Tinder - D.JH.

ten

The next day, I woke up late. Scrambling to get ready, I quickly tie my brown hair into a ponytail, throwing on my tight black shirt and black skinny jeans, pulling on my Converse and lacing them up.

I shove my hat, apron, and some necessary makeup into the little black bag I always carry around and brush my teeth, getting out the door in under ten minutes. I sprint to the tube, narrowly making it before it leaves.

On the tube, I do my makeup and pull the ponytail through my black hat with the little green logo on it. During my stop, I sprint out of the station and down the pavement to the coffee shop Dan and I met up at.

"You're late." Missy says as I come through the door, tying my black apron around my waist.

"By two minutes." I say, sitting my bag down to clock myself in.

"Yeah," she writes a name on a cup, "that's why I clocked you in two minutes ago." she grins at me, filling the cup up with steamed milk and espresso.

"You're the best." I smile, breathing heavy from all the running. "What can I get you, sir?" I ask the blond boy next in line.

"Venti iced coffee. Black." he smiles gratefully.

"On it." I pull a venti sized cup from where we store them, grabbing a Sharpie. "Your name?" I ask, having to snap myself out of a memory of Dan, Phil, and I watching Your Name the night before last.

"Asher." he says and I write it down in neat, loopy handwriting. After he pays, I fill the cup up with ice and then add the coffee from the freshly made pitcher, putting a lid on it before pushing it to the bar.

"Asher?" I call out and he comes to pick it up.

"Here." he hands me a piece of folded up paper, his cheeks turning pink as he grabs his cup, quickly leaving.

I unfold the paper and there's his phone number, scrawled down on the paper in pretty handwriting. Asher Milligan is written above the seven digit number.

I fold the paper back, sticking it into my back pocket and continue my job. "What can I get you?" I ask to a short redhead, who looks up from her phone. Brown freckles dot her cheeks and across her nose and she arches a brow at me.

"Yeah, I'll take a grande coffee frappichino with soy milk, two pumps of espresso, extra whipped cream, and cinnamon topping." she lists and I quickly write all the specifications down on the cup.

"Name?" I ask, looking up at her.

"Natalye." she says, "Spelled with a 'y' where the 'i' should be." she looks back down to her phone as I nod.

Natalye pays and I hand the cup to Missy, who quickly fixes it as I take the next order. "What can I getcha, sir?" I ask, glancing up from the register.

"I'll have a caramel macc--," Dan turns around from talking to Phil to meet my eyes. He smiles, and I smile back, "--hiato." he finishes.

"What size?" I ask, pressing the buttons on the register.

"Grande." he says.

"And you?" I ask Phil.

"Coffee Frappichino, venti." he says and I nod, grabbing the cups and writing their names on them, adding smiley faces to the sides of their names.

As I start to make them, Phil asks, "How much?" I look to him.

"Nothing. On the house." I insist as Missy gives them a sideways glance, then looks to me. They both move over to the other side of the bar where I push their drinks across. "Have a nice day." I smile as they grab their cups.