The One Who Got Away is Back

Memory 5 ♡ Once Upon A Slow Night

It was a slow Wednesday night at the cafe, of the kind of dreary ones that made a person feel like there was no magic in the world. Only one table had a customer, a girl who had stopped ordering things some two hours ago and who kept only drinking water now. I was annoyed that I had to keep topping off her glass, but my coworker Poonam gave me some words of wisdom.

"Listen, she's a customer. We have to treat them well so they come back again."

That logic translated well to me. I thought back to the gulf club my father despised so much, but they had excellent service and that was the reason why people rich enough to get brunch in the Bahamas on a weekday kept returning.

"You're right," I said with a look around at our laptops and books on the counter. "Besides, we're doing the same damn thing."

It was almost midnight and the library had closed a while ago. I could relate with the customer, because often it was harder to concentrate on studies at home than somewhere else. With that in mind I headed over and after topping off her water offered her some coffee. She slumped but agreed that was probably a good idea.

After I returned behind the counter, Poonam gave me a sly smile. "You're finally learning the ropes, rich girl."

Yeah, lure them in with honey. I should've probably learned this lesson after months dealing with hungry or decaffeinated customers, but I struggled on the patience department.

"Excuse you, former-rich-now-definitely-poor-girl to you," I said as I bent down to grab a clean mug. The front door dinged with the sound of new customers and I straightened up to say a greeting along with my colleague. The greeting lodged in my stomach and I dropped low behind the counter as though I'd been pulled by strings.

Poonam murmured, "What the..."

I batted my hands at her. "Take their table, go."

She shrugged and headed over to where three guys had made themselves comfortable. I peeked over the counter and groaned. All of them had books and laptops and clearly the same idea as the lone girl.

Shit. They were planning on staying a while.

That was not the big issue, that being that Miguel was among them.

Was he following me or something? No, I was being ridiculous. He probably didn't even know that I worked here. I reminded myself I was supposed to play it cool, because I had to serve a cup of coffee to the other customer and there was no way he was going to miss me. I was a 6'2" redhead, for goodness's sake. He'd have to be drunk off his rockers to not notice it was me. Resigned to the inevitable, I finished preparing the coffee and took it to the girl. She was definitely awake now, eyes trained on the guys' table. I turned to see what kept her in such thrall and rolled my eyes, because they were all hotties. Which followed the universal rule that good looking people surrounded themselves with other good looking people.

Uh-oh, he saw me.

"Addy! Hi." Miguel's entire face lit up like it was Christmas, eyes trained on my t-shirt and apron. "I didn't know you worked here."

I probably had one of those smiles that looked half happy and half reluctant. Poonam glanced back and forth between the boy and I and I could just read her mind.

Be professional, you drooling puppy.

"Yep, since a few months ago." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, welcome to the Magic Cafe. My coworker Poonam here will take great care of you all."

He laughed. "Very professional."

My face hurt from the strained smile. "That's me."

"Why don't I introduce you to the guys?" he said, immediately turning to them and not giving me a chance to run away. Right. He pointed to a blond boy who looked straight out of a tooth paste commercial. "This is Bryce and Malik, my roommates."