First Encounter
“Caramel Latte...James? James, are you listening to me? James, James? Earth toooo James.”
Sirius waves his arms in front of his face, blocking his view and James blinks dumbly for a few seconds in his direction.
“Yeah?”
“Caramel Latte” Sirius repeats, shooting him a funny look “need me to remind you how to make it?”
He shakes his head, turning away from the inquisitive stare “nah I got it” he says and then when Sirius has turned back to the register he sneaks a glance at the recipe book murmuring the number of syrup pumps under his breath. It’s only his fourth day on the job and already he worries that he’s making a right mess of it all. He checks and double checks the milk, making sure it’s frothy enough and berates himself mentally when he forgets to put the espresso on in advance. Sirius is up at the front, effortlessly balancing chatting with the customer and making a frappuccino - a drink that Sirius has banned James from making after he forgot to put the lid on the blender. ”It was Just once” he says but Sirius only rolls his eyes “one is too many times, you got cream in my hair.” James wonders if this will ever come as naturally to him as it does to his friend, if anything will.
“Caramel Latte” he calls out once he’s checked for the third time that the lid is secure. A girl with bouncy brunette hair takes it from his hand, barely even glancing in his direction as she shoots Sirius a thousand watt smile. “Well I'll see you around” she simpers before walking away with a swish to her hips. James swears sometimes that some people only come in to flirt with Sirius, he wonders how much money the shop would lose if he ever quit.
“So” Sirius says once she has gone, leaning against the countertop “what’s up with you then?”
James can’t meet his eyes, so instead he focuses on a scuff mark skirting his black converse “nothing” he lies.
He can practically feel Sirius rolling his eyes. James has always been easy to read, his mum used to say that it’s a good job he never took up knitting because he couldn’t spin a yarn to save his life. Even so, Sirius has always been the one that read him best and he knows before the word has even left his lips that it’s useless.
“Right” Sirius hums, unconvinced.
“Is she a regular?” James interrupts, speaking as usual before his brain can catch up with his mouth.
“Who?”
He nods in the direction of the girl he’d been looking at when Sirius was telling him to make the caramel latte. “The redhead” he says “in the bright yellow raincoat.”
Sirius peers over his shoulder, “mmm” he nods “she comes here a lot, mostly with that hot blonde chick, Marlene? I think her name is. Dunno what Red's name is though, why do you like her?”
James doesn’t know what to say but he’s saved by the tutting of an impatient customer. A middle aged woman tapping her fingertips on the wood, eyeing the little bell as if thinking about slamming her whole hand down on it. Sirius lets out a little huff of air before spinning around and flashing her his best customer service face. Within seconds her annoyance seems to melt away, so easily charmed by a flash of teeth and sparkling grey eyes. James resists the urge to roll his eyes once more, there’s just something about Sirius Black that most people can’t resist.
So he turns his attention back to the girl. She’s sitting by the window and though it was raining merely half an hour ago there’s a weak sunshine filtering through the glass and catching on her hair. It glows a deep dusky red and James finds himself transfixed by the way that every time she turns her head it seems to shine a different colour, a kaleidoscope of autumn leaves. She appears to be deep in thought, listening intently to something that Marlene (the blonde girl that Sirius had identified) was saying, nodding periodically. There was a little furrow between her eyebrows and between her fingertips she held onto the tiny gingerbread biscuit that came with lattes, drumming It down onto the saucer absentmindedly.
“Are you gonna get a drink?” He hears Marlene tease “or did you just come to steal my gingerbread?”
The redhead grins, popping the biscuit into her mouth whole “both” she replies before standing up from her chair “be back in a min.”
James almost pushes Sirius to the floor in his haste to shove him away from the cash machine before she gets there. He vaguely registers him letting out a little oomph as his side collides with the counter top. Aw well, he’ll make it up to him later but right now he just absolutely has to talk to the mystery girl.
“Hi” she says sweetly “are you new?” and James thinks the sound of her voice is perfect, her accent is more edgier than he thought it would be. Unlike the lofty posh tones of Sirius or the rounded Welsh tongue of Remus.
“Hi” he says back dumbly before clearing his throat “I-i mean yeah, just started this week.”
She smiles and James feels his heart skip a beat in chest. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, he’s never been this entranced by a complete and utter stranger before. “Thought I hadn’t seen you before” she hums “well just a hot chocolate for me please.”
She reaches into the pockets of her yellow raincoat and as she counts coins James wonders how such a bold colour doesn’t clash with her hair. Behind him Sirius clears his throat and he jumps a little before quickly recovering and sliding the coins she’s placed onto the counter into his open palm. “Coming right up” he says with a smile then curses himself inside for not having a more interesting response.
“Thank you” she says and James starts to wonder what word exactly could accurately describe the shade of her green eyes.
He thinks about them while he makes the hot chocolate, shaking extra dark chocolate flakes on top of the cream. Drawing a smiley face in thick sharpie on the outside of the takeaway cup.
“Here you go” he says with a smile as he passes it over and the smile she gives him in return makes his heart flutter. “What’s your nam-“ he starts to say but the blonde girl is back tapping the redhead on the shoulder.
“Frank and Alice split up” she says with a grim face “we’ve gotta go.”
She frowns, a little crease appearing between dark red eyebrows as she lets Marlene tug her from the shop. “Poor Alice” he thinks he hears her say and then the bell of the doors tinkling and she’s turning around quickly green eyes flashing “thanks by the way!”
Then she’s gone and Sirius is staring at him with raised eyebrows and an amused smirk. Suddenly James doesn’t think taking the job was such a disaster of an idea after all, not if there’s any hope of seeing her again.
“Shut up” he mumbles to Sirius’ smirking face “not a word” and Sirius just laughs.