peppermint to be // bronnie

ii

I couldn't sleep the night after I first said his name to him. I spent too much time denying the things Dave kept telling me, it frustrated me that I couldn't just completely block it out. It was exactly like a shit I couldn't hold.

Then at about three in the morning, I let myself process the concept of having feelings for a costumer. I let myself shit. For a moment I also let myself think about him having feelings towards me. I think about how it must feel to be held by him and how his lips might taste just like our seasonal drinks.

I abruptly stopped myself. Me, with a man that pretty? Never. He's probably straight -- taken, even. I don't like him because someone else probably already does. I simply couldn't like him.

When I got to work in the morning, I actually had a cup of our coffee.

"You never drink our coffee," Dave pointed out, wiping down tables. "Rough night, huh?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Must be tough jerking off to one of our frequent costumers every night."

"Shut up. Shut up forever."

Dave chuckled, "my bad, sorry."

I glared at him before going into the back room to check if we had everything for the day. My head was foggy as I did. Fucking Brandon had to come into my head like the ghost of Christmas present to haunt me.

"Dude -- are you okay?" Dave said, walking in behind me, startling me.

"Jesus, Dave. Yeah, sure, everything's great," I murmured, not turning to face him.

"Are you sure? You've been staring at the same bag of beans for five minutes."

I blinked, realizing that I had been. I couldn't give him the satisfaction of being right. I just couldn't.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dave asked awkwardly.

"Nothing's wrong!" I snapped, spinning around and finally facing him.

"Is it Brandon?"

"Don't fucking talk to me!"

"It's Brandon! God, why don't you just stop being such a big fat pussy and say it out loud!"

"Say what out loud?! What is there to say out loud?!"

"That you like him! That you-you're fucking attracted to him!"

"I'm not. I don't like him. He's nothing."

"Here we go again! Ronnie, you need to admit these feelings to someone so you can finally admit it to yourself!"

"There's -- there's nothing to admit. How do you even know I like this guy?"

It was clear I was pushing Dave to his boiling point. He was growing a deep red in his face. "D-don't turn this around again, jackass! I know you like him!"

This was enough for me. I didn't even know why I was so angry, but I was. I was fuming. "You don't fucking know anything!" I exploded.

Dave suddenly breathed in deeply. As he let out the breath, the wildness in his expression disappeared. "Ronald, I guess I can't force you to say anything," he said calmly, "but I do want you to know that doing this is just going to make you more upset."

"I'm not upset."

"Whatever. You're not happy either." We stared at each other for a moment. The atmosphere was still tense and I was still pretty pissed off. "I'm going to open up now," he muttered and walked out of the room.

****

Interaction between Dave and I was cold from our argument on. I hated to feel like Brandon managed to brightened things up for me. He walked in like usual, glowing like a Greek god.

He ordered the white hot chocolate and if Dave's glare at me could shoot lasers, he would not have needed to steam the milk.

"Pu-ssssss-y," he hissed upon giving me the finished drink.

I was so bewildered by his remark, I just stood there staring at him. He furrowed his eyebrows before turning his back to me, forcing me to deliver the drink to Brandon.

I called his name and he floated over, unreal. It was unfair how beautiful he was. A fucking American prince, it was so frustrating. I was so distracted by it that I forgot to set the drink on the counter and continued to stare at him. So, of course, I had to awkwardly hand it off to him.

If our fingers brush even in the slightest, I don't think I'll make it passed Thanksgivings, I thought as our hands approached each other. Ever so gently, I felt our fingertips brush as he wrapped his hand around the cup. I felt a rush through my body that felt like all the temperatures combined. Yet, to him it was just a normal interaction.

"Thanks," he smiled. Unexpectedly, he looked up at me, his stupid big hazel eyes staring back into my shit colored eyes. "You know, we see each other everyday, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Oh, uh, it's Ronnie," I managed.

"Ronnie, huh, cute."

That was it, I thought I was going to pass away right then and there. I grabbed the edge of the counter and tried not to go into the light.

He took a sip of the drink and I prayed to every god anyone has believed in that Dave made a damn good drink so Brandon would continue coming back.

"Hmmf," Brandon breathed.

I felt a lump in my throat.

"It's good," he continued.

"Yeah?" I accidentally exclaimed.

Then he let out the most precious giggle to ever exist on this planet. A giggle that could make the manliest blush -- and God, was I blushing. "Yeah, it's good!" He smiled. "As always."

"Oh yeah, that's all David's work," I shrugged.

"David?"

"Curly hair."

"Ohhh, I guess he's the brain and you're the muscle?"

"We're both the muscle, there is no brain."

No one would have ever guessed his laugh was identical to his precious giggle. He precious-laughed at my joke. I would never refer to the feeling in my core as butterflies, but fuck, if those critters inhabited my stomach, there would be enough to fly me away.

Eventually he finished the hot chocolate which meant our time together was up. I was disappointed for being so disappointed.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked after throwing his cup away.

"Sure, absolutely," I nodded. I felt like I was spinning like a top.

"Okay then...Ronnie." Maybe it was my imagination, but I believe he winked at me.

Dave, the curly-asshole, was beginning to become right.