^^^Read the author's note in bold below^^^
Also, I know it isn't summer in Australia in July but let's just pretend it is for the sake of this story
The aroma of coffee and freshly baked goods filled her nostrils, sending the butterflies in her stomach dancing. It was a smell Sydney just couldn't find herself to get used to despite working at the café for half a year. Maybe it was due to her love for coffee or just simply her love for the place.
When she first entered the Starbucks shop six months ago, she instantly fell in love with the vintage décor and items on sale. It wasn't long until she fell in love with the owner of the shop as well as the employees. Tori Hemmings inherited the shop from her father who passed on at the age of sixty-five. Despite only being twenty-seven years old, she found it easy to manage the café in order to keep it successful as well as maintain a healthy relationship with the employees.
That was what Sydney enjoyed most about the place: the friendly aura it gave off. And the workers, too, were friendly. However, the life of an employee is a lot different than that a customer. The workers weren't only friends, but were family. Tori was the mother and everyone else was her child. Sydney was the youngest of them all thus being teased a lot by her 'older siblings'.
Callum was the eldest child at the age of twenty-eight followed by Kimberly who was twenty-seven and Ava who just turned twenty-six. Liam, being twenty-four, was next then Noah and Olivia, at twenty-three.
"Excuse me, Miss, may I have a grande caramel latte please," A lady, who was, by the looks of it, in her mid-twenties, asked. Ava smiled at the lady as she entered the customer's order into the system.
"That would be $2.50 please," she answered and the lady handed her a five-dollar note, which she immediately placed in the cash register, returning the remaining balance of $2 and 50¢. "Are you sitting in or is it a take-away?"
"I'm sitting in...I'll be at table four."
"Your coffee will be brought there shortly," Ava grinned as the lady left.
"Wanna swap places?" A deep voice asked from behind, relieving her instantly.
"Of course!" She left her place at the till and headed to the coffee machines behind it. "My lips hurt from smiling all day."
"It's only the first of July, princess, just wait until the month progresses," Liam told her with a sigh. "Not only will your lips hurt, but you'll be overall exhausted so good luck with that." Ava exhaled loudly as she looked at the screen before her with millions of orders displaying on it.
"Any more baristas willing to help?" she asked, looking at one in particular.
Sydney, of course, was aware of her stare but ignored it. She had played the role of a cashier once in her second month and absolutely loathed. Ever since, it was a habit to avoid it.
"She's looking at you, Melbourne," Olivia nudged her, wanting to avoid the job herself. Sydney groaned as she finally got behind the cash register and beckoned to the next customer.
Although everyone hated the cashier job, they had to admit it wasn't the worst job ever. The making of the coffee and baking goods was by far the most irritating job of all as Kim, being the clumsy person she is, constantly made mistakes with the orders and would have to restart everything. It was tiring, and it wasn't long until they heard another call from help, this time being from Callum, the other baker.
Sydney grinned at Olivia.
"He's looking at you, pepperoni," she uttered with a wide smirk, earning a glare from the girl who finally went to help, that was of course after Callum had nagged her enough.
As midday approached, more people entered the café all longing for a cold beverage down their throats as the temperatures increased.
Sydney could barely keep up with her job being that the café was now awfully hot and stuffy, despite the fans being on.
"Need help?" A voice asked. Sydney instantly matched it to the light-skinned lady before her who wore a cheerful smile.
"Yes, please..." she answered weakly.
"Wow, first of July and you're already tired? Summer has barely started!"
"Yeah, I already heard Liam talking to Ava about the hot season."
"Good...and I suppose he also mentioned a higher paycheque?"
"He forgot to mention that part," Sydney responded, a sudden energy boost evident in her voice.
Tori chuckled as she scanned the screen with orders then took possession on the cash register beside the younger girl and signalled for customers as well as more employees to help out in the kitchen.
"Hopefully things will be a lot less chaotic tomorrow."
"Why would it be less chaotic?"
"Tonight, I will introduce more new employees." Sydney's eyes widened in delight.
"Are any of them younger than me?"
"No, sadly...the youngest of the lot is twenty-one."
"Really? Is he hot?"
"Paris! I will not have you flirting with another employee during working hours."
"But Ava and Liam do it," she whined.
"And how gross is it for all of us?"
The teen chuckled.
"Very."
"Good, so don't do it...he is very good-looking by the way. Just your type."
"And how would you know my type?"
"You underestimate me, sweetie. I'm like an eagle; I see everything, far and near."
"So in other words, you stalk me."
"Exactly," she responded with a wide grin. "You really understand me well. I'm glad I adopted you." Sydney rolled her eyes as she placed another customer's order into the system. "Oh, and by the way, that Lucas guy you were with yesterday was HOT!" The girl's eyes widened as she shoved Tori gently.
"What the heck?! He's my best friend!"
"You sure you ain't more than that?" She wriggled her eyebrows.
"Get lost, Tori!"
"Just saying, you two would make incredibly good-looking children."
"TORI!"
"Think about it, Perth, the both of you would be so cute-"
"I will pour that coffee on you," Sydney threated as she pointed to a fresh coffee that just escaped the kitchen but Tori only laughed.
"Fine, I'll stop...but consider it." The teen glared at her, earning another chuckle. "Noah, let's swap places before Canberra kills me."
In case you didn't notice and/or you are confused about it, the workers and Tori call Sydney any other Australian town name but Sydney.
I had massive writer's block for the first chapter so I had to dig deep to find a draft of a first chapter I had written sometime in my life. Also, I forgot to add two characters in the characters chapter so yeah. The first in NCT's Lucas (picture at the top) and the second will be revealed in the next chapter.
Also, I have three questions:
1. Is it summer or winter where you stay? (It's winter for me but I'm going back to Britain for the school holiday)
2. If you guys are still in school, when do your schools close or when did they close for the summer? (Mine closes on the 28th of June and I'm going to Britain for the summer. My oldest sister will still be in school by then so I plan on making her jealous)
3. Are you going anywhere for the holiday? (I think I've already mentioned where I'm going enough)
~SpicyThaiChicken
YOU ARE READING
Barista (Stray Kids Lee Felix)
Fanfiction*IN THE PROCESS OF EDITING* If I were to tell you a famous person on social media lived in the same place as you, would you believe me? Due to being released from work late, Sydney meets a famous person online and from then on, her life completely c...
