〢 RÊVEUSE 〢

001. COFFEE FOR TWO!

Spring is the archetype of beauty. And so is the new girl working at the florist.

"Marshall, we need more muffins!"

"Working on it, Mei!"

Working atStarbucks isn't half bad. Mei is the boss around here, but she is very kind. The shop is always full, so I've became used to multitasking - keeping an eye on the pastries, filling cups of smoking hot lattes, check the costumer's orders.

It's not that my colleagues don't do anything, overloading me with work - as a matter fact, Mei and Yoshiro work just as much, or maybe even more than me! The problem is that I work at a popular shop: everybody knows Starbucks and everybody comes here for a quick cup of coffee.

So yeah, I like working at Starbucks. Specially since the florist next door got a new employee. I don't know her name. Couldn't even dream to ask Haruichi - the manager - what it was. What I knew was that her curls fell softly on her shoulders, sinking to her waist in cascades of silver. It framed her face - her lovely, lovely face, round shaped and pale - and I imagine it would smell like cotton candy (alright, it's just lust speaking here, but I love cotton candy).

She came and went, riding her bike and making deliveries, stopping by the florist and giving Haruichi a hand. She wore leather jackets and tank tops, large trousers or lacy shirts, shockers and earrings. Oh, what a woman. The first time I saw her closely, she was walking in the side way, holding My Sweet Orange Tree in one of her hands. Back then I wasn't even slightly enamored, but that was a sign - my favourite book was recommending a person.

I watch her everyday from the moment I arrive at my shop to the moment she leaves Haruichi's store. And she's gorgeous. Gorgeous, I say. Marvelous, wonderful; and I don't even know her, but I know - I know! - that she'll be just as kind as I imagine her to be: I see it in the way she smiles at her costumers, the way she greets Haruichi everyday.. All the little things that shouldn't mean anything, but they do.

Call me a stalker. Yoshiro calls me a fool, Mei calls me love-sick. I call myself a dreamer - and I dream that one day I'll gather the courage to talk to her!

My friends cheer me on with everything they can: my brother's boyfriend, Daiki, taught me pick-up lines I'll never be bold enough to use and Gene insists they work. Hanae told me all the things girls like to hear and Samura showed me how to be a gentleman.

But I still can't approach her. Not just like that.