begin again // joe keery

♡two♡

"if you don't mind." she said, topping off natalia's drink with some cream.

"of course not." joe took the drink, watching as lillie moved over to the heater to collect the food for them. she plated it quickly, bringing it over to him.

"you gonna be good with all of this or do you want a hand?" she asked. he shook his head, taking the plate in his free hand.

"i'm good." he said. "i'll be back before we leave."

"look forward to it." lillie grinned, watching him head back over to natalia, before she busied herself with starting the next few orders.

over the next half an hour lillie snuck glances at joe as she made drinks for the steady stream of customers that came through the door, wishing that they would just stop so that she could take a moment to go chat with joe and natalia.

she was out of luck, however, when the pair stood up to leave as lillie was making her third latte in ten minutes. joe said something to natalia, who responded with a teasing grin. joe shook his head, before making his way over to the collection point of the counter.

"so 5?" he said, leaning against the counter again. lillie nodded, a smile on her face.

"5." she replied simply.

"see you then, just lillie." joe winked, before standing up and leaving before lillie could even reply, too flustered to even realise the milk was finished frothing.

✭✭✭✭✭

true to his word, joe pushed open the door a minute before 5pm.

"sorry sir, we're just about to close." lillie joked. joe feigned annoyance.

"and here i was thinking it was the perfect time to get the largest, most complicated order you have." he replied. lillie laughed.

"you joke but so many customers do exactly that." she said. "i swear the orders around closing time get more complicated on purpose just to spite us."

"who are you talking- oh hey joe." romy exited the kitchen, having just finished cleaning up the back area.

"hey." he smiled.

"we're gonna go for a walk so i don't need you to drop me home tonight." lillie said, and romy shot her a cheeky look.

"i see." she winked, moving past the pair to flick the sign on the door to closed. "you can go lills, i'll finish packing up here." 

"are you sure?" lillie frowned. romy nodded. 

"go." she prompted. lillie shot her a thankful smile, before turning to joe. 

"give me 5 minutes to change and grab my bag." she said, and he grinned. 

"take your time." he replied. "anything i can do to help while i wait romy?" 

lillie didn't hear her friend's answer, too busy rushing to the backroom to change into the playsuit she kept in her bag in case her and romy decided to go out after a shift. she fixed her hair quickly, before making sure her makeup looked okay, and headed back out to the front of the cafe where joe and romy were chatting. 

"ready to go?" joe looked up as she entered the room, a grin appearing on his face. 

"you look really nice." he complimented. "and yep, i'm ready." 

"see you tomorrow morning lillie." romy grinned. "and probably you too joe." 

and with a final goodbye, the pair left romy to head out and find a nice place for their walk.