The missing piece

The next day

Liliana's voice

Waking up this morning on the couch with a terrible headache. I feel like I've been on a boat for about a month. I look over to see Clara fast asleep and smile at her.

When I came home from work yesterday, we talked all night about how Clara and Lilah are on the rocks.... Again. Basically what happened is that Lilah was hanging out with her ex and Clara got jealous. Lilah isn't interested in him anymore but I get it. I wouldn't want an ex in my relationship either, not that I have one but it's nice to imagine.

I decided to get up and grab some coffee, hopefully it will help my headache. As I'm pouring my coffee I realise, I have work today. I look at the time and it is 4:40AM. CRAP. I need to leave in 10 minutes! I rush around trying not to wake Clara up and get showered and dressed in my all black uniform. I don't have time to put make up on but I don't really care.

I grab an apple and head out, carefully closing the door and almost sprinting to work. Of course my clumsiness has to come out now and I trip over, luckily not hurting myself. I get up and continue on my sprint to work. The closer I get, the more I calm down knowing that I will be there on time.

When I get there, I am 1 minute early. Yes Lili!! I step inside and the place is empty apart from Derek, my manager. He smiles wide at me and walks towards me saying "good morning Liliana" and puts his broom down.

"Good morning Derek, how was your evening? Didn't you say you were going to watch the football?" I ask, smiling and trying to keep on his good side.

He smiles brightly, "yeah I did. It wasn't a great game but what can you do? How was your evening with your flatmate?" He asks starting to sweep again as I put my things out back and get my apron.

Coming out of the staff area I reply, "yeah, we drank a little bit too much and I'm paying for it now" with a giggle as I start to clean the tables and surfaces. He didn't tell me to, but I figured it would be helpful. When I look up at him, I see worry plastered on his face.

"Are you alright? Do you need to go home? Sit down, I'll do this" he says, firing his question at me as though he was on the Black Pearl and I start to giggle.

"Derek, please. I'm really ok." I smile at him. "Thank you though" I add. He nods and turns to the kitchen.

"I'll just do some bits in here. Can you serve any customers that come in please? Let me know if you need a hand" he adds and I hum in response.

After around ten minutes of filling my time the bell rings at the entrance, signalling someone has come in. I turn to go to the counter and stop when I see the handsome man in front of me. Wow. He's the kind of guy that would dominate any room. His eyes, captivating.

He stares into my eyes and I feel as though I would give him anything he asked for, which is good considering he'll want to order from me. I look down at my apron to break the eye contact and ask "hello there Sir, how are you today?" And blush a little throughout my sentence as my gaze travels up to his face again.

He smirks at me and replies "hello little miss, I'm doing just fine now, how are you?" And I feel like the luckiest girl in the world just because he asked me how I am.

Smiling I say "I'm better now thank you. What can I get for you today?" Blinking frequently to ensure I don't go into a daze again.

He clears his throat and a hard expression comes to his face. "I'll just have a double espresso please" he says not looking at me.

I nod and put it into the machine as I automatically ask for his name "could I have your name for that please?" And then it hits me. The place is empty, I don't need his name for this task although I really would love to know it.

As I go to retract my statement he smiles down at me and replies "Nick and you don't seem to have a name tag like Derek, what is your name little lady?" His eyes piercing into mine and I blush getting flustered. Why does he want to know my name?

"My name is Liliana, but everyone calls me Lili" i say nervous as to wether or not this man will like my name. Me, the feminist..... internal facepalm.

He smiles again "Liliana. Beautiful. I would never shorten such a name" he says softly and an eruption of butterflies takes place in my stomach. I blush and look down until I feel a warm, tough finger slide gently under my chin and it makes me tingle. The finger tilts my head up to face Nick and he smiles at me AGAIN! Breathtaking. "Please don't look away from me Liliana, I don't like it" almost whispering that last part.

I can't help but nod and an "I'm sorry" slips out as I'm stunned by his words. We are interrupted by his phone ringing and his face goes hard as stone again as he answers the phone aggressively.

"What??" He almost growls as I start making his coffee. I try not to listen but I did hear "dead" "lose" and "job". Who is this guy? Whoever he is, I hope I see him again. I feel safe around him. He's intriguing too.

Once I'm done with his coffee. I write a little note on a napkin as I can see this call will take a while saying:

"It was lovely to meet you today. I'll look forward to making you coffee again."

Proud of my writing for once, I slip it under his cup and he walks over to take his coffee and does a double take at the note, his face breaking away from the stone cold for just a second. "I'll call you back Jason" he says and hangs up to my surprise.

"I didn't think I would have the opportunity to say goodbye so I gave you the note but now that seems childish so I'm sorry" I say, embarrassed and shocked as to where the confidence I had, had come from.

"I wouldn't ever leave you without saying goodbye Miss Liliana" he said with a soft expression, making me blush.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning" he says dominantly and I almost fall to my knees.

I realise that I'm not working until 11 tomorrow and stutter out "I- I'm not working until 11 tomorrow but my colleague Bec-" he cuts me off.

"Then I'll be here at 11:15, so you can settle in" he smiles taking out a £20 note and I realise I forgot to charge him. "Keep the change" he says and I look at him shocked. It's only 80 pence for what he ordered!

"Thank you Sir. I'll see you tomorrow" I smile and he grabs his phone and walks out.

What just happened...?