Only Above the Surface

The Overgrown Baboon

Jin's eyes widened and snapped his head towards the lady petting the leaves of a plant on a table. He forgot to ask. "Ah, ma'am! Was this for here or to-go?" He called to her.

"Oh, to-go, dear," She replied with a smile.

Namjoon simply poured the espresso mix out before getting a paper to-go cup and repeating the process. Jin almost blanched at the waste because he might be new to cafés but he knew that was an expense shot of bitter liquid Joon just threw away. Namjoon paused again and asked, "Was it iced or hot?"

Oh, God, he forgot to ask that, too! He turned back to the lady once more. "And did you want hot or iced, ma'am?"

"Oh, I wanted iced," Her smile faltered a little but was still bright.

Namjoon let out a barely suppressed sigh as he grabbed a plastic to-go cup and poured the espresso inside. "Did she want whip cream and drizzle?" Namjoon asked, he might have sounded normal to anyone else but to Jin's ears he sounded annoyed as fuck.

God, why was this happening to him? "An-and did you want whip-whip-whip cream and drizzle, ma'am?" His voice becoming weaker and weaker.

"Just whip cream," Her smile was gone and she was back at the counter her brows creased in slight confusion.

Namjoon finished making the latte, not really going over how to make it with Jin because they already wasted too much time asking the woman about her order. He plunked a straw from the counter behind him and handed her the drink. "Enjoy your latte, ma'am," He said politely.

The woman smiled and took the drink. She walked to a table and sat to eat her cookies. Jin kind of wanted her to leave since she wanted to-go shit anyway. He was close to a breakdown. He kept trying to give himself a mental pep talk but he screwed up and his perfectionist ass hated him for it.

"You did alright," Namjoon said gently. Jin looked over at him as if he just sprouted feathers and began to peck at the ground.

"Really? 'Cause I call that a fail. I couldn't get her order correctly and I've worked in fast-food restaurants since I was fifteen! It was terrible! I—"

"Jin, you did fine. Hey, you said you worked in fast-food restaurants, right? Jin, this is a cafe. Completely different things, completely different menus."

"Same fucking concept." Jin sighed.

Namjoon nodded in thought. "Perhaps but you never had to ask these questions to customers so it's not in your habit yet. Look, you told me you're a quick learner and I believe that. Don't be so hard on yourself, because she was your first customer, not your 50th."

Jin nodded silently, not taking in a word Namjoon said. He fucked up and that was that. He had to do better next time. Namjoon took the glass cup to the back to be wash while Jin took out his phone to text Jimin.

JellyRoll: omf jimin hes gunna fire my ass and its my first day 😩

JellyRoll: im so fucked imma have to text Buckie about increasing my hrs till i get another job

Jizzney: wait whhhhaa--

Jizzney: what happened?!

JellyRoll: I FUCKED UP THATS WHAT

JellyRoll: this sucks cuz i really liked it here 😔 I thot this was gunna be my dream job u kno? Like I could see myself dying here Chim 😖

Jizzney: wait-did he say he was gunna fire fire u???? Or just fire but maybe not 'if I get a handy'???what happened? want me to call u with an emergency??