golden (mileven au)

why are you laughing

↬ 11 ↫

El smiled politely at what felt like her hundredth customer of the morning, handing the girl her change and moving on to the next one in line. Despite that polite, cheerful smile, she was not feeling it today, especially since she was out late last night.

Classes were starting back the following week though and that meant that more students were on campus. More students meant they were far busier than they had been the past couple of weeks and she was not thrilled about it.

She knew it would only get worse once classes actually began, but she also knew that she'd get through it. It would all be worth it in the end, she just had to keep working hard.

So, she continued to take orders, happily greeting and serving customers like there was no place else she'd rather be.

"Hi, what can I get-" The sight of familiar face caught her off guard, bringing the first genuine smile of the day to her face. "Oh Mike, hey!"

Mike smiled back, looking completely thrilled to see her. "Hey, El." 

"What can I get for ya?"

He looked up at the menu hanging on the wall, squinting slightly as he looked over it. "Uh, I think I'll take a grande iced latte."

"Alright!" She went to put the order into the register, but stopped when she remembered something she was certain he had once told her. "Wait, you don't like coffee?"

"Right I don't, but I'm just trying to branch out and try new things, you know? He shrugged, though she could tell that he wasn't too excited about trying this particular new thing.

"Of course." She laughed, going along with whatever he was up to. "You sure you want to start out with an iced latte though?"

"Well, I don't know really. What do you recommend?"

El looked over the menu herself, trying to come up with something that he might like. She suggested a couple of things to him, but none of them appealed much.

As they tried to figure out what he should get, they failed to notice the line that was forming, until the guy standing so closely behind Mike spoke up.

"Dude, it's just coffee. Pick something already, damn." He so rudely told Mike, growing more impatient by the second. 

Mike gave him an apologetic look, but El only looked at the guy, scowling. She didn't like hearing someone talk to Mike that way, especially this arrogant regular she always has to deal with, so she let the boy have it.

"Dude, could you maybe not be an asshole? Not everyone knows what kind of drink they want the second they walk up because not everyone is some ridiculous coffee addict like you are, so please stop being rude and give him a minute to decide on what he wants."

El's scowl deepened, before she looked back to Mike, staring innocently as if that hadn't just happened.

Mike clearly was surprised by her outburst, the look on his face both of shock and slight amusement.  

"Uh, I'll just get the latte. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Great, that'll be $3.59!" El so sweetly told him, before writing his name and order down on the cup. She made sure to doodle on a heart before handing it off to her coworker.

"I'll see you later maybe?" Mike asked as El put his money in the register and handed him his receipt. Their hands brushed for a moment, a moment she had wished lasted longer.

"I hope so."

Her gaze never left his until the rude guy from before stepped up to the counter, clearing his throat to get her attention.