coffee

part sixteen

"You!" Ryan glances up from the latte he's making to look at the dark-haired boy standing in the doorway. Brendon is pointing an accusatory finger at him, the other hand on his cocked hip.

"Um, darling," Ryan deadpans. "Can you maybe not look so campy in my place of business?" He looks at Brendon with a raised eyebrow as the younger boy stalks over to him. He hands the girl her latte with an apologetic look, and she scurries away, casting a nervous glance back at Brendon. "What's up?" Ryan says.

"What's up?" Brendon repeats. "Can you think of something pretty big that you maybe didn't tell me?"

"Um," Ryan says, eyebrows furrowed as he thinks. "Oh. By the way, I have work right now?"

"Wrong," Brendon says. "They broke up. Spin and Jon broke up."

"Yeah," Ryan says. "They kind of did."

"I was left uninformed!" Brendon cries. "I walked into the fucking cave of misery today totally unaware!"

"You didn't," Ryan says, eyes wide. "You went to Spencer's?"

"I thought he was going to kill me, Ryan," Brendon whimpers. "It was awful. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I certainly didn't think you'd go off and make the monster mad," Ryan snaps. "Jesus Christ."

"You gotta tell me these things, Ryan. You gotta tell me that I'm gonna get wrecked if I go into Spencer Smith's lair."

"Okay," Ryan says. "This is okay. We'll just do a little damage control. My shift is over, like, now, so we'll go over, and we'll bring some treats, and everything will be fine."

"Dude," Brendon says. "So I'm right to be terrified of Spin Smith?"

"You have no idea," Ryan says. "Now, go wait in the car. I'll be out in a minute."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Brendon says, giving Ryan a mock salute. He scurries out of the shop, and Ryan heaves a heavy sigh, running his hands through his hair.

"Linda!" He calls to the other girl on shift. She pokes her head out of the lounge, cigarette dangling from her bottom lip. "The fuck?" Ryan says, looking pointedly at it.

"Fuck you," Linda replies. "I had the morning shift. You're lucky I'm not half-way through a bottle of JD. Now, what?"

"I need every chocolate muffin that we have in stock, please," Ryan says, batting his eyelashes.

"Spencer got dumped?" Linda says, eyes wide. Ryan nods. "By Jon?" Ryan nods. "Do I have permission to kick J-Walk in the balls?"

"Er," Ryan says, fighting the urge to shield himself. "Maybe some other time. Muffins, please?"

"Right," Linda nods. "I'm on it chief." She disappears into the store room.

"You're a life-saver, Linda!" Ryan calls after her. He tugs his apron off, puts it on his hook, and waits for Linda to emerge from the back. When she does, she's carrying a box filled with individually wrapped chocolate muffins. "Angel," Ryan murmurs, taking the box from her.

"My shift manager will not forget this, will he?" Linda says.

"Not a chance," Ryan laughs. "Thank you sweetheart."

"You're welcome," Linda beams. Ryan gives her a grateful smile, and turns to leave, but Linda says, "Hold up." Ryan looks at her curiously. "Did that adorable hunk of boy belong to you?"

"Oh my God," Ryan groans. "Yes," he says. "Isn't he -"

"Perfect?" Linda says. "Jesus Christ, yeah. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven."