《That Small Library by Dover Street》17. Work
Advertisement
The tinkling of the bell causes her to jolt, and she quickly turns towards her... now a friend, not exactly a great conversation partner either... "Yeah, be right back. Customers just sent for me."
"Alright." Her co-worker replies, giving her an understanding smile while glancing towards the lines of coffee makers behind her, "You know, you still have two hours to go before the end of your shift. If you like, we could go for a drink or two–"
She was already gone, snatching up a circular tray all while inwardly bemoaning about the heels digging into her feet. Two hours left to go before she could check out, and two hours left before she could change into something more comfortable. Like sneakers.
With a sharp intake of breath, she stops at a table located by the window, pulling out a pen and pad before beaming a smile at the cafe's latest customer. He was a large man, with close-cropped hair and a beard that reached down to a plaid button-up, and he begins to rattle out orders fit for four people instead of two.
Still, she wrote it down. Almost absentmindedly, in fact. At the moment, all she could do was stare at the other man beside the fellow that almost looked like a bear, who sheepishly waved a hand as if to say hello.
... Yeah, it's him alright. She could recognize his ugly mug by sight at this point.
"Two orders of fries–" She raises a brow in his direction for that, "A salad, and... a mocha, a cappuccino, and a black."
She coolly glares at him over her pad, watching him all but wilt under her stare. "I'm on shift right now. You know that, right?"
"Now, now–"
"Jay." He sighs, causing the bear of a man to glance towards him, only to huff a second later and mumble a few choice words to himself. With a sigh, he turns to meet her gaze, only for him to shift his eyes out the window a second later. "... Add two slices of cake. Chocolate."
Advertisement
"Oi!"
She sighs and shakes her head, jotting down the additional orders before nodding once and heading off towards the counter.
"Here." She mutters, ripping the paper and sliding it over towards the woman at the cashier. "Orders for table seven."
"Friends of yours?" The cashier replies with a thin smile, and she lets out a scoff before shaking her head.
"One of them, sure. The other guy, I don't know." She replies back, jabbing a thumb in the pair's direction. "Then again, he did told me that his friend's birthday was coming up, so that might be him."
"Who's who?"
"I'm guessing the bear of a man's his friend." She drawls, "Never seen him before in the library. Also doesn't seem the type to read books, but that just might be me."
"Agree." The cashier nods, "Normally you'd see men like him at a bar or something like that."
"Probably."
She wasn't too sure, though. Hard to coincide the fact that he was all but wilting when she glared at him just a few moments ago, but was now all but arguing with his friend about... something. Not like she could hear them. Nor would she want to, honestly. They seem to be having fun, even if his friend just ripped apart that book that he got for them and started waving it around...
"Order's done." She freezes, turning around a second later to see a tray stacked with steaming fries, a two slices of cake, and three cups of coffee. "Go. You can go chat up your friends, by the way. Not a lot of people right now."
"Uh..."
"Go." The cashier huffs, "Pay me back later when it's rush hour and you have to pound the register like it's owing you money. It's only just two in the afternoon or so – there's still two hours left before we need to prepare for rush hour."
Advertisement
A quick check on her phone corroborate's the cashier's statement, and she quickly ushers a 'thank you' to them before snatching the tray and making her way towards him and his friend. She had questions that needed to be answered, and she was sure that at least one of them would give her some answers.
"Two orders of fries, two slices of chocolate cake..." She mutters, carefully setting down the tray and handing off the food to each of them. "... And three cups of coffee. I'm assuming that the black's for me."
"No."
"Yep."
She glares at him. So does his friend in fact, and under both of his stares, he quickly retracts his statement. "Yeah, that's for you. Sorry about that."
With a grumble, she takes the open seat beside him and cups the coffee in her hands, letting the warmth course through her body while she lets the fumes waft up her nose.
"So." She begins, eyes narrowed as they slide over towards him. "Why are you guys here?"
"He started it." He immediately replied, pointing towards the bear of a man almost too quickly.
"True." His friend allowed with a nod, "But he jumped in at the last second."
"I didn't."
"Sure you didn't."
The back and forth was making her head hurt. Or at least, making her exasperated. It's as if she had been put into a table with two children, and there was nothing that she could do to stymie that... Oh wait. She had coffee.
She blocked out the world around her for a moment with a sip, indulged in the bitter taste. It only took a second for the rest of the coffee to be drained away, and she stared at the dregs of her cup with a forlorn expression.
"Well shit." She observed. "It's all gone."
"Great, she's back in the land of the living." She blinks owlishly, quickly whirling back towards him with a frown on her face.
"You done with... whatever you're supposed to be arguing about?" She asks, raising a brow at the... well, she wouldn't go so far as to call them imbeciles, but 'idiots' fit just fine. "Because honestly, I tuned out whatever the fuck you guys are saying."
He scowls, but his friend laughs it off, cutting through their cake slice with a fork before popping it into their mouth.
"Can't blame you there." His friend grins, twirling the fork in his hand before chowing down once more. "We're just discussing what he got me, is all. He doesn't ordinarily look like it, but chief here can be good at keeping his mouth shut."
She stares at him, and he gives her a glare in return, as if daring her to contradict his friend's statement. With a sigh, she turns back towards his friend, an idea coming to her mind.
"Maybe." She agrees, before she grins. "... He's gonna give you a book, by the way."
"Oi!"
"Dude." His friend stares. "What the fuck?"
"Look man, I–"
"This is like the third time you gifted me a book for my birthday." His friend grumbles, rubbing a hand over his face. "You know I give it to Maggy so she has something to do, but– Oh. I see where you're going now. Gonna try and be the cool uncle, huh? Bribe her into becoming a mini-you?"
"That's not–"
And they were off to bicker again. She shakes her head with a thin smile gracing her face, placing her cup of coffee down on the table and leaving the pair to their own devices.
Idiots, both of them.
Advertisement
- In Serial134 Chapters
RUYI
How can you lose something you never have? When your own mother poisons you to gain pity from others, how should you feel? Why was I, the youngest, being married off? How could I care about something that was never mine? WARNING! Viewer discretion advised: Story contains adult content that is unsuitable for children. NOTE from the writer: I'm an amateur writer so please overlook plot holes, grammar issues, or anything else a story is supposed to have. This is my original story so... as the saying goes "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all".
8 428 - In Serial35 Chapters
MC's Viking Warriors- Rogue #5
When Liam's little sister bests him at being named heir of their biker club, Liam is jealous, bitter and vengeful. He expected the presidency to fall into his lap, as is his birth right, one small problem. He forgot about his ice queen little sister, Eira. Now Liam feels displaced in the world, like he doesn't have a home. He goes rogue and travels around Canada looking for a new place to call home.Katie is the daughter to a dangerous president, leader to the most feared and powerful club of eastern Canada, the Black Wolves. After he lost Katie's mother in childbirth, he became so protective of his daughter that she has yet to really live.Innocent and naive, Katie is all too vulnerable to the real world until she meets Liam. The very thing her father swore to keep her safe from, boys.To make matters worse, he's a biker too, but a biker from a rival club. But Liam knows as soon as he lays eyes on the doe eyed girl that he has finally found a home.The risk of death at the hands of her father seems a fair price to pay to earn the love of the sweet girl.
8 146 - In Serial37 Chapters
Kill Me ✔️
After getting attacked one summer night, 19-year-old Elle Russo doesn't want to be weak anymore. Deciding to get a self-defense teacher sounded easy until it ends up being the guy she hates most from her childhood. Elle is known for her sweetness, but he brings out her venom. Nico Cross is very quiet and to himself. The only time he speaks is to make sarcastic remarks or tell people to shut up. With a gaze that makes you shiver, most people choose to not speak a word to him.Hating each other and seeing each other everyday isn't a good mix. They push each others' buttons and hate nobody in the world more than they hate each other.But as time goes on, they both soon realize,Sometimes you hate something to keep yourself from loving it.----------"Why would I be scared of you?" I asked. "What are you gonna do, kill me?"He leaned forward, and I could feel his breathing against my skin. I whispered, "I think you want to kiss me."
8 132 - In Serial68 Chapters
Stop That Hacker!
The Devil's den; a notorious hangout for high school seniors, computer geniuses and competitive gamers. And a home to the most feared hacker between the students. Not the place for an innocent young highschooler to find themselves in. Francy's oldest brother is one to be a regular and he made her swear neither she nor his other siblings would ever under any circumstances come near that place. But when Francy's cat gets into a painting accident, she rushes to her nearest brother for help, straight into the Devil's den. Only instead of her brother, she meets the Devil himself. And just so it happens he has a soft spot for cats.
8 268 - In Serial10 Chapters
First Wins & First Kisses: Confessions of a K-Pop Stan
Some happened word for wordSome are just fantasies of my hyper imagination But welcome to the world of being a K-Pop Stan in 2022.This is a story about making dreams a reality when obstacles are strategically placed in front of you to cause you to either trip or fall and never get up again. In the first installment ‘First Wins and First Kisses’ we follow Gel and Bren who both travel to Korea in different times in their lives but their love of music and their love of astronomy brings them together. Bren falls for the budding astrophysicist at a pivotal time in his career. Everything is finally going right for his band GXY and a scandal can ruin the careers of his whole group. While exploring the stars, Bren and Gel discover that their dreams require sacrifices and that sometimes means alienating their loved ones and each other. If that wasn’t enough to drive them apart, someone lurking in the shadows is determined to make Bren pay for all his transgressions even if they are completely made up. But is it out of hate or some twisted kind of love?
8 175 - In Serial36 Chapters
The Dating Pact | ✓
"Ma, wait, listen to me first." I say and she halts in her way."I am in love. That's true. It's not an excuse. I did not tell you because the person I'm in love with wanted to keep it private." I continue.Her right eyebrow raises."I am not going to buy this excuse missy. Elaborate. Who is this person? What does he do? Give me a name at the very least." She says and my mind goes blank for a couple of seconds. I run my eyes across my room.My eyes settle on today's newspaper kept on the nightstand, and I take a peek at it.'Mehrotra Group of Restaurants' opening a new branch in Mumbai next month, says owner, Arjun Mehrotra.' is the headline my eyes manage to read."Arjun. His name is Arjun Mehrotra." I finally replied.****Shravya Arora is a happy go lucky accountant who loves her job behind the desk, playing with numbers. Her mother however is hell bent on finding a suitable guy for her and get her hitched as soon as possible. Shravya has no plans of marrying anyone not for the next couple of years atleast, but her mother just won't stop matchmaking and introducing her to suitable partners.To put a full stop to her mother's matchmaking, Shravya makes up a story. A story about her having a lover and that lover being, Arjun Mehrotra, owner of the largest chain of restaurants in Mumbai. Everything goes as per Shravya's plans for a while without Arjun Mehrotra knowing about her existence or about the fact that she's made him her fake lover, until her mother starts demanding for her fake boyfriend to make a real appearance in her life.To continue with the pretence Shravya approaches Arjun Mehrotra and requests him to enter into a dating pact with her. One that will benefit them both.Join me in this fun ride filled with humor and romance to know what happens Next.Cover Credits : cookiedough0104 (me)Copyright © Yumna 2021. All rights reserved.
8 71

