08 - Coffee Talk - Erin
The coffee shop, at the moment, was completely void of people - being that it was 5:00, late afternoon. She had her back to the register, and was laughing lightly at a story her friend and co-worker, Faith, had been telling.
She didn't even notice the figure outside the window walk by and pause...then, seemingly overcome by a sudden decision, open the door and walk in.
The moment he heard the beautiful laughter pouring from her lips, he knew he had made the right decision. After a few moments of looking on in wonder, he made an effort to become noticed.
"Ahem."
She turned mid-laughter to face the unattended customer, wearing sunglasses and a hat. Although his get-up raised her curiousity a little, considering it was mid-January and very cloudy outside, she said nothing.
Still laughing, her face seemed to light up with apologetic surprise.
With the last ribbons of laughter, she said, "Hi, welcome to Starbucks, how may I help you?"
Evidently looking at the menu above her head - he hadn't removed his sunglasses - he said uncertainly, "Um, a cappuccino, I guess."
He hadn't realized what kind of a shop he'd walked into until now. With another beautiful smile, she replied, "Alright, what size would you like that?"
"Oh, um, large."
"You mean Venti?" she said with another light laugh. This boy obviously didn't know coffee too well.
"Oh yeah, of course."
He glanced at her nametag before she turned away to the machine to make the drink.
Mira.
Doesn't that mean 'watch' in Spanish?
It was very fitting for this girl. He watched her gold-streaked hair fall across her shoulders as she struggled with the machine. He smiled slightly in adoration, and turned to face the shelves of merchandise behind him.
In curiousity, she slightly turned her head and shifter her sea green eyes towards the boy, who she now discovered had his back turned towards her. Her eyes became greener as the widened slightly. That small braid of blonde hanging down his back...it couldn't be...?
He felt a tingle of electricity suddenly, and turned to face her. The look of wonder in her flawless face turned to one of horrified shock as she was caught off-guard and the blender spun out of control. He have her an "it's alright" smile.
"Um, this will be ready in just a minute." she stuttered.
He looked at her wonderingly for a moment. Then, slowly, he removed his cap to reveal a blonde ponytail at the nape of his neck, flopping down by his shoulders.
He took off his sunglasses, and a pair of cerulean eyes were still focused on the girl making coffee.
Putting the lid on the drink with her head down, Mira turned to face her mysterious customer. With her head still down, she pushed the drink towards him and pressed something on the cash register.
"You're total comes to three dollars and -"
She looked up.
Green met blue, and the two worlds collided.
"Taylor."
He grinned. So she knew him.
"Three dollars and Taylor? Are you sure about that?" he asked with the childlike grin.
His comment relaxed her, and the incredulity in her face reposed into a delighted smile. With a sprightly laugh, she replied.
"Of course not. I had no idea who you were - please excuse my reaction."
"Oh please, I've seen way worse." he smiled.
Then there was the sound of the phone ringing behind her. Mira looked towards the phone with a jaded face.
"Oh, excuse me for a minute." she said, turning back to Taylor.
She walked towards the phone and picked up the receiver with one sweep of a toned arm.
"Hello and thank you for calling Starbucks. This is Mira, how may I help you?"
She played with the phone cord with delicate fingers.
"No, we aren't, I'm sorry."
A pause as she gave Taylor an apologetic smile. He wondered what her voice sounded like over the phone. He imagined her in a high upstairs bedroom, sprawled out on a floral bedspread, her hair falling on her face as she peacefully read a book. She reached over to pick up the ringing phone, and with a light click, he heard the most beautiful "Hello?"in the world some floating across the line...
"Sorry about that. People call her a lot to ask if there are any applications - I don't know why they'd wanna work here so bad."
With a jolt, he snapped back to reality when he saw lush green eyes in front of his face.
With a breath, she added, "My boss also just told me I'm on my break, so..."
Suddenly, Taylor was babbling. In there somewhere were the words, "I don't usually do this, so I'm sorry if you didn't want me to, but - "
There, he cut himself off and took a breath. Mira had a look on her face as if someone had just told her she had two heads.
Before she knew what was happening, he had reached across the counter and his lips were pressed against hers. It was as if she had wings and could take him anywhere he wanted to go.
When they parted, they just stared into each other's eyes for a moment.
"Let's go somewhere. We have a lot to talk about."
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