↬ 11 ↫
El smiled politely at what felt like her hundredth customer of the morning, handing the girl her change and moving on to the next one in line. Despite that polite, cheerful smile, she was not feeling it today, especially since she was out late last night.
Classes were starting back the following week though and that meant that more students were on campus. More students meant they were far busier than they had been the past couple of weeks and she was not thrilled about it.
She knew it would only get worse once classes actually began, but she also knew that she'd get through it. It would all be worth it in the end, she just had to keep working hard.
So, she continued to take orders, happily greeting and serving customers like there was no place else she'd rather be.
"Hi, what can I get-" The sight of familiar face caught her off guard, bringing the first genuine smile of the day to her face. "Oh Mike, hey!"
Mike smiled back, looking completely thrilled to see her. "Hey, El."
"What can I get for ya?"
He looked up at the menu hanging on the wall, squinting slightly as he looked over it. "Uh, I think I'll take a grande iced latte."
"Alright!" She went to put the order into the register, but stopped when she remembered something she was certain he had once told her. "Wait, you don't like coffee?"
"Right I don't, but I'm just trying to branch out and try new things, you know? He shrugged, though she could tell that he wasn't too excited about trying this particular new thing.
"Of course." She laughed, going along with whatever he was up to. "You sure you want to start out with an iced latte though?"
"Well, I don't know really. What do you recommend?"
El looked over the menu herself, trying to come up with something that he might like. She suggested a couple of things to him, but none of them appealed much.
As they tried to figure out what he should get, they failed to notice the line that was forming, until the guy standing so closely behind Mike spoke up.
"Dude, it's just coffee. Pick something already, damn." He so rudely told Mike, growing more impatient by the second.
Mike gave him an apologetic look, but El only looked at the guy, scowling. She didn't like hearing someone talk to Mike that way, especially this arrogant regular she always has to deal with, so she let the boy have it.
"Dude, could you maybe not be an asshole? Not everyone knows what kind of drink they want the second they walk up because not everyone is some ridiculous coffee addict like you are, so please stop being rude and give him a minute to decide on what he wants."
El's scowl deepened, before she looked back to Mike, staring innocently as if that hadn't just happened.
Mike clearly was surprised by her outburst, the look on his face both of shock and slight amusement.
"Uh, I'll just get the latte. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Great, that'll be $3.59!" El so sweetly told him, before writing his name and order down on the cup. She made sure to doodle on a heart before handing it off to her coworker.
"I'll see you later maybe?" Mike asked as El put his money in the register and handed him his receipt. Their hands brushed for a moment, a moment she had wished lasted longer.
"I hope so."
Her gaze never left his until the rude guy from before stepped up to the counter, clearing his throat to get her attention.
El rolled her eyes, finally looking away from Mike and slapping that fake smile back on her face. She could only hope that the rest of her day getting people their coffee would fly by.
•
It was nearing nine o'clock when El finally got home from work. She was exhausted, hungry, but more than anything, she so desperately wanted to see Mike again.
She was genuinely surprised to see him earlier, certainly not expecting him to be her next customer in line, but she would happily take those two minutes with him.
She'd spent so much time with him lately that whenever she wasn't with him, it drove her nuts.
All this time spent hanging out with him had made her so happy, happier than she'd been in a long time.
For so long, she had been stuck in a rut, spending most of her free days alone in her apartment and for the most part, she liked being by herself. The quiet was nice and she didn't have to worry about anything at all.
Eventually though, she just ended up feeling incredibly lonely.
None of her best friends lived close enough for her to see them everyday and she was too shy to try and meet anyone else who could possibly take their place.
Luckily, she had finally gotten to meet Mike, after all those times of simply passing by him. Somehow she'd been able to pull herself together enough to actually act like a normal human behind around him and it was the best thing that could've ever happened to her.
Mike was the sweetest guy she had ever met, always saying such nice things to her and making her feel like she was stuck on cloud nine.
What he said to her that night in her apartment though, those words only made the incredibly consuming feelings she had for him ten times worse.
She had accepted the fact quite a while ago that she had a crush on the cute boy who lived across from her. So when he said that she was good enough, that she was more than good enough, that anyone in the entire world would be lucky to have her, that she was amazing, she might as well have fallen in love with the boy right then.
When they almost kissed though, that was when she really knew that what she felt for him was much more than just a silly crush.
She had never wanted anything more than to feel his lips on hers and ever since that didn't happen, it was all she'd been able to think about since.
In that moment, she honestly wanted to move the dog to the floor, shoo him away and pick up right where she and Mike left off. The moment had passed though and she was too scared to try and get it back.
Even now, she wanted to see him so badly but she couldn't make herself go over there. It was getting late and she didn't even know if he was still awake.
So, she made the bummer of a decision to wait until tomorrow. Surely, she could make it until then.
As her luck would have it though, she didn't have to wait, because nearly five minutes later, after she'd changed clothes and was searching her fridge for something to eat, someone knocked at her door.
She quickly padded across the room, opening the door and finding the very guy responsible for her happiness lately.
She couldn't help but notice how distressed he looked though, which only caused her to worry too.
"Mike, is everything okay?"
"No." He nearly shouted, as he stormed right past her. "Well yeah, it's fine I just really need to tell you something. I've been feeling guilty about it ever since it happened and I just- please don't hate me."
"Well I'm a little scared now, what is it?" She hesitantly asked, shutting the door and walking over to where he was pacing the floor.
"The other night, your date was waiting outside your door and I started talking to him and then he asked me for tips. You know, tips to help him win you over or whatever, but the way he was talking about you was just gross. It was so gross and I might have told him some things that I knew weren't true so that it would make you not want to be with the guy, I don't know. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I didn't realize until after how excited you probably were and that I probably ruined it for you, so I'm sorry if I did."
El looked a little stunned, not expecting him to pour all that out. It was a lot and as all his words sunk in, she couldn't help bursting out into a fit of laughter.
"You're laughing." Mike nervously pointed out. "Why are you laughing?"
"I didn't go on a date with that guy, Mike." El said, shaking her head at him in amusement.
"What?"
"That guy happened to be Lucas. You know, one of my best friends from back home. He was planning on surprising my other friend, his girlfriend, for their anniversary and he needed my help with a couple of things."
"Then why did he sa-"
"He was just messing with you." El sighed, only confusing Mike more. "I've told him about you a couple of times and I guess he thought it would be funny."
"But the flowers? Sunflowers are your favorite."
"Those were for Max. She loves sunflowers too and he just needed something to put them in."
Mike looked as if he were thinking it over, his face falling when he finally said something. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh." El teasingly mocked him, her face softening.
Mike groaned, clearly embarrassed by the whole ordeal. "God, I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot! I think it's really sweet that you'd do that for me!"
"Well yeah, I was just looking out for you, you know." He sheepishly admitted, as El never dared to take her eyes off of him. "I'm glad that's cleared up though. I feel much better now. The guilt was kinda eating me alive."
"I bet it was." El chuckled, taking a few steps closer to him. "Thanks for looking out for me, Mike."
"Yeah, anytime! So, uh I guess I'll get out of here now, let you go to bed, since it's late and all."
Before he could run off, El reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Mike, would there possibly be any other reason you did what you did?" She asked, even though she was starting to think that she already knew the answer to that.
When Lucas had told her he ran into Mike and had a little chat, she hadn't expected this to be what they chatted about. Now that she knew though, it didn't surprise her one bit.
Lucas knew how smitten she was for Mike and based off what El had told him, he figured that the boy was clearly smitten for her too, so of course he'd try to get the poor boy all worked up for nothing.
And that's exactly what he'd done, gotten Mike all worked up thinking she had gone out with someone else.
"Okay, there might be another reason why..."
"Yeah? What's that?" She curiously asked, tilting her head as she slowly took a few slow steps closer. Her hand found its way up to rest against his cheek, her gentle touch urging him to go on.
"Well, I happen to really like you El." He admitted, staring so heavily into her eyes she felt like could faint.
She was also seriously resisting the urge to squeal right there in front of him because he likes her, he really likes her.
"I was kinda hoping you'd say that." She said, her breathing shaky as she leaned up on her tiptoes, finally getting that kiss she had been dreaming about.
She pressed her lips against his so softly, feeling like the world around her had stopped moving the second they made contact.
Mike immediately slipped his hands up to rest at her sides. His comforting touch quite literally set her on fire and she absolutely loved it.
It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. The feeling of his soft lips on hers, of his hands on her small waist was just magical. There was simply no other word for it.
It wasn't her first kiss, but it was the first one that had ever made her feel the way she's dreamed of feeling her whole life.
She hadn't expected anything less though. It seemed like everything that boy did was perfect.
El savored the perfect feeling for as long as she could until that amazing kiss inevitably came to an end.
"So, I'll definitely be seeing you tomorrow then?" Mike asked, a small smile gracing the lips she had just taken claim over.
Feeling overcome with all the emotions rushing through her, she leaned up and pecked his lips one more time. "Oh, definitely."
El walked him over to the door, wishing she didn't have to let him go, but he was right when he said it was getting late.
She knew she'd see him first thing tomorrow though, so she could manage to say goodbye for now.
Just as soon as he had walked out the door though, he spun around and moved the short distance to get back to her.
"Sorry, I just really need to-"
He yanked her body against his, cutting his own words off as he crashed his lips down onto hers. She let her arms wrap around his neck, bringing him down to her, further deepening the kiss to the point that when he pulled away, she was left completely breathless.
"Goodnight, El." Mike breathed, while brushing a hand along her cheek, tucking the fallen strands of hair away from her face.
"Night, Mike."
El followed him out as he left, leaning against her door frame with the biggest smile on her face.
Now that was the goodnight she's always wanted from Mike Wheeler.