Work Text:
"What the hell. Again. You guys always mess up my order."
You looked up at your customer, feeling totally defeated. You didn't realize you were out of the sandwich he wanted. You were just a cashier. No one had told you. You gave him a refund, but in the middle of handing him his cash back, the middle aged man turned whining child slammed his latte onto the register stand.
"Give me a refund for this too. I'm taking my business elsewhere." he demanded.
You panicked and punched some buttons on your computer as quickly as you could. The cash drawer opened up and you handed him his three dollars and fifty nine cents back. The receipt printed and before you could hesitantly ask him for a signature for the refund, he stormed out of the store, muttering something about telling your manager about how bad of an employee you are.
There was still a line, but your coworker was on the other register. You closed the screen on your register and hid in the back. You sat down on a wheeled cart, and just started crying.
Oscar, your supervisor, was in the back, on his break. He saw you walk in, looking upset.
"Hey, hey-heY (YN) what happened? Is everything okay?" he looked at you and grabbed your shoulders. "What's wrong?"
You wiped under your eyes carefully, trying not to mess up your makeup any more than you already had. "You know that dude that orders the hazelnut latte everyday? What's his name? Jeff I think? He was just super rude to me and really scary and I just panicked and he wouldn't sign the refund receipt and we didn't have any more breakfast sandwiche-"
"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. It's fine. Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. Calm down. I'm going to give you your break now. Go fix your makeup. Have a drink, and then I'm gonna put you on the bar. Is that ok?" You nodded yes and he smiled at you. "Don't panic. Ok? Do you want me to get you something?" You sighed.
"Just some water."
"Okay. Come get me next time something like that happens, okay?"
~~~~~~~
You were back on the floor. You'd been switched to the espresso bar from the register, a big relief for you. Being at the register all day made you lose your mind. You didn't have to interact with people as much when you were making drinks.
"Behind your ass!" you heard from behind you. Mark, your coworker, was walking behind you with a coffee urn. He put it on the warmer and walked up to your right side.
"What the hell happened with that guy?" he said. He looked genuinely worried about you.
"You know hazelnut latte Jeff? He was so rude to me this morning. He made me cry. I gave him a refund and everything and he still freaked out on me." You didn't want to explain the whole thing again.
"Dude, what a dick. I'm sorry." Before you could say anything else, he walked off and finished his job. He was like that. He didn't like this job either, but he still took it seriously.
Mark was weird. He was really funny and really friendly, but sometimes he just had this weird sense of humor where you couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. When he was in a good mood, he was a lot of fun. He was great with customers, always introducing himself and making sure he did everything right. You guys became work pals pretty quickly. And you guys were starting to become pals outside of work. And you were trying to come to terms with your itty bitty crush on him.
Maybe not itty bitty. Maybe quite the crush.
He was pretty built, but not overly bulky or anything. He had black hair that was a little overgrown, and these cute, goofy rectangular glasses that accented his face perfectly. He looked like he had mixed asian features, but you never bothered to ask (you figured it was weird to bluntly ask something like that). He was only 5'10, but he was taller than you, which you loved. You got crazy butterflies whenever he brushed past you, (which happened a lot behind a crowded espresso bar). He had this goofy, beautiful smile that you couldn't get out of your mind. You tried to be funny around him, just to see it, and when it worked, oh man, you'd melt.
Sometimes, you felt him being really nice to you. He was nice, in general, but sometimes you'd feel like he was being really nice to you. He always asked how you were, or about what was going on in your life. And it's not like he really needed the updates. You saw him almost every day. You guys didn't know each other particularly well, but you had a lot of fun together at work.
You were relatively new. New within the last three or four months, at least. Mark had been kind of showing you how to do everything. It took some getting used to, but you were finally starting to really get a handle on it. He'd only been there for a few months longer than you, but he felt like he'd been there forever. So much so, that he had just put in his two weeks.
Damn, just when I was starting to get to know him.
He was going to grad school in Los Angeles. Something about TV and web series production. And here you were, still stuck in Chicago. Twenty three and stuck at your humble little Starbucks. You couldn't afford school, and it's not like you really knew what you wanted to do anyway. Starbucks paid the bills; barely, but it did.
You went home, wiped out from the stupid day you had. You'd spent half the morning rush nervous over your feelings for Mark, and the other half in a shitty mood from the interaction with that mean customer. All you wanted was some sleep and some bad TV.
You opened up Facebook, with an invitation to a party, from Mark? You clicked on it, "The last party for Mark!" Oh. The hosts are..Suzy? Who is that? Is that his girlfriend? Oh god. Arin Hanson? Barry Kramer? Kevin Abernathy? Must be his roommates? You wanted to go, badly, but you felt weird about it. It wasn't for a couple more days, so you could feel it out and see if you felt like going. At this exact point in time, you didn't want to think about the combination of you and alcohol in the same room as the boy you liked. You shuddered. What if I do something really dumb. Ugh.
"HEY! (Y/N)! Did you see that invite from Mark?!" your roommate shouted across the apartment. April worked at the same store, and referred you to that job when you were having trouble finding one.
She was tall and thin and really pretty, with dirty blonde hair and blue-green eyes. You were totally jealous, especially since she hardly had to do anything to maintain what she had. You secretly wished she'd get into modeling, but she was such a geek and such a goofball that you didn't see her being really into it.
You and April were pretty close, but when it came to details about your life, you were pretty reserved. As far as you knew, she didn't know about your crush on mark. You didn't want to get into it with her. You trusted her to know, but she was gossipy. You didn't feel like talking about it so much. She had a boyfriend and a pretty stable life, so she thrived off other people's drama and excitement in life.
"Yeah! Are you going?!" you yelled back.
"I really want to!" she came out of her room and into the living room, where you were sitting. "It's the last big party they're having. They're always really fun."
"I know. And it'll my first time really hanging out with people outside of work."
"OOOOOH! Definitely come then! Let's look cute!" You liked that idea. You hadn't worn much besides your work clothes in a while.
"Yeah, let's do it."
~~~~~
"Are you and April gonna go to Mark's thing?" Oscar asked you, with his arms halfway in a sink full of dishes. You sighed. You were so tired.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm kind of nervous." you admitted. Oscar turned off the sink and peaked out to the cafe to see if Mark was busy. He was.
"Is it because of your thing for him?" he asked, at half his regular speaking volume. He looked over at you. You nodded yes.
"Are you going?" you asked him.
"Me? Oh, I don't know. Y'all are all kind of young for me to be hanging out with." he said, laughing.
Oscar was your shift supervisor that you'd grown to have a really nice friendship with. He was older than everyone at the store at 40, but gave a lot of good life advice. You also gave him relationship advice, and he appreciated having the younger perspective. But he'd had his fair share of bullshit from guys, and hearing someone else's troubles took him away from his for a bit. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"It's just, he's moving really soon. But I just cant not say something, you know? I'm probably acting all obviously weird. Oh god, I hope I'm not. But this party thing is gonna probably be the last time I see him."
"(YN), do what feels right. And you know you can call me if it gets too weird and you need a ride home."
"I know. Thanks, Oscar."
"HEY (YN) ARE YOU BACK HERE" Mark screamed into the back. "I NEED HELP! THERE'S A LINE!" No shame, this one.
"Guess I better go." you said. You got up and walked out front, and opened up the second register next to him. Mark gave you a wink right when you typed in your employee numbers, which made your face turn scarlet red.
"Thanks, I appreciate your help." he said, smiling. You looked up, flustered, and stuttered over your words when you called the next customer over.
"Can-I, uh, canigetadrinkstarted for you?"
~~~~~~~~~
"(YN)! Come on! It's 8:30! The Uber is outside! They're gonna leave!"
"Okay shit hold on I cant find my phone!" you yelled back to April. You tore your bedding up looking for it, just to see it on your desk out of the corner of your eye. Of course. You lit up the screen just to find a text from Mark.
"20:31
Hey, are you coming? I was hoping to see you before I left. :("
Oh god. DOES HE KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING?
"yeah! we're ubering over!" you wrote back.
"Good. Can't wait to see you! :D
You and April got out of the car in front of an old brick two-flat about 15 minutes later. You heard music and laughing coming from upstairs. She pulled you aside and pulled out a fifth of Fireball.
"Here. Let's take a swig before we walk in." She handed you the bottle. You took a decent sized gulp and felt the spicy liquor go down your throat. She did the same right after you. With that, you felt like you could take on anything.
You'd decided to go with a blue dress, with short sleeves and a red floral pattern on it. It fit loosely, but it was short- it came to your mid thigh. You wore right red earring studs, and a small necklace with a tiny triforce pendant on it- just enough to reveal the geek inside you. You went with black flats with a t-strap on them, and your hair pulled half back and curled just slightly. You went with your signature I'm trying really hard to be taylor swift cat eye and red lipstick. You looked good, but you felt guilty. Why were you even bothering to dress up? What if he wasn't interested in you? What if he had a girlfriend you didn't know about? What were you going to do like this anyway? Try to start something with him? Try to confess? No way. It wasn't fair to him, or yourself, or anyone there who had to watch that drama unfold.
April and you walked upstairs to a bunch of people talking and laughing, holding drinks, and some sort of indie-pop pandora station playing. The apartment was cute- with fairy lights lit up everywhere and candles lit. The lighting and atmosphere was really chilled out and really fun, and, unfortunately for you, very very shabby chic romantic.
"It's cute in here, huh!" April yelled. Before you got the chance to say anything, you heard someone yelling.
"HEEEEEY! Are you here for Mark?" you heard a female voice yell from somewhere. This cute, curvy girl with black and blonde hair, and thick rimmed glasses ran up to you guys. She was wearing a short dress with a black and white bug pattern on it, thigh high black socks, and knee high combat boots. This is it. She has to be his girlfriend. She's so cute. She's so excited to be here.
"Yeah!" you replied, raising your voice over the noise. You sounded excited, but inside your mind was racing. This was it, man. You were about to be crushed.
Just kidding about taking on anything after that fireball. Being hit by a truck sounded pretty good right now.
"Cool! I'm Suzy. I'm one of his roommates! Come with me! He's on the porch. He's already kind of drunk." she laughed.
Holy shit. She's not his girlfriend. You took a silent breath of relief.
"How do you guys know Mark?" she asked, leading you towards the rear of the apartment.
"Oh. We work at his store."
"OH! Are you April and (YN)?"
"Oh. Yeah." you pointed to April. "She's April, and I'm (YN)" you said, pointing to yourself.
"He talks about you guys all the time." she looked over at you. "You guys must be buddies." Suzy said, winking at you.
What the hell is going on.
"WHAT! I'M KOREAN AS HELL MAN. I KNOW WHAT BI BIM BAP IS!" you heard Mark's signature radio voice booming from outside. You could hear him laughing his ass off from something one of his friends said.
Oh. He's Korean.
You pushed the back door open and you were greeted with a wave of July humidity. You saw Mark sitting directly towards you. The table outside was littered with empty beer bottles and ashtrays and cigarette butts. Besides that, the back porch, or, balcony, rather, looked beautiful. There were more lights stringed up on the railings and ceiling of the covered porch, and citronella candles lit up to keep bugs away. You could smell a grill going from downstairs, and when you looked over, you saw a small yard, and some food set out.
"(YN!) April! YOU'RE HERE!" Mark stood up immediately when he saw you guys, and came in to hug both of you. He hugged April first, but stepped away from her quickly. He came in to hug you, and immediately grabbed you and hugged you very closely. You were stunned. He'd never been physically affectionate with you. You got comfortable and put your head in his chest. You felt him move his hand down to the small of your back. After what seemed like forever (but was actually a few seconds), he awkwardly pulled back, looked at you, then giggled.
"WOooo. I'm drunk, man. Sorry."
"Uh. No problem." you looked back at him, and felt your face get hot. "Um. Excuse me." you said as you walked back inside. You scanned the kitchen, looking for any alcoholic beverage you could get your hands on. You went over the counter, took two shots of whiskey, grabbed a beer from the fridge and quietly went back out. You felt the alcohol from earlier and the beer from now hit you as you went back on the porch. Mark was busy chatting with April and Suzy about his move. All three of them were laughing really hard. You quietly sat down across the table from Mark and listened in.
"Hey man, maybe you'll find a nice girl out there! You never know!" Suzy said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Maybe! You never know!" Mark replied back to her. He looked over and noticed you sitting across from him. His face immediately turned to panic, and he thought over his words before drunkenly spitting something else out.
"But maybe I don't need a girlfriend! Maybe I'm cool with not seeing anyone!"
What.
You couldn't take it. Either you had to leave, or say something.
"(YN)! Where are you going?!" April yelled, seeing you get up and leave. Mark's eyes immediately lit up and followed you towards the back stairs.
"UH, for a walk. I guess. The, uh, smoke is getting to me." you said, spitting out whatever excuse you could. You ran down the stairs and found a quiet place in the alley to sit and think. You were tipsy, you were hot and uncomfortable, and you didn't know what to do with your feelings. Every moment you saw him you just felt them get stronger, and you couldn't stand it. You took a sip of your beer, already half empty at this point. You wanted to cry. You threw your head back and rested it on the garage door.
"Hey. Are you okay?" you heard a voice talking to you. You looked up. It was Mark.
Shit.
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just got kind of overwhelmed." you said. You weren't lying, at least.
The two of you sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, minus the noise coming from the house. You didn't know each other very well, so you didn't have much to talk about. You could also feel the tension in the air between you two, and you couldn't stand it. You finally looked over again to see Mark sitting against the garage next to you. He felt you looking at him and looked up at you too. He moved over closer to you.
"Do you mind if I do this?" he asked, in a much softer tone than you were used to hearing. He was usually so cheerful and loud. He put his arm behind your shoulders and pulled you in closer to him. You nodded no. Your heart was racing. You felt like crying. You were crying. Shit.
"Mark. I'm gonna miss you. You make work so much fun." you said, after minutes of uncomfortable silence. You didn't care that you were crying. You didn't care that it wasn't a real confession. You just had to get something out. You looked up at him to see him staring back at you.
"(YN), when I saw you interviewing at Starbucks, I thought you were so cute. And when you started and I realized how cool you were, I was so glad. I'm so glad we became friends, and I'm sad that I didn't get to know you better before I go to school." You blushed, and smiled. He took his finger to your face and wiped your tears.
"Unfortunately, I can't take back my life plans for a cute girl in Chicago." He grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze, giving you butterflies. "But you can always come out to see me. I'd really like you to come out and visit, actually." he said.
"I can do that, I think. If I ever save up enough money." you sighed. You didn't want to think about that.
"Your makeup is so messed up." he said through a giggle. You laughed and looked at him. You could tell his eyes had welled up, making you blush even more. He looked back at you. His hands moved to your shoulders. His face was now inches from yours. You could hear his breathing, and after the gravity was too much, he leaned in to kiss you. You felt months and months of tension just melt away in that one moment. His lips were soft, and slow, and careful. Whatever this had turned into, he clearly didn't want to mess it up. He pulled back, looking at you again.
"Does this mean you like me?" you said, without thinking.
"Yes." he said back, smiling, looking up at the hazy, city sky. "Yes it does."