Caffè Macchiato
Summary: Wade hates anything complicated that isn’t a beautiful piece of music. He likes working opening shifts at the coffee shop near his house because no one orders anything complicated. At least that is until a man comes in the shop one morning and ruins everything. Author’s Note: Something with a few of my own characters. I’ve been writing about these two for almost five years now and felt that it was time to re-release them to the internet. Sure I’ll add more later. Is it a multi-chapter story or is it a one-shot? That’s to be determined.
It’s at 4am that his alarm goes off and he reaches for his phone groggily to stop it from yelling at him. Wade Pierce is 22 years old and struggles to get out of bed in the morning for his opening shift at work. It takes him a few more minutes and two more alarms before he is yawning, stretching and pulling himself from the confines of his comfortable twin size bed to start his day. He sits for a moment, the slow realization that his slumber must wait for a few hours, to realize that it’s now 4:15am and he must be at work in a half hour. Moaning, he pushes himself from the bed, groping for his glasses and lazily goes to his closet to retrieve his work uniform; a simple white button up and tie to be paired with his black jeans. He gets dressed and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth and his unmanageable hair that insists on being so wavy to the point that he gives up before he gives up and heads to the kitchen. It’s now 4:23 and he knows he should be leaving now for work but he takes his time and pours himself a small bowl of cereal to eat as he double and triple checks to make sure he has everything in his book bag and that, yes he does in fact need to be at work at 4:45 this morning. It takes him longer than he planned to eat the small bowl of cereal before he rushes out the door and into the bitter cold of the morning, wishing that he had grabbed his hat on the way out.
Lucky for him, work is only about a ten minute drive and he gets there three minutes early. He parks his car and sits for a few minutes, yawning and listening to his ‘wake up’ playlist on his phone. He notices another car pull up and watches as his shift supervisor gets out of his car and heads to the door of the coffee shop to open up and realizes that he should probably follow in suit since he is the only other person opening this morning. But this is the routine every morning during the workweek. Halfheartedly, he greets his supervisor with a small wave as they walk inside together and turn the lights on.
Barista life is a little easier than Wade ever imagined. He had thought he would hate working at a coffee shop but the fact that he sometimes enjoys it, surprised him especially when it came to having to be at the store at 4:45 in the morning. His shift supervisor was normally quiet in the morning, so that definitely helped, and the two of them would make their own coffee’s first thing before loading the pastries into the case and straightening up whatever the night shift left behind. There would be some idle, dull chit chat until the both of them were fully awake and then his supervisor would turn the radio on and Wade would unlock the front doors at about 5:30am. He would have time to grab a til on the register before the first customer, one of their regulars, would talk through the doors at about quarter to six, get their pure black coffee and take seat in the big comfy orange chair with their newspaper in hand.
Customers would start to slowly drip in at 6am, all ordering plain coffee, some with room for cream, some with absolutely no room and they would leave. In between waves of morning customers, Wade would do the usual, clean the bar and register area with a semi-wet rag, make sure the pastries were stocked, brew fresh coffee, check the condiments bar, and so on. His routine in the morning would be the same until the next person came in at 6:30am, that’s normally Wade’s cue to get his fake face on and get ready to ring up the customers who are coming in to get their coffee’s for work. He watched as his sleepy coworker came out from the backroom, tying her apron on and yawning, before heading to her spot on the bar. A frown fixed upon his face for a moment, this girl was always the same, she was the most unpleasant person he worked with and he was sure to get a lot of complaints because of her because of her sour attitude. Couldn’t he just have one easy morning? No, he knew that was too much to ask for. He sighed and looked towards the door as a customer walked in.
“Good morning.” His greeting was plain, a small smile on his face as the customer returned his greeting and ordered their drink. It was a simple order, nothing uncommon. Wade uncapped his sharpie and nodded, writing on a grande cup and marking off in the correct boxes before finishing off with their name and handing it off to be made. “Thank you. It’ll be down at the bar in a few minutes.” The customer nodded and left the register only for Wade to notice the three others that had come in as he took the order. With a smile plastered on his face, the morning rush began.
It was always busy from 6:45am till about 9am. In that time frame, there was a line of customers around the lobby to the door. Eventually, the supervisor would come out from doing whatever they do in the backroom to help ring on the register, make drinks or prepare breakfast foods until another co-worker would come in, It wouldn’t be until 9:30 in the morning that Wade would get his first break, a fifteen minute one that wasn’t much time to do much of anything except sit and dread heading back onto the floor. Of course, with his luck, his break would be shortened by his supervisor calling him back onto the floor a bit early because another wave of customers had come in and the girl on the bar was having yet another breakdown. When were they just going to fire her?
Yet he knew his patience would be rewarded once the morning rush was over and all he had in the lobby area were wannabe writers, bloggers or high schoolers skipping school. Then it was quiet, he could take a deep breath and get his second coffee of the morning. Then it was when the regulars he liked came in, the ones with the most simple orders in the history of mankind, black coffee with little to no room for cream and sugar. They would never order food, always have exact change or pay with their card, wish him a good day and be gone. He didn’t understand the people that got overly upset with their orders being messed up because for heaven’s sake it was just coffee.
Slowly but surely, Wade would find himself watching the clock, waiting for it to be 11:30 or 12:30 depending on the day so that he could go home way before the high schooler’s got out of class and make a mess of his precious store. The loud chit chattering and laughter, the constant “accidental” spills of their mixed cold drinks that were almost empty so that they could get a new drink, the graffiti they would write on the walls of the bathroom and tables was not something he had the time nor the patience for and his store manager knew this. He recalls his first month working when he lost his patience with a 16 year old trying to scam them, and how he had ‘accidentally’ overheard the said 16 year old talking among their friends as he swept the floor about how he was planning on stealing the tip jar. Funny how a 20 something employee and student with a pristine record is trusted more than a 16 year old who had a not so clean record. Hilarious.
Wade glanced at the clock, 11:15, only an hour and fifteen minutes left before he could go home and...do what exactly? He was sure he had better things to do. Class work? Probably. House work? More than likely. Was he actually going do to do said things? That was still up in the air. Lately, he had been focusing more on his musical skills than anything, practicing the piano and his singing more than he had in the past which made him happy, that was for sure. Actually working on his psych homework however? Nah, he would rather sleep than even go to class. Being the 3.9 GPA student that he was, he knew he would still do the work and get a higher grade than most of the class, even if it meant putting an extra amount of work in.
He stifled a yawn as his female coworker came over to him. Rebecca, or Reba as she would prefer to be called, was cute to look at, that was for sure, but the faux hawk look on a girl just wasn’t his thing. The nose ring too? Nope, not for him. “Wade, can you watch the bar for a sec? I just gotta go make a phone call real quick, I promise!” She clasped her hands together in a desperate manner and all Wade did was roll his eye before she disappeared towards the shop’s restrooms. She should have known better than to ask Wade of all people.
“She’s really an idiot, isn’t she?” The other boy on the second register laughed, watching her disappear as well. He shakes his head and grins at Wade before heading over to the bar. “Of all the people, she asks Wade.”
Kyran had been one, if not the only, co-worker of Wade’s that did not get on his nerves. Sure his snark was something the other could have less of every day but there was an unspoken understanding between the two. Meaning, Wade would rather not work the bar and Kyran would love to work the bar. It was simple, really, Wade wasn’t much of a talker but given the scripted lines at the register and knowing that he only had to speak at most maybe 8 lines before the customer would leave made him prefer the register. Whereas at the bar, you would have customers hanging around watching, waiting, as you would make their drink orders. There were no scripted lines at the bar, it was purely general and genuine conversation between the barista and customer. At the bar, the barista would be the one leaving the lasting impression of the store and be the one that would give the customer the reason to come back, hence why they normally had the girls.
Kyran was a special case, however. Being 23 and having a smooth, velvety voice, customers would hang around longer just to hear him talk. Didn’t matter if the customer was male or female, everyone was infatuated with Kyran and his oddity. It annoyed Wade when he would be on bar how impossibly long these customers would stand around and talk to Kyran and how much he smiled and got a kick out of it. He was great for business, Wade knew that but god how annoying was it that Wade kind of admired that? He huffed and stopped watching Kyran get milks and measuring cups together, looking to the screen of his register and capping and uncapping his sharpie.
The girl eventually came back from the bathroom about 20 minutes later and all Wade could do was glare at her as she shuffled back into her spot on the bar. Kyran blew a kiss to one of the regulars and wished them a wonderful day before joining Wade back at the registers.
“You’re so annoying, you know that.” Wade frowned and began restocking the pastries.
“You’re just jealous that I’m cuter than you.” Kyran winked, leaning back against the counter behind him. “It honestly wouldn’t kill you to smile more genuinely at the customers. Takes more muscles to frown than smile, you should give your face muscles a break.”
Wade rolled his eyes. “Would you stop telling me that? You say that every time we work together.”
He shrugs, pulling his cell phone out of his apron. “Just trying to watch your back, dude.”
“You should go sweep the lobby.” Wade looked over to see Kyran sticking his tongue out at him, his frown growing. “Just go do it before Cameron comes out and sees you on your phone.”
It was Kyran’s time to roll his eyes. Pocketing his phone, he went to the back to get the broom and dustpan. He came out of the back pouting, bumping his hip purposely into Wade’s back. Wade shook his head and told him to fuck off under his breath, to which, Kyran just laughed.
The clock ticks slowly as a few more customers come trickling in, there’s never any complicated orders and Wade appreciates that. He’s never one for complications. A grande soy latte here, a tall coffee with room for cream there, the simple orders made work slightly less annoying, that was for sure. That was part of why he enjoyed working at the coffee shop, especially in the mornings and early afternoon, the complicated orders were left for the evening people. Of course, there was the very rare customer that came in asking for a dirty chai tea latte with coconut milk that Wade always found frustrating but that was about it.
It wasn’t until about noon that the glass doors swung open and a tall, thin man in a suit and yellow tie walks in, on his phone finishing up what Wade could only assume was some sort of business argument. He approaches the counter, talking rapidly into his phone and Wade waits patiently for him to get off the phone. The man is obviously frustrated with whomever he’s speaking to on the other end of the phone, rubbing the back of his neck, gritting his teeth, Wade could even see the white of his knuckles from gripping the phone too hard. The suited man and Wade make eye contact and Wade feels something in his throat drop to his stomach and the older man’s green eyes glare and pierce him.
“Are you going to ask for my order, or what?” The man on the phone growls, then sighs. “Not you, dipshit, I’m at a coffee shop, hold on a tick.” He places his phone on the counter and continues to stare at Wade.
It took a second for Wade to find his voice. He cleared his throat and shook his head. “I was just...we don’t…”
“Don’t what?” The man barked. “Don’t do your job?”
Wade felt his cheeks flush as he glared back, digging in and speaking more confidently. “Don’t take orders from people who come to the register on their phones. I’ll gladly take your order when-”
The man put his phone back to his ear, getting more annoyed and told the other person he would call him back before hanging up and smirking at Wade. “Happy?” Wade nodded in response. “Great. Great. Give me a triple venti sugar free, nonfat, no foam, extra caramel, with whip caramel macchiato. Then pour regular coffee down the side with two packs of raw sugar and a stir stick on the side.”
Wade bit his lip, his hand hovering over the venti cup because of course this annoying man had a complicated drink order. With his sharpie in hand, he marked off the boxes and took a medium cup to write black coffee on. “Can I get your name, sir?” He said in the most polite and unimpressed voice.
“Franco.” Franco. Of course the name would be something like that, Wade laughed in his head.
“$7.99.” Franco handed Wade a twenty dollar bill and now he just assumed he wanted to make him even more annoyed. “$12.01 is your change and your drink will be down at the bar momentarily.”
The man just nodded, already pressing the redial button on his phone to continue his phone conversation. Wade watched as he leaned his elbow against one of the espresso machines and talk, or now rather yell, at the person on the other end. He knew the drink order would take a while, and could see the distress in Reba’s face when she read the cup, maybe it was karma for her disappearing for so long. Wade smirked to himself as he walked into the back to clock out, he was done for the day.
With his beanie back on his head and his red hoodie zipped halfway up, he walked back onto the floor to find that Franco had gone. Reba was cleaning up a spill by the espresso machine with a sour look on her face that Wade couldn’t help but feel good about. He passed his goodbye to Kyran as he walked out from behind the counter and out the door. The fall weather was creeping up on him ever so quietly and he wished he had brought his fall jacket as well, cursing under his breath and zipping his hoodie up completely. He gripped his keys and walked quickly to his car, unlocking it and shivering as he got in and started it, immediately turning the heater on. Wade sighed, leaning back against the driver’s seat and closing his eye to relax, focusing on the low hum of the engine, incredibly glad to be out of work for the time being. That man, Franco...the way his eyes pierced through Wade’s unsettled him. He never liked suits, and Franco had given him more reason not to like them, silently thankful that he could just wear a button up only occasionally. First thing he would do when he got home today was the laundry so he could wear his polo to work tomorrow.
A yawn escaped from Wade and he reached over to pull his seat belt on and start heading home where he could relax, play some video games, do laundry and not think about that irritating man Franco. Definitely not think about Franco.
