Coffee Shop ✓

The Attic ✓

C H A P T E R . O N E

On Mondays, Thomas Sands's shift in The Attic begins at six in the morning. He, along with co-workers Harriet, Alfred, Eloise, and Pabby, are in charge of opening up the coffee shop. Thomas would wake up at five, take a bath, change into his uniform (which is merely a black collared shirt with the cafe logo on the upper left area of the chest and some jeans), then walk to the little coffee shop along Parkview Boulevard, enjoying the serenity of early mornings, the beautiful light of sunrise, and the refreshing morning air. It's a lovely routine; very relaxing, in complete honesty.

This Monday, Thomas just feels gloomy. Not even the cool breeze or the tranquil walk to the cafe is helping brighten up his mood a little bit. For the past two weeks, he has been working hard on a new landscape painting, but Thomas has spent half of his time just staring at the canvas with only one-third of it painted. His inspiration seems to have flown out the window and his hands just don't seem to know how to paint the image in his head.

With these thoughts clouding his mind, Thomas almost walks right past The Attic, realizing it only when Alfred calls out his name and he turns to follow the sound. Shaking his head, Thomas heads over to the door where Alfred is just about to enter. "Awright, pal?" Alfred asks, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, just got a lot in my head, s'all." Thomas says.

They enter the coffee shop while the ones already inside turn on all the lights. Harriet, Alfred, Eloise, and Pabby are not a very quiet bunch so even at such an early hour, chatter fills the coffee shop while some put on their aprons and some set up their work areas. Alfred returns to the door to flip the sign on it to OPEN.

Before Thomas takes his place at the counter, he goes up to the second floor–the attic–to check on things that need fixing up. Pabby, who is supposed to be in charge of the second floor, clearly did not do his job as Thomas notices some of the chairs still turned upside down on the tables. He quickly walks around the whole area to place the chairs where they should be and he turns on the rest of the lights on his way down.

Parkview Boulevard has always been a very busy and crowded street; students rushing to Uni, adults heading to work, people shopping for clothes or pastries from bakeries, friends and family dining in restaurants. It isn't unusual in The Attic to already have a line forming at the counter by 6:30.

Eloise takes charge of the first cash register while Thomas stands behind the other. "Good morning and welcome to The Attic!" Thomas greets one customer with hair dyed green at the tips. She smiles in return before stating her order.

This routine goes on until Thomas has to attend to one last customer in line. Whenever he got the chance, he drew the Glasgow skyline on one of the to-go cups using a black fine-point Sharpie. Saying almost the same thing to every customer gets very tiring and simply sitting down while on a short break can be boring; sketching becomes the one thing that keeps him awake and motivated.

At around 7:50 Thomas has finished a rough sketch of the Glasgow skyline, filling the cup all around with outlines of buildings with messy shadowing and details. Satisfied with his work, he gleefully smiles at it before setting it down on the counter where the baristas work.

"Glasgow today, aye? New York last week? What ye drawing on the cups fae anyway?" Alfred asks as he prepares a drink for the last customers waiting for their orders. His strong Glaswegian accent still makes it quite hard for Thomas to understand him sometimes, especially when he speaks with slang.

Thomas shrugs in response. "I just do it out of boredom, really."

"Can ah use yer cup fae the next order?" Alfred asks, eyeing the drawn-on cup just beside the containers with coffee beans and ice on the baristas' work station.

"Uh..."

The sound of some solid objects and what seems to be papers falling to the ground catches the two boys' attentions and they turn around to face the entrance. A woman, probably around twenty years old, with messy, fiery ginger hair and sparkling hazel eyes has just tripped on her way through the door. Not wasting a second, Thomas rushes out from behind the counter to help the woman pick up her books and scattered papers.

The ginger-haired girl has a tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks as she hurriedly gathers all her fallen things. "I'm sorry!" She exclaims with a sheepish look at the few customers in the first floor. They all look away and focus back on what they were doing on their table.

Thomas has gathered the last of her possessions that were on the floor so he stands, at the same time the ginger-haired girl does. Then blue eyes meet hazel, and Thomas feels a smile tugging at his lips. She's beautiful. More beautiful than any art he has seen in exhibits, more beautiful than the greatest masterpiece in a museum. Her fair skin still has a tinge of pink on her slightly freckled cheeks, her lips are still in a sheepish smile, her hazel eyes are glistening under the light.

"I'm really sorry about the disturbance! I'm kind of in a rush..." Her eyes widen a little as she apologizes, then her eyes trail down to Thomas's hands which still hold her papers and books.

"Oh!" Thomas says, shaking his head as he shakes off his distracted thoughts. "Right, here you go," he passes her belongings to her, helping her stack them properly. "Better hurry, then... Are you heading to Uni?" Thomas guesses.

"Yeah, and I'm almost late for my eight a.m. class." She says with a quick peek at her thin wristwatch. "I stayed up late last night, so I thought I should get myself a cup of coffee before heading to uni; unless I want to fall asleep in class." She huffs.

"Alright then—Primo, Sedici, or Grande?" Thomas asks, leading her to the counter before returning behind it. He's slightly hoping she'd choose a Sedici, since that's the size of the cup he had doodled on. Is not like he's trying to impress or anything, really. (Or maybe he is...)

The ginger looks at the display of the cup sizes for a moment before choosing a Sedici, much to Thomas's relief. "That's £2.10."

Thomas grabs his Sharpie once again before turning around to tell Alfred, Harriet, or Pabby the girl's order. Thankfully, his doodled-on cup is still on the counter and not used by Alfred for the previous order, so he grabs it before any of the others take it. He turns back around to face the ginger-haired girl who has now placed her belongings on the counter to stuff her receipt in her backpack. Thomas asks her for a name as she picks up her things.

"My name's Cara." She smiles widely.

Thomas smiles in return before turning away to write it on the cup. He adds a 'have a great day! -Thomas' before handing it to Alfred, who is closest to him.

Once the drink is ready—the process not having taken longer than a minute—Thomas hands it to Cara whose eyes light up when she inspects the Glasgow skyline.

Thomas smiles dashingly at Cara. "You've to hurry up, don't you?" He asks with a little chuckle.

Cara gasps out an 'oh!' before squeezing her books and papers to her chest with one arm while she holds her coffee cup in the other hand. "Thank you so much, Thomas! It was nice meeting you!" She's out the door before she even finishes her sentence.

Thomas spends the rest of his shift with a smile.

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this is the rewritten first chapter of the coffee shop! i hope you liked it!

hey guys, i wanna get to know you more so i hope you take the time (if you'd like) to answer these simple questions! :) QOTD: coffee or tea? (or other; share your favorite drink!)

andie's answer: milkshakes!!