Her Only Dream

***Kathrine's POV***     When the bell dinged to announce that someone had come in, I could help but turn to look to see if it was him or not, which I kept the polite smile on my face, glancing at the time, and knowing that today was one of the days he likely wasn't going to be coming.   For the past several months after my last break up, I had just been doing my job as a barista without paying much attention to the world around me, I'd been taught by certain members of my family, as well as by my now ex that what I thought and did, wasn't that important to begin with, so it wasn't worth getting worked up about.  I had broken up with him shortly after he decided to surprise me by getting himself a new dog, even though I had told him more than once about my phobia of dogs due to being bit so many times.  Then he showed up, and while I knew he was so far out of my league it was laughable, I still looked forward to his visits.     Jake, the nice thing about being a barista was it gave me an excuse to get to know his name.  When he came in most times it was while wearing mechanic's clothing from the auto dealership that was across the road from where I worked in the combination bookstore and cafe.  Some days, when it was slower, he'd stay in a chair near the area where we worked, while others, if it was busy, he had a seat he'd take in the back where he would read a magazine or a book.     I could appreciate it, given that I was a book worm and gamer that pretty much liked to stay home most of the time, unless it was to go out hiking in the summer.  Still, even if I could appreciate it, I was still usually pretty quiet most of the time, even with my friends, I was still the quieter one in the corner that felt that I never really fit in, but was tolerated on the basis that I was a friend.  So his visits, and how he would chat with us meant a lot to me.     There were a few of the baristas that had different opinions on him as well as guesses as to why he kept coming in.  Leslie, our manager thought that he was single and had a crush on someone, she also tried her hardest to flirt with him.  She was really the only one I had seen him be exceptionally polite, almost standoffish with, so I doubted that was the case, at least in interest for her.  A few others thought it was the crush thing as well, mentioning different people they thought he was interested in, including a few of our regular female customers.  I personally thought he had a girlfriend already, and just came over here to get away from his co-workers for a while and read something.  He was a sweet and funny, not just good looking, and based on some of the conversations, had a quick wit too, there was no way he could be single.     Though since it didn't look like he'd be coming in today, I left the counter to Nessa's care, she was better at interacting with people than me, and I wanted something to do to help pass the time since it was a slower day.  I started wiping down some tables, my mind wandering over things as I did, and as usual they wandered back to him.  I couldn't look him in the eyes often, not because he didn't have nice eyes, he did, a rich deep brown that I got lost in too easily, and his hair always gave me an itch to see if it was as soft as it looked.  I found myself blushing a little as I moved on to cleaning the next table that needed to be cleaned, and tried to tell myself that it wasn't alright for me to be thinking about another woman's boyfriend.     "Well looks like you're deep in thought about something?"  I heard a voice behind me, but didn't focus on the voice too much before replying.     "Yeah, just thinking of someone I shouldn't be..."  I stood up and turned around, finding myself looking into the very eyes that I had been trying to avoid, and heaven help me when he was feeling playful he had a smile that made me go week at the knees, which I could normally hide as I did what  I could to stay behind the counter when he was around.  I had a moment to envy the woman that had that smile turned on her on any kind of a regular basis, while trying not to turn a deeper shade of red.     "Oh do tell!  Now you've peaked my interest."  Yeah that's not going to happen, a no one like me, say that, nope, didn't feel like getting laughed at or being rejected politely at work.     "I...uhm...no, I can't say that...he'd never notice me."  I looked for something to get me out of this situation, noticing that he had a container of the mango juice that we sold in the store in his hand.  "I take it you want your regular drink?"     "Yup, if you aren't too busy, I'd really like it if you could make it, you always make it the best."  He held the drink out, and I took it from him, heading back to my safe area with some space between us.       "Sure, I can do that, though I don't know what I do differently from anyone else.  Just let Nessa know so she can ring you up."     "Sure, and thanks, I don't know what the difference is either, but yours are better."       I went back to the blender with the drink, mixing things while Nessa talked with him for a bit while I was finishing it up.  Then Nessa looked at me with a smirk, she was one of the ones who thought that Jake was single and had a crush on someone, but she would never say who, and I wasn't the kind to push anyways for the information, I simply thought that she would say so if she really wanted to.     "So Kat, I was checking out your myspace, and seems you've been single for a while, when are you going to get yourself back out there?"     With those words I wished that the floor would swallow me whole, every insecurity flashing through my mind as Nessa had announced that so clearly after the blender stopped and I felt like everyone in the store could hear her words.  I loved her outgoing personality most days, she was a good balance to my quieter ways, but today I wished I had a roll of duct tape I could use on her.     "Oh, you've got an account on myspace?"  Jake just sat there in his seat near the counter smiling, while I was struggling to meet anyone's eyes at this point.