it’s snowing, of course it’s snowing - because nothing ever goes her way. pushing past gaggles of tourists ogling the grandeur of new york city in winter, jennifer lynch hurries to her favorite coffee shop. if she doesn’t get her coffee within the next twenty minutes, she’ll miss her class. but she is not about to sit through a two hour lecture without caffeine either.
she pushes open the door to the shop, the bell jingling a cheerful little tune that makes her cringe. shaking the snow from her hair, she sighs in annoyance at the line - before resigning herself to a place in back of the queue. jennifer busies herself with her flashcards as she waits, flipping through various legal terms.
& quicker than she’d expected, it’s her turn to order. barely looking up from her queue cards, she dictates her order to the barista ❛ i’ll have a venti hot caramel macchiato - no whip. ❜ suddenly struck by her lack of tack; jennifer frowns, and finally looks up at the barista ( who isn’t that cute stop blushing, jennifer ), tacking on an embarrassed ❛ please. ❜
It was looking like another long and busy shift for Erin, the redhead stuck asking orders from customers who barely even looked up form their phones enough to yell at her or her co-workers whenever they dared to ask for their names. It was why Erin always valued those handful of customers, usually students, who actually went through the trouble of wishing her a nice day. Customer service was the most ungrateful type of job, but alas, also the only one she could manage to combine with her studies.
Busy as she’d been taking orders, she saw the familiar brunette as soon as she entered the small cafe, and if anyone dared to call Erin out on the fact that she nearly let the styrofoam take-out cup slip from her fingers she’d punch them in the face. Of course, it was a stupid thing to have a crush on a customer - life wasn’t a romance novel, this wasn’t going to go anywhere - but Erin couldn’t help herself. The young woman was smart, pretty, quick-witted, and generally didn’t take anyone’s shit. Erin could respect that.
She went through the next few customers with a bit more speed than usual, beaming brightly when the brunette end up in front of her. She’s mildly disappointed she doesn’t look up from her notes as she dictates her order, but Erin can’t say she really blames her. College is stressful, and she probably has an exam coming up. Erin herself also tended to take out every second she could get for last-minute revision.
“Jennifer, right?” Erin asked, as if she hadn’t remembered the young woman’s name the first time she’d seen her. “On the house. You look like you’ve got enough to worry about already.” Erin smiled. Despite being a horrible coffee junkie herself, she sometimes used her own code to give free drinks to customers who really needed it.
Generally this just meant Jennifer, and occasionally Abby. But Jennifer didn’t need to know that.
