I Want The ‘K’ 17. Goofy Kiss
The face of a certain barista stared back at her from the table she was wiping down with a damp washcloth, a bottle of surface cleaner set on one of the chairs belonging to the table she stood in front of. The damp washcloth was swiped over and over across the table until, finally, with one last swipe around the table’s edges, the head barista paused to lean back to scrutinize her work with a keen glare. The café’s windows had been wiped down during her morning break, both on the interior and the exterior of the small, homey-looking establishment.
Smiling slightly, she nodded in approval of her work, folding the damp washcloth and picking up the bottle of surface cleaner, carrying both items over to the service counter, bumping the prep area’s door open with her hip—only to pause in mid-stride, pointing a lukewarm stare on the smirking man who stared back at her, carrying a serving tray of food and drinks in his hands.
“What are you doing?” she asked, quirking a brow in curiosity.
“What am I doing? Why, I’m catering to the customers, Boss,” he replied, flicking his onyx eyes on the serving tray he was delicately balancing in his hands.
Mod Barista flicked a stare on the serving tray he was holding, humming in thought. It was one of the larger serving trays she had in her stack of dishes, necessary for the assortment of food and drinks that were placed on it. There were three steaming bowls of hearty, homemade chicken soup, three bread rolls, a small container of butter, napkins, three soup spoons and three knives, and three forks. Three delicate slices of raspberry swirl cheesecake sat atop fragile plates, and three cups of steaming beverages, tea, coffee, and hot cocoa, completed the customers’ lunch order.
“If you’ll excuse me, three precious dears are waiting for me to return, Boss~.”
There was a clear singsong note of teasing present in the frizzy-haired male’s voice, the charming smirk still curling the corner of his lips as he waded around the manager of the café with a “Excuse me” leaving his smirking lips. The head barista watched him go with a slight scowl on her face, a brow twitching as she breathed a sigh through her mouth.
“...It’s better if I just let it slide,” she mumbled to herself, stooping down to put the bottle of surface cleaner in the cabinet underneath the sink, where the cleaning supplies were kept.
The folded washcloth was gripped between her fingers, carrying the damp item over to a door to the right of the refrigerator and the pantry, bumping the door open with her free hand. The washcloth was promptly tossed into the small laundry basket, pivoting sharply on her heels and backtracking her way out to the service area.
The telltale jingle of the small bell over the café’s entrance caught her attention, flicking a stare at the entrance of the Huggamug Café. The face of an unfamiliar customer caused her eyes to light up, a smile already curling her lips as she waited for a few moments, watching the customer approach an empty table and slide into one of the chairs before she waded around the service counter. The click-clicks of her suede shoes gave her approach away.
Mod Barista stopped to the left of the customer, offering the new customer a small, welcoming smile as she raised her notepad, clicking the tip of her ballpoint pen.
“Welcome to the Huggamug Café. I’m Mod Barista. What would you like to order...? Ah?”
She scribbled down the customer’s request as it was uttered, staring down at the order that was scratched on to the white paper in blue ink. “Order number 17, is that right? Understood. I’ll be right back,” she said, pausing to nod her head before pivoting on her heels.
At least no customer’s requested for an order of number 12, 13, or 14. Yet, she mused mentally, the soles of her suede shoes clicking over the café’s floor as she approached the table where a certain frizzy-haired, onyx-eyed man stood, casually chatting with the three female customers whose order had been delivered not even five minutes ago.
“Hey,” she addressed the bespectacled man, watching—and with a twitching brow, at that—as he turned on his heels, slowly, as he raised a hand, readjusting the glasses that were perched on his nose.
“Yeeeees, Boss~?” The female customers broke out into a peal of giggles at the lazy, teasing drawl present in his voice, smirking as the head barista breathed a sigh.
“A new customer’s requested you. Order number 17,” Mod Barista said, narrowing her eyes at her co-worker as he nodded.
“Order number 17, hm? Interesting,” he mused softly, turning back to the three snickering customers.
“My apologies, ladies, but I must go cater to another lovely woman’s request. Please enjoy your lunch,” he said, pausing to bow before straightening his posture.
The man turned on his heels and honed his eyes on the most recent customer, and a newcomer at that, a flattering smile pulling on his lips as he approached the table where she sat.
“Good afternoon, miss, and welcome to the Huggamug Café. The Boss said that you requested an order of number 17 from this gentleman, correct?”
Unlike the customer whose order he catered to earlier, this particular woman wasn’t as painfully shy as the last one had been. A dust of pink highlighted her cheeks as she raised a hand, twirling a lock of hair around her index finger as she nodded, polishing off her quiet sentiments with a somewhat nervous laugh.
She’s still a bit shy, though. Shy, but easy on the eyes. Cute, he mused silently, pausing to give her sitting form a quick once-over glance, nodding in silent acceptance. She was dressed rather plainly, but appropriate for the current season. He took a few sparse moments to admire the brief show of skin around her collarbone, especially as she leaned forward a bit, staring up at him with those coy, doe-like eyes he was so familiar with...
“Well... I mustn’t keep such a beautiful lady waiting too long, should I?”
A second, slightly more nervous giggle left the customer as his back curved, dipping to bow before her as he reached for the customer’s hand—and just as she was standing upright, too. Unexpectedly, their lips connected pretty quickly, quicker than he was expecting. In fact, he hadn’t meant to kiss her on the lips at all, but...
He wasn’t entirely against the soft warmth of her mouth pressing against his own, either.
A quiet hum of appreciation tickled the back of his throat as, slowly, he leaned away from her mouth. A soft smile pulled on his mouth as he traced circles on the back of her hand, carefully rolling the pads of his fingers, gently pressing his digits into her skin as he breathed a chuckle into her face.
“Well... I must say that was quite the surprise, dear. Thank you for amusing this,” he paused, mentally chewing his words before continuing to talk. “...simple barista this afternoon. I hope your order was to your approval, miss.”
He paused to lean in to whisper in her ear, his voice as smooth as candy coated in honey.
“I love your choice of lip gloss, by the way. Is it... strawberry flavoured, perchance?”
“Quit pestering her already,” the head barista said, a light growl clipping on the edge of her voice as her words were uttered.
“Why, Boss... If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were feeling a bit green~.”
“Not in a million years, troublemaker. Get back to work.”
Mod Barista turned to address the customer, losing the annoyed look, losing the heated undertone to her voice as she smiled slightly.
“I hope your order was alright. Please come again soon, and thank you for your business.”