Imagine That: Multifandom

late | alycia debnam-carey

"That's alright, I'm kind of in a rush," I rambled awkwardly, before pulling a fiver out of my back pocket and handing it to her. "Here, buy a new coffee." I began jogging down the street before she could decline, and yelled a quick "Sorry!" one last time.

It was when I reached work on time and managed to settle in when I realised I definitely just missed my chance with a cute girl.

"At least you have the coffee stain to remember her by," I joked to myself as I glanced down at my stained shirt.

My manager certainly wasn't impressed to see a dark spot on my blouse when I arrived at work, seeing as it was my uniform, and the matching coffee scent that emanated from it didn't exactly help my case. But there was nothing either of us could do, so he sent me to work and I served customers like the waitress I was.

Admittedly, a few customers pointed out the incident I'd had during the lunch rush hour, but after turning it into the butt of the joke, it had landed me a few tips by the end of the hour. Apparently people enjoyed laughing at my expense enough to tip me for it. I definitely wasn't complaining.

I was cleaning up one of the tables after the lunch rush had ended when one of my colleagues patted me on the back.

"Table two needs serving," was all I heard before I could see which colleague it was.

I sighed and finished cleaning the table before going into the back to wash my hands and drop the cloth off in the sink. On the way out of the kitchen, I sniffed myself to see if I still smelled strongly of coffee – I did. I was used to it now though, and so continued my route to table two.

As I approached the table, I recognised the two girls sat there as the two Australians I bumped into this morning. It wasn't hard to forget a face like theirs, let's be honest. They were beautiful.

"Good afternoon," I greeted upon arrival, offering my usual customer greeting smile. "My name is Y/N and I'll be your server today."

The two girls looked up and I tried to dry my sweaty palms on the back of my jeans. I didn't even know why I felt awkward.

The green-eyed girl recognised me instantly and smiled as if I was an old friend she'd just bumped into.

"Hey," she finally spoke, her eyes taking in my appearance, specifically my stained blouse. A chuckle flew from her lips as she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry again for this morning... I wish I could've bought you that shirt now... have you had to wear that all day?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "Yeah, but it's fine, honestly. I'm sorry about your coffee... did you get your new one?"

She nodded. "Thanks for the money. You kind of ran off, I didn't even have the chance to decline your offer."

I hoped my cheeks weren't visibly heating up as my eyes flickered to the table. "Yeah, sorry, I was late for work..."

The girl chuckled again. "Ah, I see. Did you make it on time then?"

I snickered and nodded my head. "Just about..."

"Alycia," she filled in the gap, offering a toothy smile that reached her eyes.

"Alycia," I repeated with a smile as I pulled my notepad and pen from my back pocket. "So, Alycia, are you ready to order? I'm sure you guys are hungry."