Coffee Beans || Sasuke Uchiha X Reader

.:Chapter Thirty-Three:.

    You were laying on your bed, your laptop in front of you and an opened cereal box next to it. You reached into it and grabbed a handful of frosted flakes as you scrolled through your emails. You hadn't heard anything from Casey, Sora's friend who worked for Clear magazine, and you weren't sure if that was a good thing or not. It could mean that they were seriously considering your application and were taking time to think it over, but there was also a possibility that they completely disregarded your application and didn't even bother to let you know. Either way, you were stressed.

You knew your chances of getting it weren't high. Not only were you not a student, which was what the company wanted, but you were a drop-out. As far as you knew, not many companies were interested in hiring someone that quit studying the field the job was related to.

What Casey had said to you the night you met kept popping into your head. If you ever decide to go back to college, let me know. You'd thought about going back a handful of times; on some late nights your mind would wander, or when you were dealing with particularly infuriating customers (like Sasuke) or when you saw someone who'd taken their degrees and went off to have an extremely successful career with them (again, Sasuke came to mind).

Just as you were thinking this, your laptop chimed, and a new email popped up in your inbox. From: Casey Ando. Your frosted flakes scattered from your hand and onto your bed. You swore, but you were more interested in the email than you were annoyed by the mess you'd made. Your cursor hovered over the email waiting to open it, but you were nervous. You took in a breath and held it as you clicked on the email. Your eyes frantically flickered across the email, not landing on any sentence long enough to understand it. You calmed down, then started at the beginning.

(Y/N) (L/N),

Thank you for taking interest in Clear's internship. We appreciate you taking the time to apply and have enjoyed reading your work.

Unfortunately, we've decided to give the internship to another applicant.

You let out the breath you'd been holding in. You sighed, and put your head in your hands, then pushed your hands through your hair. You hadn't realized how much you wanted the internship until now.

I'll let you know if any other opportunities come up. Keep writing!

- Casey

"I guess that's that," you mumbled and closed your laptop. You sighed, then flipped onto your back and put your hands over your face. You were disappointed; you thought that maybe, by some miracle, you would get the internship, and eventually, a job at Clear. You hadn't let yourself get too excited about it, knowing your chances of getting in, but after reading that email every hope you'd had for a new career came crashing down. You loved working at Espress, but after the scare of it being closed down, and having to face the possibility of being unemployed with no direction, you started thinking that maybe it was time to start seriously thinking about your future.

Ding!

Your phone lit up on your bedside table. You pulled yourself up into a sitting position and pushed your hair out of your face. You grabbed your phone and saw you'd just gotten a text from Sora, telling you to head to the cafe. You knew that her and Kou had had a meeting with Sasuke earlier that day about him becoming a part of Espress. You figured that's why they wanted you to go see them.

***

When you walked into Espress, you were surprised to see that Sasuke was there, standing behind the counter and chatting with Kou. When the bell above the door dinged, Sasuke's eyes flickered towards the door, and when he saw you, he smirked. Everyone else was already there and they greeted you as you came in.

"Good, everyone's here!" Sora said excitedly and clapped her hands together. She, Sasuke, and Kou all stood together at the front as everyone watched them intently.

"Everyone, we have an announcement to make!" Sora said, bouncing on her heels. "As you know, Mr. Sasuke Uchiha has extended Kou and I and offer that will allow us to keep Espress open. And we are very very excited to say that Mr. Uchiha will be joining the Espress family, and we will not be closing!" she squealed.

The room cheered and hugs went around. Sora and Kou were pulled into a large group hug from everyone else while Sasuke stood to the side, looking at them with a small relaxed smile.

"Get in here Uchiha!" Kou yelled, then grabbed his arm and pulled him into the group. Sasuke's relaxed smile turned into an irritated look and everyone wrapped their arms around each other. You giggled as you watched his face, but when he caught you eyes, his face softened again.

***

"To Espress!" you cheered, and raised your glass. Sasuke, who was sitting across from you at his dining room table, clinked his glass against yours and you both took a sip of champagne. After Sora and Kou shared the news that Espress wouldn't be shutting down, everyone went out to dinner to celebrate. You didn't have much of a chance to talk to him during the evening because everyone else wanted to talk to Sasuke. So after you left the restaurant, you and Sasuke went back to his apartment to have your own little celebration.

"Are you relieved it isn't closing?" Sasuke asked.

"I guess so," you answered. "I mean I don't have to worry about finding a new job anymore. That's a relief."

"But..." Sasuke said.

"But what?" you asked.

"There's something else you're thinking. I can tell."

You sighed. "But I'm not satisfied, I guess. When I thought the cafe was closing, yeah I was sad and scared about not knowing what to do for a job, but it also forced me out of my comfort zone and made me reevaluate my life.

"I didn't tell you this before, but I applied for an internship at a magazine when I thought Espress was closing. I talked to a guy that worked there at the wedding, and he told me to send him some of my stuff and apply. I was excited, really excited. I knew my chances of getting it were slim and I shouldn't have been disappointed when they turned me down, but I hadn't realized how much I was looking forward to it. But I guess now that Espress isn't closing I can just keep being a waitress."

"Who says."

"What?"

"Who says you have to keep being a waitress just because Espress isn't closing," Sasuke asked. "If you want to be a journalist, be a journalist."

"It's not that simple," you said, shaking your head.

"It can be if you stop restricting yourself," he said. "I can see you holding yourself back. You thinking following what you want is too difficult of a task, but you're just too scared of it not working out that you don't even try."

"That's not true," you said and puffed out your cheeks.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Give me one good reason you can't be a journalist."

You were quick to say, "I don't even have a college education."

Sasuke shrugged. "Then get one."

You bit your lip. You din't know how to argue with him. "I have been thinking of going back," you admitted.

Sasuke reached across the table and held your hand. He reassured you that he'd be there for your regardless, but again pushed you to think about what you really wanted. You were only half-listening to him, because your own voice in your head, telling you to go for it, was much louder.