Tee smiled politely to the customer in front of him. If his manager hadn’t been right across the room glaring at him he would have stopped smiling two minutes ago already, the dumbass’ drinks would have flown in his face and covered his shirt in pink and brown stains.
“I’m sorry sir but as I have previously told you I simply cannot put more extra shoots in your drink.”
“And I already said that I needed three more shoots.”
Tee clenched his fist under the counter. Who the hell ordered eight extra shoots in their coffee? Even he had never done this when exams came around and he was the first to gulp down three cups in ten minutes when taking a break from studying.
“Sir, I really can not make the drink you want.”
The man frowned. He glanced around and his eyes fell on the manager badge Tee’s superior wore. A small, sly smile appeared on his face.
“Okay. Mind waiting for a few– at that moment the old lady behind him sighed loudly and stomped her feet angrily– I’ll be quick.”
Tee watched him hurry over his manager and felt an irresistible need to smash his head against the counter. Instead he politely turned to the queue that was starting to lose their mind. Dealing with rightfully upset customers was the worst part of his job.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, he announced in his costumer service voice, I appreciate your patience.”
He smiled as believably as he could and nodded. He saw a couple walk out, they looked pretty pissed off.
“Tee, his manager yelled.”
The poor barista turned around and pitifully looked at his boss.
“Just make the drink.”
Tee gritted his teeth and obeyed. Once the drink was done he quickly gave it to the man and went to the cash register.
“Aren’t you…”
He raised an eyebrow as the costumer left his sentence unfinished. Was he supposed to be a mind-reader now? He wasn’t even done with his third year of college and his high school diploma wouldn’t help him figure out what he meant to ask.
“What?”
“Aren’t you supposed to write names on it?”
What now? He had made Tee waste so much time and now he wanted to bother him even more?
“Name.”
He grabbed the pink milk and waited for an answer.
“...”
He had opened his mouth only to close it again. He seemed uncomfortable and Tee felt good about himself for once; he hoped the man was having second thoughts on bothering him for that long.
“Name?”
“Mork.”
Tee quickly wrote it down and took the hot chocolate.
“This one?”
“Gord.”
“The latte?”
“Ching.”
Then Tee grabbed the last drink, the one he had just made and wrote on it.
“What- What are you doing? I didn’t tell you for who it was...”
“I don’t need a name for that one.”
In large letters on the cup Tee had written “PSYCHO >:(”.
♡ ♥︎ ♡ ♥︎ ♡ ♥︎ ♡
Morn excitedly took a hold of his drink, a wide grin across his face.
“Thanks bro!”
Mork shrugged knowing his joy would be short-lived, and he was right for as soon as Morn read what the barista wrote his smile vanished.
“Bro, he whined, what did you do?”
“It’s your fault, who orders that many extra shoots anyway?”
Gord let out a quiet giggle but Morn frowned and glared at him so he fell silent again. Ching took a sip of her drink and scrolled through her twitter timeline absentmindedly.
“So, was it the cute barista?”
Mork blushed. He hated her so much for bringing him up. Yes, it was the cute barista, of course it had to be the cute barista that took care of his brother’s dumb order and his own pink milk addiction really did not help make a good impression.
“I still don’t know who you’re talking about. The boy I saw wasn’t that attractive.”
That was a lie. Of course he was attractive, his smile had already taken his breath away and he barely knew how to act in front of him and now he had showed him his bad side when he got mad. A never ending flow of thoughts filled his mind, he felt so many things at once and Ching really did not help.
“Sure, she replied nonchalantly, you don’t see who I mean.”
“If you really want to know he was probably around my age and he had rather long hair and looked a bit girly.”
“Don’t say girly, she said, you don’t know if he is okay with that.”
“Okay. Well anyway he is a bit taller than me and smiles a lot. He looks confident but there’s also something vulnerable about him, he always looks like he is longing for some-”
Ching raised an eyebrow quizzically and took another sip of her drink.
“Someone?”
“Nevermind, he gnarled.”
He settled down on a chair and started sulking. Ching continued to look at her timeline, glancing at Mork from time to time as his pink milk slowly brought a smile to his face.
“Bro, Morn called.”
“Hmm?”
“How do know you’re in love?”
Mork almost choked. He coughed and hit his chest as he struggled to inhale. Ching jolted up and ran over him; she started hitting his back, worry covering her face. Once he had managed to steady his breathing he looked at his brother.
“I- Why? No- Wait. How, how would I know?”
“Well since you’re old you probably know.”
Mork frowned.
“Since I’m what? I think I misheard.”
“You’re old, Morn yelled, it’s okay grandpa I know you’re hard of hearing, I’ll speak louder. I. Will. Speak. Loud. Er.”
Mork jumped to his feet, grabbed the small one’s neck and put him in a headlock.
“What’s that you punk?”
“I’m sorry, Morn cried, I’m sorry! I won’t do this again I swear!”
Ching laughed heartily as Morn quickly ran up to Gord once he was freed. Morn wrapped his arms around his friend and started pouting.
“I’m never going near you again, you bully!”
Gord ran his fingers through Morn’s hair.
“Don’t act like you didn’t deserve it.”
“Morn, Ching interrupted, are you a baby koala?”
Morn raised an eyebrow quizzically, waiting for a further explanation.
“Clinging onto Gord like that, she continued, you might as well just get glued together.”
Gord blushed, he tried to distance himself from Morn but the boy snuzzled his neck.
“Leave me alone, I may show my love however I want to!”
“What love, Gord asked with a nervous laugh.”
Morn got up, a frown appeared on his face.
“Okay no more hugs for you then.”
“What? No, wait, Gord blurted, come back here.”
Mork who had stared silently so far met Ching’s glance. Both of them heaved a sigh as Morn ended up lacing fingers with Gord.
“Do you think they know?”
Ching’s question went unnoticed by the younger boys who were too absorbed in their own conversation.
“Honestly, I don’t think they realise it.”