itswillbennett:
Will widened his eyes a bit, his hands reaching hesitantly for the coffee. “Are you sure? You won’t get into trouble with your boss or anything?” He’d met the guy once before, the one who owned the place. Didn’t seem to be much of the type to be all touchy-feely, giving away free coffee to the poor, over-stressed individuals who walked into it. He unloaded his bag off his shoulder, haphazardly stuffing the stray papers back into the bag while taking out his laptop, hopping onto the barstool right up in front of her. He figured while he was here, he’d get some work done. “Only if it’s on the house,” he joked, opening up his laptop. Will reached into his bag again, this time uncovering a large stack of papers neatly bound by a large binder clip, and placed it right next to his laptop.
“So,” he started, as he began to unbind the papers, “are you new here then? I have to say, I come around here a lot and I haven’t seen you around.” After he asked the question, he hoped it didn’t sound too intrusive or creepy. The barista probably had plenty of men coming in and hitting on her all the time. He wanted to be able to come back, after all. They really did have the best coffee in town.
Tyler smiled at the man’s concern. “Don’t worry about that guy, I have him under control,” she said, whipping a rag around to clean up some spots on the counter. It was true--her relationship with Solomon was a good one, and besides, one free coffee wouldn’t close the business. He was cheeky about the cookie--she’d meant for that to be an upsale, but she was feeling generous today. She set a cookie on a napkin in front of him.
“Just pay it forward,” she said with a wink, giving the man his space as he set up his laptop. Definitely some kind of academic.
She stretched out her arms, ready for the silence to begin before the man interrupted it. Not at all unpleasantly, but a bit unexpectedly. She smiled at him, at his nervous energy, doing her best to soothe it with her own calm demeanor.
“Not creepy. It’s a small town, it’s perfectly fine to get curious,” she said knowingly, “And yeah. I’ve only been here for a few months but I practically just started this job. It’s pretty nice, much better than any barista gig in the city.” Even if Lakeham wasn’t quite a small town, it was still a big difference from the other cities she’d lived in.
“And what are you up to there, on your computer?” she gestured to it. She figured if he knew her job, she was allowed to know his.















