Phil Lester walked into Beans & Co., the coffeeshop across the street from Barnes and Noble (where he now worked as a cashier) at exactly 7:00am on a crisp Monday morning. He was honestly feeling a little jittery, for this was his first day working since moving to London from the suburbs where he grew up. He was hoping to pursue a career in photography and film, but was working at Barnes and Noble to pay the bills. He inhaled the woody aroma of coffee, and walked up to the register with a bright smile.
"Hello!" He chirped to the cashier, a girl with curly pink hair.
"Hey!" she smiled. "How may I help you?"
"Could I have a medium vanilla latte with almond milk, please?" Phil asked. He was lactose intolerant and had to use almond milk in his coffee, which didn't really bother him because it tasted pretty good anyway.
"I'm sorry but we don't carry almond milk, would lactose free be okay?"
"Yeah, yeah of course." Phil answered.
"Name?"
"Phil," he answered, and the cashier scribbled it onto a cup. He proceeded to pay and headed over to the pick-up area.
Phil heard his name be called, and took the drink from cocoa-haired boy with similarly brown eyes, wearing a cozy pastel green sweater under his black apron.
"Thank you," Phil chirped to the boy, and hurried to the Barnes and Noble, sipping the coffee.
The next day, and the day after, an almost identical situation occurred, Phil coming in at seven, ordering his vanilla latte with lactose free milk (learning from his first encounter) from the pink haired cashier, and taking the coffee from the brown haired boy with a different pastel colored sweater every day. Except on Thursday, he noticed the pastel sweater boy (as Phil had begun calling him in his head) was missing, and instead was handed his coffee by a pale, dirty blonde haired man of about 20 with a cute fedora perched on his head.
"Thank you!" Phil said. "Hey, do you know where the guy who usually works this shift is? I was getting used to him being here," Phil chuckled.
"Oh, that would be Dan. He had to call in sick today, I think he has a cold," the fedora clad man said. "I'm Patrick, by the way. Dan should be back tomorrow, though, don't worry about him."
"Ah, got it. I miss him!" Phil said, smiling as he left Beans & Co..
As Friday rolled by, Phil rolled into the coffeeshop at precisely 7:00am, as always, and ordered his latte. He noticed Dan was back when he went to grab his drink.
"Thanks, Dan!" Phil smiled as he took his drink.
"No problem," Dan said quietly. "Wait, how do you know my name?" He looked at his apron. "We don't wear name tags."
"I asked about you when you were gone! I noticed you were missing, after a while you come to care for the people you see everyday," Phil laughed. "I asked Patrick, who was covering your shift." He took a sip of his latte. He noticed it tasted different.
"Say, did you start serving almond milk?" Phil asked.
Dan's cheeks reddened, and he ran a hand through his hair.
"Ah, haha, I, um, noticed you asked for it the first day, and bought it especially for you..." Dan chuckled nervously.
"That's so sweet! I don't know what to say, thank you so much, Dan."
Dan blushed even more, and said, "No problem, Phil." Phil started to walk away, when Dan called after him.
"Hey, Phil!"
"Yeah?"
Dan fiddled with the string on his apron, and swallowed, before he said:
"Remember Patrick? Well, he's in a band, and they're playing tomorrow... I don't know if you're into music but would you like to go see them?"
Phil's mouth opened in surprise, but he said, "yeah! That sounds like a blast. And I am definitely into music, I've seen the band Muse live 4 times!"
"Muse?! You like Muse?" Dan exclaimed. "They're literally my favorite band, which do you like better, Black Holes an-"
He got interrupted by the cashier shouting,
"Dan! You're behind five drinks, get a move on!"
"I gotta go, but," he scribbled something on a napkin. "Here's my number, so we can talk this weekend."
Phil took the napkin.
"I'll talk to you soon, Dan. Thanks again for the coffee," he smiled, his eyes lighting up.
