couldn't help the corners of your mouth from turning up into a small smile. "I'm fine, but if he ever gets grabby I'll let you know."

He nodded, then saluted. "Alright, soldier. Be brave out there." You giggled and he winked at you again as you exited out the kitchen doors and walked back into the dining room. You poured Sasuke and Naruto's drinks, a black coffee and blueberry tea, then quickly brought it over to them. Naruto wasn't present at the table, making you quizzically at his empty seat.

"Bathroom," Sasuke answered simply after seeing the confused look on your face.

"Oh," was all you said. "Well, your food will be ready in a few minutes." You started to back away, but the hesitant look on his face made you stick around.

"Is there anything else you need?" you asked.

His mouth opened to say something, but then he shook his head 'no', and the uncertain look on his face was replaced with his infamous smirk. "No, it's nothing," he said.

"Alright then, I'll be back in a few." After you walked away, Sasuke smacked his hand to his forehead and growled lowly. Naruto returned to the table less than a minute later, and bounced back into his seat.

"Did you do it? Did you ask her out?" he asked giddily.

"Keep your voice down," Sasuke seethed through gritted teeth.

Naruto's excited smile fell, and he slumped back in his seat. "So I'm guessing she said no?"

Sasuke groaned, and completely hid his face in both of his hands. "I didn't ask her," he admitted.

Naruto smirked teasingly, and leaned forward. "Wow, so the almighty Sasuke Uchiha was too shy to ask out a girl. What happened to the cocky Sasuke I know and tolerate?"

"First of all, I'm the one who tolerates you," Sasuke said, and lifted his head from his hands to glare at his friend. "And I wasn't too shy, she just seemed... busy."

Naruto snorted. "Sure."

Sasuke growled lowly. "Look, I'll do it some other time."

"Of course you will."

"I will," he seethed, then looked over at you, chatting to two customers. He smirked, then told Naruto. "Tomorrow I'll come back and ask her out. And I guarantee you she'll say yes."